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Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd. v. George Bell, et al.

Paid petition · Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, No. A152295 · judgment September 25, 2019


Certiorari denied · October 5, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Federal law permits someone to be subject to preclusion when they have exercised “control” over a lawsuit, even if they were not formally a party to it. Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880, 895 (internal quotation marks omitted). The question presented is whether “control” is assessed based on the totality of the circumstances, as seven courts of appeals have held, or using a rigid two-part test, as four courts of appeals have held. (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jessica Lynn Ellsworth
Hogan Lovells US, LLP

For respondent
Joseph John Tabacco Jr.
Berman Tabacco

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Linked docket
19A971

Proceedings

  1. Oct 05 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jun 17 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  3. Jun 15 2020
    Waiver of right of respondents George Bell, et al. to respond filed.
  4. May 01 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 4, 2020)
  5. Mar 04 2020
    Application (19A971) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until May 1, 2020.
  6. Mar 02 2020
    Application (19A971) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from April 1, 2020 to May 1, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.