Nextdoor, Inc. v. Abhyanker

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

NEXTDOOR, INC., Case No. 12-cv-05667-EMC

Plaintiff,

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S v. MOTION TO ENFORCE

SETTLEMENT

RAJ ABHYANKER,

Docket Nos. 501, 524

Defendant.

Previously, the Court granted Nextdoor’s motion for immediate interim relief. See Docket No. 561 (order). In the same order, the Court noted that Nextdoor’s motion to enforce the Settlement Agreement should also be granted but deferred issuing that order because of Mr. Abhyanker’s pending appeal. Mr. Abhyanker has now voluntarily dismissed his appeal. See Docket No. 569 (Ninth Circuit order). The Court therefore now GRANTS Nextdoor’s motion to enforce the Settlement Agreement.

Mr. Abhyanker has suggested that this order is unnecessary because he has complied with the Settlement Agreement and/or the Court’s order on interim relief. However, “[i]t is well settled that ‘a defendant’s voluntary cessation of a challenged practice does not deprive a federal court of its power to determine the legality of the practice,’” as “‘[i]f it did, the courts would be compelled to leave “the defendant . . . free to return to his old ways.”’” Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 189 (2000). Mr. Abhyanker has not his met “‘heavy burden of persuading’ [this] [C]ourt that the challenged conduct cannot reasonably be expected to start up again’”; given the history of this litigation, it is not “‘absolutely clear that [his] behavior Because the appeal has now been resolved, the Court also addresses Mr. Abhyanker’s motion to stay. See Docket No. 501. The motion is DENIED as moot.

This order disposes of Docket Nos. 501 and 524.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: June 7, 2021 ______________________________________ EDWARD M. CHEN

United States District Judge