
Judicial Abuse
Systematic Judicial Bias Against
Economically Disadvantaged Civil Litigants
Storix v. Johnson | Malicious Prosecution, Conversion, etc. (Federal)
JUDGE MARILYN HUFF
* By far the most absurd display of blatant judicial abuse and bias on record *
After Johnson voluntarily dismissed the malicious prosecution lawsuit in California court due to Judge Bacal's due process violations, he refiled them it in federal court. This time, the complaint included a claim against David Huffman, Richard Turner, Manuel Altamirano and David Kinney for converting his $475,000 of company earnings to their personal equity accounts, and he added the Procopio attorneys, Paul Tyrell and Sean Sullivan, as malicious prosecution defendants. He also added a claim against "Storix" for failing to compensate him for his copyrights under the "oral contract" Judge Huff decided in the Copyright Suit was used to transfer ownership of his copyrights.
Incredibly, after the case was assigned to a new judge (according to the rules of court requiring random case assignent), Judge Marilyn L. Huff somehow got wind of the new lawsuit and had the case transferred to her court without cause. She then ignored every law and court procedure, refused to allow any hearings, argued the case on the defendant's behalf, and dismissed 7 of the 9 claims with prejudice on absurd grounds that Johnson was given no chance to dispute. She then stayed the remaining two claims (against Management) pending the outcome of the state appeal, directing them to raise a res judicata defense (meaning the same claims were previously litigated) after the appeal was decided. The case remained pending for 16 months while she refused to identify any claims or issues relevant to this lawsuit that were previously litigated or decided (because there were none).
Pay special attention to the motion to recuse Judge Huff (which she refused to allow another judge to decide and then denied herself without addressing any issues) and the motion for reconsideration that called her out for arguing the case for the defendants and the absurdity of her unlawful dismissal of his claims. Of course, she denied both, again without addressing Johnson's facts or arguments. Finally, after the state appeal was decided, Judge Huff asked for a third round of briefing, then ignored all facts and law when dismissing the last two claims - again by raising new arguments on the defendants' behalf.
Never before has a judge exhibited such blatant bias, violated due process in so many ways, and literally argued the case for the defendants - all while continuing to ignore the litigation misconduct of the same attorneys she ordered Johnson to pay over $555,000 in fees in the Copyright Case. She managed to drag out a simple motion to dismiss for "failure to state a claim" for two years before finally dismissing all claims with prejudice, without a single hearing, without any reference to the facts in the complaint, thereby preventing any evidence from being presented.
The dismissal of all claims is now on appeal with the Ninth Circuit. As usual, defendants filed separate answering briefs as Storix and as individuals, and continued to ignore every fact in the complaint and Johnson's arguments in his opening brief - obviously expecting the Ninth Circuit judges to do the same (see 2021-11-19 Johnson Reply Brief).
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2019-06-24 Complaint against Management & Procopio
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2019-09-20 Johnson Reply to Procopio Opp of Motion for recusal
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2019-10-01 PETITION (Ninth Circuit) to Reverse Case Transfer/Denial of Recusal
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2019-10-21 Johnson Motion to Stay Pending State Appeal (before dismissing claims)
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2019-11-08 Johnson Opp to Mgmt Further Brief on Res Judicata
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2019-11-18 Johnson Reply to Storix/Procopio Opp to Mtn to Stay
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2019-11-22 ORDER (Ninth Circuit) Summarily Denying Transfer to Different Judge
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2019-12-09 Johnson Motion for Certification (to allow partial appeal)
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2020-01-06 Mgmt Motion to Stay Remaining Claims Pending State Appeal (after dismissing claims)
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2020-01-07 Procopio Opp to Reconsideration
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2020-01-09 Johnson Reply re Certification
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2020-01-30 ORDER Denying Cert. & Reconsideration & THEN Granting Mgmt's Stay
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2020-02-10 PETITION (Ninth Circuit) to Vacate Dismissals/Stay & Reassign Case
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2020-02-26 ORDER (Ninth Circuit) Summarily Denying Petition to Recuse or Re-transfer Case
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2021-04-24 ORDER for Further Briefing on State Appeal's Effect on 12/9/19 Order
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2021-05-10 Mgmt Further Briefing on Effect of State Appeal on Order
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2021-05-22 Johnson Further Briefing on Effect of State Appeal on Order
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2021-05-27 Mgmt Reply ISO Further Briefing on Effect of State Appeal on Order
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2021-05-28 Johnson Sur-Reply Re Mgmt Reply to Further Briefing
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2021-06-07 ORDER Dismissing Remaining Claims With Prejudice & Closing Case
APPEAL OF THE DISMISSAL OF THE CLAIMS*
* Briefs Filed - Awaiting Ninth Circuit Decision