Securities and Exchange Commission v. Coldicutt
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Michael M. Anello (author)
Analysis
The SEC sued Andrew T.E. Coldicutt for federal securities law violations, and Coldicutt moved to stay the civil action pending the resolution of a parallel criminal case. The court granted the motion to stay, noting the overlap in facts, the risk of self-incrimination, and the lack of prejudice to the SEC.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Motion to Stay Granted“Therefore, upon consideration, good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion to stay.” | agree with court The court applied the factors from Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corp. v. Molinaro and Keating v. Office of Thrift Supervision. The record indicates the civil and criminal actions arise from the same operative facts, the defendant faces a risk of self-incrimination, and the plaintiff (SEC) does not oppose the stay. Under Ninth Circuit precedent, a stay is appropriate when the civil and criminal actions overlap and the defendant would be prejudiced by concurrent proceedings, particularly where the government does not oppose the stay. The court's decision follows from the cited authorities and the recited facts. |
The order itself: sound — The order is concise but correctly identifies the relevant legal standard from Ninth Circuit precedent (Molinaro and Keating). It applies the factors to the specific facts presented (overlap of facts, risk of self-incrimination, lack of opposition from the SEC). The reasoning is sufficient to support the result.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE Case No. 22-cv-274-MMA (KSC) COMMISSION, 12 ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO Plaintiff, 13 STAY v. 14 [Doc. No. 28] ANDREW T.E. COLDICUTT, 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 19 20 Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (“Plaintiff”) filed this action 21 alleging violations of federal securities law against Defendant Andrew T.E. Coldicutt 22 (“Defendant”). See Doc. No. 1. Defendant now moves to stay this action pending 23 resolution of the parallel criminal proceeding in this district, USA v. Coldicutt, 22-CR- 24 1881-JO. See Doc. No. 28. Plaintiff filed a statement of non-opposition to Defendant’s 25 motion. See Doc. No. 31. The Court finds this matter suitable for determination on the 26 papers and without oral argument pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7.1.d.1.1 27 28 1 A court may decide to stay a civil case in the face of parallel criminal proceedings 2 || depending on the particular circumstances and competing interests. Federal Sav. & Loan 3 || Ins. Corp. v. Molinaro, 889 F.2d 899, 902-03 (9th Cir. 1989); Keating v. Office of Thrift 4 || Supervision, 45 F.3d 322, 324 (9th Cir. 1995) (citing SEC v. Dresser Indus., 628 F.2d 5 || 1368, 1375 (D.C. Cir. 1980)). Here, Defendant urges that: “‘[t]here is no dispute that the 6 || criminal action and this civil action overlap and arise out of the same operative facts”; if 7 || both actions are allowed to proceed concurrently, he will be severely prejudiced as “[t]he 8 || risk of self-incrimination facing [him] is clear and he [is] likely to invoke the Fifth 9 || Amendment in response to any discovery or question in this action”; “the SEC cannot 10 || show that it will suffer any meaningful prejudice from any delay”; “staying this matter 11 || would conserve Court resources by eliminating the need to relitigate issues and 12 streamline discovery”; and “though the public and third parties may have an interest in 13 || maintaining and securing functioning markets, that interest will not be eroded if a stay is 14 || granted.” Doc. No. 28-1 at 4-7. 15 The Court agrees that the relevant factors support granting a stay. Therefore, upon 16 consideration, good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion to 17 ||stay. The parties shall jointly file a status report within five (5) days of the resolution of 18 || the criminal matter. 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. 20 || Dated: December 16, 2022 22 HON. MICHAEL M. ANELLO 23 United States District Judge 24 25 26 27 28