BHS Law LLP v. Jipyong LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied BHS Law LLP’s application for a temporary restraining order seeking to enjoin Jipyong LLC and Jinhee Kim from allegedly engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. The court held that BHS failed to establish likely irreparable harm, including because its alleged economic injuries could be remedied through money damages, and therefore did not address the remaining preliminary-injunction factors. The court also struck BHS’s second amended complaint as improperly filed without leave or consent.

Holdings

1. BHS Law failed to establish a likelihood of imminent irreparable harm. Conclusory allegations of litigation-related waste and economic injury were insufficient, and economic injuries redressable by money damages do not ordinarily constitute irreparable harm.
2. The court struck BHS Law's second amended complaint because BHS had already exercised its one amendment as a matter of course and filed the second amendment without court leave or defendants' consent.

Questions Presented

1. Whether BHS Law established a likelihood of irreparable harm sufficient to warrant a temporary restraining order.
2. Whether the court could consider the second amended complaint filed without leave of court or defendants' consent.

Disposition

other