Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 Louise Guzman f/k/a Louise Denis, Case No. 3:25-cv-00740-GPC-BLM 12 Plaintiff, 13 vs. ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT COURTYARDS 14 Courtyards Owner, LLC, Cardinal Group OWNER, LLC’S EX PARTE Management Midwest, Inc.; Asset Living APPLICATION FOR 15 Corporation; Tschetter Sulzer Muccio, P.C.; CLARIFICATION AND TO Victor Lewis Sulzer, Esq.; John Doe; and REOPEN CASE 16 Central Portfolio Control, Inc., [ECF No. 51] 17 Defendants.

19 20 Defendant Courtyards Owner, LLC, has sought clarification as to the Court’s 21 March 18, 2026, Order. ECF No. 51. 22 DISCUSSION 23 On March 18, 2026, this Court found—in response to Defendant Tschetter 24 Sulzer Muccio, P.C. and Defendant Victor Lewis Sulzer, Esq.’s (the “Law Firm 25 Defendants”) motion to dismiss—that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the Law 26 Firm Defendants. See ECF No. 49-1. The Court declined to dismiss the action but 27 granted the alternative relief of transferring the case against the Law Firm Defendants to the District of Colorado. This severance and transfer applied only to the Law Firm 1 Defendants. See ECF No. 49-1, at 13 (“[T]he Court TRANSFERS the action against 2 the Law Firm Defendants to the District of Colorado.”). See also Johnson v. Mitchell, 3 No. CIV S-10-1968 GEB, 2012 WL 1594203, at *6 (E.D. Cal. May 4, 2012), report 4 and recommendation adopted, No. 2:10-CV-1968 GEB GGH, 2012 WL 1979227 5 (E.D. Cal. June 1, 2012) (severing claims and transferring action only as to defendants 6 over whom the court lacked personal jurisdiction); Pamplona ex rel. Pamplona v. 7 Hernandez, No. 08CV2205-IEGBLM, 2009 WL 578578, at *3 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 5, 8 2009) (same). 9 The Court did not address potential open questions in this Circuit regarding the 10 availability of partial transfer under 23 U.S.C. § 1631, because neither Plaintiff nor 11 the Law Firm Defendnats opposed the transfer upon a finding of a lack of personal 12 jurisdiction. See ECF No. 43-1, at 20-21; ECF No. 47, at 11-12; ECF No. 48, at 9. 13 While executing the transfer order, this case was administratively closed as to 14 all Defendants. This was in error. The case remains open in this district as to the 15 remaining Defendants: Courtyards Owner, LLC; Cardinal Group Management 16 Midwest, Inc.; Asset Living Corporation; John Doe; and Central Portfolio Control, 17 Inc. 18 The case has been re-opened, and the Law Firm Defendants have been 19 terminated in the action pending in this district. 20 CONCLUSION 21 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED as follows: 22 1. The Court CLARIFIES that its March 18, 2026, Order (ECF No. 49-1) 23 severed and transferred only the claims against Defendants Tschetter Sulzer 24 Muccio, P.C. and Victor Lewis Sulzer, Esq. (the “Law Firm Defendants”) to the 25 District of Colorado pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The Order did not sever, transfer, 26 dismiss, or otherwise dispose of the claims against the remaining Defendants: 27 Courtyards Owner, LLC; Cardinal Group Management Midwest, Inc.; Asset Living 1 2. All claims against the remaining Defendants shall proceed in this Court in 2 || the ordinary course. 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 5 Dated: April 6, 2026 7 sale As ( Hon. Gonzalo P. Curiel 7 United States District Judge 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28