Starlight Entertainment Enterprises, Inc. v. Central District of California

Starlight Entertainment Enterprises, Inc. v. Central District of California The Federal Circuit dismissed the appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and untimeliness, and issued an order to show cause why sanctions—including an anti-filing injunction—should not be imposed, given Calderon Lopez's repeated disregard of prior warnings. Illustrates the Federal Circuit's willingness to move toward affirmative filing restrictions against serial vexatious appellants who repeatedly ignore jurisdictional warnings, a tool patent counsel should be aware of when dealing with abusive filers. Appeal dismissed; all other motions denied; show-cause order issued to appellant within 21 days regarding potential sanctions including monetary fine and/or anti-filing injunction. The Federal Circuit has no jurisdiction over Ninth Circuit decisions and has told Calderon Lopez so repeatedly across more than a dozen prior appeals. The appeal was also independently defective as untimely, filed well outside the 30-day jurisdictional deadline from any cognizable district court order. The underlying dispute—a filing-fee refund request arising from a landlord-tenant case—falls entirely outside the Federal Circuit's limited subject matter jurisdiction. The court had previously warned Calderon Lopez in September 2025 (Appeal No. 2025-1943) that further improper filings could result in sanctions; he filed this appeal anyway. Potential sanctions identified include a monetary fine, a payment-conditioned filing restriction, and/or an anti-filing injunction requiring pre-approval of any future notices of appeal to this court. standing / jurisdiction attorney fees / sanctions non-precedential injunction / stay standing / jurisdiction attorney fees / sanctions non-precedential injunction / stay standing / jurisdiction attorney fees / sanctions non-precedential injunction / stay