Jon S. Tigar

How Judge Tigar rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Position
district
Appointed by
Barack Obama (Democratic)
Commissioned
2013
ABA rating
Unanimously Well Qualified
Education
Williams College (B.A., 1984); University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law (J.D., 1988)
Signed orders read
16

How Judge Tigar decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Grants a motion to dismiss without leave to amend where an abstention doctrine (e.g., Younger) bars the action.

“Commissioner McCauley's motion is granted. Because this action is barred by Younger abstention, the Court dismisses Roshan's complaint without leave to amend.”

Procedural preferences

Grants a stipulated or voluntary dismissal with prejudice and terminates the affected defendants.

“the court GRANTS the motion to dismiss Plaintiff's claims against OSD Audio and Amazon.com., Inc. with prejudice. The Clerk shall terminate those two defendants as parties to this action.”

He grants reconsideration when an earlier interlocutory ruling overlooked a dispositive argument that the party had presented.

“The Court erred in overlooking this statement.”

Cautions

Grants a motion to remand a State's parens patriae enforcement action, finding the State the real party in interest so no diversity or federal-officer basis supports removal.

“Plaintiff's motion to remand is granted.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Roshan v. McCauley
4:23-cv-05819-JST · 2024-02-05
Preliminary injunction (plaintiff) Denied

“the Court will deny Roshan's motion for preliminary injunction, and grant Commissioner McCauley's motion to dismiss.”

Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Commissioner McCauley's motion is granted. Because this action is barred by Younger abstention, the Court dismisses Roshan's complaint without leave to amend.”

Su v. Siemens Industry, Inc.
3:12-cv-03743-JST · 2014-07-21
Motion for reconsideration (plaintiff) Granted in part

“The court modifies its summary judgment order to only preclude an award of health and life insurance benefits.”

Fahey v. Whole Foods Market, Inc.
4:20-cv-06737-JST · 2021-08-27

After the plaintiff failed to amend by the deadline set in an earlier dismissal order, Tigar dismissed the false-advertising action with prejudice and entered judgment. The order is retained as a procedural disposition rather than a new ruling on the earlier motion.

Highgrade Tech. Co. v. OSD Audio
3:13-cv-01881-JST · 2014-07-15
Motion for voluntary dismissal (plaintiff) Granted

“the court GRANTS the motion to dismiss Plaintiff's claims against OSD Audio and Amazon.com., Inc. with prejudice. The Clerk shall terminate those two defendants as parties to this action.”

Olea v. Teichert Pipelines, Inc.
4:21-cv-03016-JST · 2023-05-31

Before reaching cross-motions for summary judgment, Tigar raised Article III standing on his own initiative and required the removing defendant to explain why the case should not return to state court. No party motion was decided in this order.

People of the State of California v. Kraft Heinz Company, et al.
4:26-cv-00183-JST · 2026-04-23
Motions to remand (plaintiff) Granted

“Plaintiff's motion to remand is granted.”

Iravanian v. TransPerfect Translations International, Inc.
4:22-cv-09157-JST · 2026-05-27
Motion for reconsideration (plaintiff) Granted

“Accordingly, the motion for leave to seek reconsideration is granted.”

Firsov v. LBF Travel, Inc.
4:25-cv-03198-JST · 2026-05-14
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Before the Court is Defendant LBF Travel's motion to dismiss Plaintiff Sergey Firsov's first amended complaint (‘FAC’). ECF No. 65. The Court will grant the motion.”

Harris v. Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
4:25-cv-11106-JST · 2026-07-24
Motions to remand (plaintiff) Denied

“Because Defendant has identified a federal claim under Section 301 of the LMRA, Harris's motion to remand is denied.”

Spyder Games LLC v. Thomas
4:26-cv-00933-JST · 2026-07-28
Default judgment (plaintiff) Granted

“Accordingly, default judgment against Defendant Bella Thomas is granted.”

Cupp v. County of Sonoma
4:23-cv-01007-JST · 2026-05-01

After the plaintiff missed the deadline to oppose summary judgment, Tigar required a response explaining the omission or a statement of non-opposition, vacated the reply and hearing dates, and warned that continued nonresponse could lead to treating the motion as unopposed or dismissing for failure to prosecute.

Valla Djafari v. The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, et al.
4:25-cv-05024-JST · 2026-08-24
Motions to transfer (defendants (Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America and Guardian Life Insurance Company of America)) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, the Court denies Defendants’ motion to transfer.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

  • The June 2026 sample is dominated by newly filed criminal cases, an immigration-detention habeas petition, and civil disputes involving online platforms, housing technology, and student loans.
  • Older terminated cases include employee-benefit collections, disability-access claims, mortgage and foreclosure disputes, copyright, and pro se civil-rights matters.
  • The durations below come from terminated cases in the sample.

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