Opinion
No. 2:11-cr-00111-MCE No. 2:11-cr-00420-JAM
10-24-2011
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. JERRY JONES, Defendant. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. WENDY JOHNSTON, Defendant.
RELATED CASE ORDER
The Court has received the Notice of Related Case filed on October 21, 2011.
Examination of the above-entitled criminal actions reveals that these actions are related within the meaning of Local Rule 123(a) (E.D. Cal. 1997). The actions arise from the same ongoing law enforcement investigation, share common legal issues and involve related parties, and would therefore entail a substantial duplication of labor if heard by different judges. Accordingly, the assignment of the matters to the same judge is likely to effect a substantial savings of judicial effort and is also likely to be convenient for the parties.
The parties should be aware that relating the cases under Local Rule 123 merely has the result that both actions are assigned to the same judge; no consolidation of the action is effected. Under the regular practice of this court, related cases are generally assigned to the district judge and magistrate judge to whom the first filed action was assigned.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the action denominated 2:11-cr-00420, United States of America v. Wendy Johnston is reassigned to Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. for all further proceedings, and any dates currently set in this reassigned case only is hereby VACATED. Henceforth, the caption on documents filed in the reassigned case shall be shown as 2:11-cr-00420-MCE.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court make appropriate adjustment in the assignment of criminal cases to compensate for this reassignment.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE