Christina A. Snyder
How Judge Snyder rules, drawn from 12 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Snyder decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In class actions spanning plaintiffs inside and outside the Ninth Circuit she differentiates by governing circuit law, granting partial summary judgment against out-of-circuit plaintiffs while denying it as to those within the Ninth Circuit.
“ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO ALL PLAINTIFFS OUTSIDE THE NINTH CIRCUIT[;] DENYING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO PLAINTIFFS IN THE NINTH CIRCUIT”
In the reviewed trade-dress dispute, she required evidence that a descriptive package had acquired secondary meaning and entered judgment when the plaintiff offered none.
“there is no evidence proffered to enable the Court to find a triable issue of fact as to whether the Kim Seng package has acquired a secondary meaning.”
In the reviewed county-seal case, she assessed the challenged cross from the perspective of an informed observer familiar with the seal's history and the public controversy surrounding removal and restoration.
“an informed and reasonable observer familiar with the history surrounding the County’s use of a Latin cross on its seal — and the County’s controversial removal of the cross in 2004 — would find its recent effort to reintroduce a cross to the seal as favoring one set of religious beliefs over another.”
Procedural preferences
Resolves multiple pending motions in a single omnibus order, e.g. granting a defendant's summary judgment while denying the plaintiff's motions to amend and to compel arbitration in one ruling.
“ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (filed 09/12/07) ... CHRISTINA A. SNYDER, District Judge.”
Treats reference to a collective-bargaining agreement as distinct from interpretation when deciding whether state employment claims are federally preempted.
“Accordingly, the Court finds that resolution of plaintiffs FEHA claims does not require a court to interpret the terms and provisions of a CBA and therefore plaintiffs claims are not preempted under section 301 of the LMRA.”
In the reviewed patent pleading, she denied a more-definite-statement request where the complaint gave enough notice to answer and the additional product-level detail could be developed through discovery.
“The FAC is not so vague that defendants cannot prepare a responsive pleading, and the detail defendants seek is obtainable through discovery.”
In the reviewed music-copyright dispute, she resolved authorship, co-ownership, and standing at summary judgment but left the scope of the foreign-law license for trial because the agreements and expert evidence supported competing interpretations.
“The Court concludes that a triable question of fact otherwise exists with respect to the scope of the grant.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (filed 09/12/07) ... CHRISTINA A. SNYDER, District Judge.”
“ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO AMEND THE COMPLAINT (filed 09/18/07)”
“ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO COMPEL ARBITRATION (filed 09/24/07)”
“ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO ALL PLAINTIFFS OUTSIDE THE NINTH CIRCUIT[;] DENYING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO PLAINTIFFS IN THE NINTH CIRCUIT”
“AND GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS' RENEWED MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ... CHRISTINA A. SNYDER, District Judge.”
“DEATH PENALTY CASE ORDER GRANTING IN PART PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS CHRISTINA A. SNYDER, District Judge.”
“ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT CHRISTINA A. SNYDER, District Judge.”
“In accordance with the foregoing, the Court GRANTS plaintiffs motion to remand to state court.”
“Therefore, defendant’s motion to dismiss for improper venue is hereby GRANTED.”
“In accordance with the foregoing, the Court GRANTS plaintiffs motion to remand.”
“Accordingly, the Court DENIES Space Chariot’s motion for leave to file a third-party complaint against Deep Vapes.”
“The Court therefore GRANTS UL’s motion for partial summary judgment as against Space Chariot.”
“In accordance with the foregoing, the Court hereby DENIES defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, or, in the alternative, for a more definite statement.”
“In light of the foregoing, Kim Seng’s motion is DENIED.”
“J & A’s motion is GRANTED in its entirety.”
“In accordance with the foregoing, the Court DENIES plaintiffs motion to exclude testimony of Ahmed Y. Zohny.”
“The Court GRANTS plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment with respect to the following issues: (1) that Baligh Hamdy authored and owned the copyright in the ‘Khosara, Khosara’ musical composition; (2) that plaintiff Osama Fahmy is a Hamdy heir, and a co-owner of the ‘Khosara, Khosara’ copyright; (3) that plaintiff Osama Fahmy has standing to bring claims that defendants’ works infringed the ‘Khosara, Khosara’ copyright. The Court DENIES plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment with respect to the following issue, which it concludes present triable issues of fact for the jury: that defendants do not have a grant of permission to make derivative works from the ‘Khosara, Khosara’ musical composition.”
“In accordance with the foregoing, plaintiffs’ motion for a permanent injunction is hereby GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed recent assignments are dominated by pending immigration-detainee habeas petitions and pro se filings. Reviewed cases filed in 2022 include civil-rights, prisoner civil-rights, habeas, and contract matters, several of which ended quickly through screening dismissals. Duration figures are limited to terminated cases in the reviewed set.
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