Yvonne Y. Ho
How Judge Ho decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a plaintiff's Rule 41(a)(2) voluntary dismissal, she follows the traditional rule that dismissal without prejudice should be allowed unless the defendant shows plain legal prejudice beyond the mere prospect of a second lawsuit; a defendant's bare continued objection without a showing of cognizable prejudice does not defeat it.
“courts have generally followed the traditional principle that dismissal without prejudice should be allowed 'unless the defendant will suffer some plain legal prejudice other than the mere prospect of a second lawsuit.' ... It also lists the reasons why Defendant will not be prejudiced in a legally cognizable manner.”
Procedural preferences
Resolves removal and dispositive motions together on referral: where remand is unwarranted she retains the case and reaches the merits, recommending dismissal in the same M&R (St. Amand: remand denied + MTD granted, dismissed with prejudice).
“Magistrate Judge Ho's Memorandum and Recommendation (Doc. No. 12) that the Court deny Plaintiff's motion to remand and grant the Defendant's motion to dismiss.”
Cautions
Tests pleadings rigorously for facial plausibility; recommends dismissal with prejudice where the complaint fails to state a claim across all asserted theories (Bader: breach of contract, gross negligence, and unjust enrichment all dismissed).
“recommending that this lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice because Plaintiff has not stated a claim for breach of contract, gross negligence, or unjust enrichment.”
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 |
| Motions to remand N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for voluntary dismissal N = 1 |
Granted: 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.
“Judge Ho filed a Memorandum and Recommendation on April 29, 2025, recommending that this lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice because Plaintiff has not stated a claim for breach of contract, gross negligence, or unjust enrichment. ... (2) This case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“She recommends that Plaintiff's notice to voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice be granted pursuant to Rule 41(a)(2). ... The notice by Plaintiff Demarcus Gene Hubert for voluntary dismissal without prejudice is accepted as a motion under Rule 41(a)(2) and is on that basis GRANTED. ... The case is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“the Memorandum and Recommendation (Doc. No. 12) is ADOPTED; Plaintiff[']s Motion to Remand (Doc. No. 5) is DENIED;”
“and Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 7) GRANTED; It is further ORDERED that Plaintiff[']s case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”