US District Court DAZ Docket Feed

Silva v. Hercules Distributors LLC - Motion to Dismiss Counterclaims Denied

The District Court denied Plaintiff Jesse Silva's motion to dismiss eight counterclaims filed by employer Hercules Distributors LLC, finding that the court has subject-matter jurisdiction. The counterclaims include breach of oral contract, quantum meruit, account stated, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud, arising from a dispute over independent contractor arrangements. The court's denial allows the employer's counterclaims to proceed alongside the plaintiff's underlying FLSA, AMWA, and AWA claims for unpaid wages and misclassification.

FTC v. James D Noland Jr. - Recusal Motion Denied

The District Court for the District of Arizona denied the Individual Defendants' motion for recusal filed on March 23, 2026 (Doc. 623). The court found no legal basis for recusal under Liteky v. United States (1994), noting that the defendants explicitly stated they did not contend the court harbored actual bias against them, and identified no display of deep-seated favoritism or antagonism. The court also granted the defendants' motion to exceed the page limitation for their stay motion (Doc. 624). The underlying FTC enforcement action was originally filed January 8, 2020, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed on November 24, 2025.

Tenneson v. Russell - Motion to Stay Denied, Securities Class Action Proceeds

The District Court for the District of Arizona denied individual defendants Mark A. Russell and Michael Lohscheller's motion to extend the bankruptcy automatic stay under Section 362(a) to cover them as non-debtors. The court found that the automatic stay provisions cover only debtors, property of the debtor, or property of the bankruptcy estate, and declined to extend the 'unusual circumstances' exception. Plaintiffs' class action alleging violations of Section 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5(b) against the individual defendants will now proceed independently of Nikola Corporation's bankruptcy proceedings.