Powerhouse Beverage Company LLC v. Nahoum
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:22-cv-05559
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Powerhouse Beverage v. Nahoum, Judge Schofield granted defendants’ application to treat their letters as pre-motion requests and scheduled a conference.
The order affected the defendants’ requests to seek litigation restrictions against Daniel Ehrlich and scheduled the next procedural step; it did not yet impose an injunction or other filing restriction.
What happened
Powerhouse Beverage Company LLC v. Nahoum concerns defendants’ request to restrict Daniel Ehrlich from filing related lawsuits without permission. Their letter accused Ehrlich of bringing repeated, frivolous cases and asked for an injunction under a federal law called the All Writs Act.
The letter described disputes involving Powerhouse Beverage, the IQ Juice trademark, bankruptcy proceedings, and state and federal lawsuits. These assertions were presented by defendants in support of their requested relief; the order did not decide whether the accusations were true or whether Ehrlich was a vexatious litigant.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield granted the application by treating defendants’ submissions as letters requesting permission to file motions and scheduled an in-person conference for August 16, 2023. The order did not issue the requested injunction and directed the Clerk to close motions at Dockets 73, 81, and 82.
The detailed version
- Powerhouse Beverage Company LLC v. Nahoum · No. 1:22-cv-05559
- Lorna Schofield
- Aug. 3, 2023
Background
Defendant Thomas Stanziale, an attorney who also represented the remaining named defendants, submitted a pre-motion letter under the court’s local rules. The defendants asked for permission to seek an order declaring plaintiff Daniel Ehrlich a vexatious litigant and an injunction under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651. They sought restrictions on current and future state and federal lawsuits arising from the same facts and involving the same parties, unless Ehrlich first obtained permission from the court.
The letter alleged that Ehrlich had pursued related litigation in multiple forums, including arbitration, state court, federal district court, and bankruptcy court. It also accused him of misconduct involving Powerhouse Beverage, the IQ Juice trademark, company funds, bankruptcy filings, and the use of allegedly false or forged documents. The letter further asserted that defendants owned 51 percent of Powerhouse Beverage, relying on a state-court decision identified in the submission. These were defendants’ allegations in support of their requested relief.
Court’s Action
The court stated: “Application GRANTED.” It construed defendants’ motions as pre-motion letters requesting a conference. The court scheduled an in-person conference for August 16, 2023, at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, Courtroom 1106, and directed the Clerk of Court to close the motions at Dockets 73, 81, and 82.
The order did not declare Ehrlich a vexatious litigant, issue the requested injunction, or decide the underlying disputes concerning the company, trademark, alleged fraud, or other litigation. The ruling therefore addressed the procedure for potentially filing the requested motions, not the merits of the proposed restrictions.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.