Otis D. Wright II

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Otis Dalino Wright II
Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
Incumbent
Assumed office
April 16, 2007
Appointed byGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byGary L. Taylor
Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court
In office
December 5, 2005[1] – April 16, 2007
Appointed byArnold Schwarzenegger
Deputy Attorney General of California
In office
1980–1983
Personal details
Born
Otis Dalino Wright II

(1944-07-31) July 31, 1944 (age 80)
Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.
Political partyRepublican[2]
SpouseEvelyn F. Rhaney[1]
EducationCalifornia State University at Los Angeles (BA)
Southwestern Law School (JD)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/serviceUnited States Marine Corps[1]
Years of service1963–1966 (active duty)
1966–1969[1] (reserve)[1]
RankSergeant[1]

Otis Dalino Wright II (born July 31, 1944) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Early life and education

Born in Tuskegee, Alabama,[3][4] Wright received a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University at Los Angeles in 1976 and a Juris Doctor from Southwestern Law School in 1980. He was in the United States Marine Corps from 1963 to 1966, remaining in the United States Marine Corps Reserve until 1969. He was a deputy sheriff in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department from 1969 to 1980. He was a deputy attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice from 1980 to 1983. He was in private practice in Los Angeles from 1983 to 2005.

Judicial service

On October 28, 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he would be appointing Wright to serve as a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[2] Wright replaced Judge Lorna Parnell.[2]

Wright was nominated to the United States District Court for the Central District of California by President George W. Bush on September 5, 2006, to a seat vacated by Gary L. Taylor.[5] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 15, 2007, and received his commission on April 16, 2007.[6]

Notable cases

Case Year Reason for becoming widely discussed or noted
Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins 2011 Ruled against plaintiff's standing to sue because he had not alleged a sufficiently individualized injury. Wright was reversed by the unanimous United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which was itself then found to be in error by the U.S. Supreme Court.[7] On remand, the Ninth Circuit again found the plaintiff had standing to sue.[8]
Prenda Law 2013 Ruling against a "notorious" U.S. law firm and principals, which was viewed by onlookers and the court as engaging in copyright trolling and alleged legal extortion practices, often via shell companies. The case resulted in sanctions and law firm dissolution. Wright's opinion included a number of Star Trek catchphrases.[9][10]
U.S.A. v. Hudson, Whitfield & Dunlap 2014 Ruling against legitimacy of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ("ATF") fictional stash-house robbery sting operation; such operations had drawn significant media and judicial concerns previously for a perceived inherent lack of fairness.
Alan Baker v. Allstate Insurance Company 2019 Imposed sanctions in the amount of US$17,808[11] after plaintiff's attorney Christopher Hook sent widely publicized[12] emails containing profanities and threats to counsel for Allstate.[13]
SpaceX v. U.S. Air Force 2020 SpaceX was not entitled to relief after the Air Force awarded contracts to United Launch Alliance (ULA), Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman to help those companies with costs of developing new rockets and infrastructure.[14]
TikTok v. Trump 2020 Lawsuit challenging an executive order banning TikTok; the case impacted the nearly 80 million[15] TikTok users in the United States and drew significant attention from the press. The case was voluntarily dismissed in the Central District of California in September 2020[16] and filed instead in the District of Columbia.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Confirmation hearings on federal appointments : hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session. 4.J 89/2:S.HRG.110-138/ PT.1 (2007)
  2. ^ a b c Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Five to Los Angeles County Superior Court Archived 2010-10-08 at the Wayback Machine, Press Release: Office of the Governor (October 28, 2005).
  3. ^ Kenneth Ofgang, Superior Court Judge Otis D. Wright II Confirmed to U.S. District Court for Central District of California, Metropolitan News-Enterprise (March 19, 2007).
  4. ^ "California Courts and Judges". James Pub. 1 January 2006 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "PN1952 — Otis D. Wright III — The Judiciary". Congress.gov.
  6. ^ Otis D. Wright II at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  7. ^ Note, The Supreme Court, 2015 Term — Leading Cases, 130 Harv. L. Rev. 437 (2016).
  8. ^ Note, Recent Case: Ninth Circuit Allows Fair Credit Reporting Act Class Action to Proceed Past Standing Challenge, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 894 (2018).
  9. ^ Prenda hammered: Judge sends porn-trolling lawyers to criminal investigators, arstechnica.com
  10. ^ Masnick, Mike (May 21, 2013). "Bad Day For Prenda Continues: Judge Rejects Stay, Adds $1k Per Day For Each Day They Don't Pay Up". TechDirt. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  11. ^ "Order awarding in part, defendant's costs and fees" (PDF). February 28, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  12. ^ Matt Naham (December 5, 2019). "Allstate Lawyers Say Attorney Made Threats, Called Them 'F***tards' and Worse. He Says It Was a 'Negotiating Tactic.'". Dan_Abrams#Law_&_Crime. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  13. ^ Michael Hiltzik (December 17, 2019). "Column: A lawyer tried to win his case with obscene insults. That only infuriated the judge". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  14. ^ "California judge ends SpaceX's lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force". The Communicator. 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  15. ^ "TikTok Statistics - Everything You Need to Know [August 2020 Update]". Wallaroo Media. 2020-08-25. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  16. ^ "Docket for TikTok Inc. v. U.S. Department of Commerce, 2:20-cv-07672 - CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  17. ^ "Docket for TikTok Inc. v. Trump". CourtListener. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
2007–present 		Incumbent
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