Dominic W. Lanza
How Judge Lanza decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Protective of contract-FORMATION when a consumer's assent to a later-added arbitration clause is genuinely disputed: declines to 'robotically' enforce delegation/AAA-rules clauses without first deciding whether a valid agreement was formed under state law.
“when, as in this case, there is a legitimate dispute about whether the party opposing arbitration assented to the modification of a contract to add an arbitration clause, it would be improper for a court to robotically compel arbitration based on delegation principles without conducting any independent analysis of the contract-modification issue.”
Procedural preferences
On an UNOPPOSED dispositive motion he will NOT grant by default: he applies Rule 56(e)(2) to treat unaddressed facts as undisputed, then still tests the merits/standing before granting.
“Although Plaintiff’s failure to respond to Equifax’s motion does not mean the motion may be treated as unopposed and summarily granted on that basis, that failure still carries significant consequences.”
FCRA: reads a credit report as a whole. A 'Pay Status' notation using the past tense ('was past due') alongside a closed account and $0 balance is not inaccurate or misleading to a reasonable reader -> forecloses 1681e(b) and 1681i claims (Bibbs/Sanchez line).
“By including the word “was” in the Pay Status line immediately before the phrase “past due date,” Trans Union clearly denoted that the current status of the account was “Paid, Closed” ... Thus, Plaintiff’s credit report was “neither inaccurate nor misleading to a reasonable reader.””
Cautions
Jurisdiction-first discipline: where subject-matter jurisdiction is contested (tribal sovereign immunity under 12(b)(1)), he resolves it before reaching the merits and will deny leave to amend as futile if amendment cannot cure the jurisdictional bar.
“Because Plaintiff failed to meet her burden of establishing subject-matter jurisdiction over her complaint, the complaint must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) without consideration of Defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal arguments.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motions to dismiss N = 2 |
Granted: 2 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for leave to amend N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for sanctions N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for attorney fees N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to remand N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that Trans Union’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 17) is granted. Counts Three and Four of the FAC are dismissed without leave to amend and Trans Union is dismissed as a Defendant.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Equifax’s motion for summary judgment (Doc. 57) is granted. Because this ruling disposes of all remaining claims in this action, the Clerk shall enter judgment accordingly and terminate this action.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Doc. 17) is granted.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend (Doc. 36) is denied.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for Rule 11 sanctions (Doc. 59) is denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Couche-Tard’s motion for attorneys’ fees (Doc. 47) is DENIED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion for remand (Doc. 12) is denied.”
EXCLUDED from stats (procedural). On Desert Financial's motion to compel arbitration the court did NOT rule -- it ordered supplemental briefing on the unresolved Arizona contract-modification question (whether notice via an agreed channel, absent the consumer's actual knowledge, validly adds an arbitration clause), refusing to 'robotically compel arbitration' where assent to the modification is genuinely disputed.