R. Gary Klausner | |
|---|---|
 circa 2002 | |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California | |
| Assumed office November 15, 2002 | |
| Appointed by | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | William Duffy Keller |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Gary Klausner (1941-08-04)August 4, 1941 (age 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican[1] |
| Education | University of Notre Dame (BA,BS) Loyola Law School (JD) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1967–1969 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
Robert Gary Klausner (born August 4, 1941) is aUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California.
Klausner was born inLos Angeles, California in 1941.[2] He graduated fromLoyola High School.[3] He received aBachelor of Arts degree in 1963 and aBachelor of Science degree in 1964 from theUniversity of Notre Dame.[2] He received hisJuris Doctor fromLoyola Law School in 1967.[3]
Klausner served in theUnited States Army from 1967 to 1969,[2] serving during theVietnam War as acaptain.[3] He then was a deputy district attorney in theLos Angeles County District Attorney's Office from 1969 to 1974.[3][2]
He served as a court commissioner of thePasadena Municipal Court from 1974 to 1980. GovernorJerry Brown appointed him as a judge on the Pasadena Municipal Court in 1980. In 1985, GovernorGeorge Deukmejian elevated Klausner to theLos Angeles Superior Court bench, where he served until 2002.[3] Klausner became supervising judge of the Criminal Departments in 1991 and assistant presiding judge in 1993; he was presiding judge from 1995 to 1996.[3] In this role, Klausner opposed a merger of the municipal and superior courts.[4]
Klausner was nominated by PresidentGeorge W. Bush on July 18, 2002, to be a United States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California to the seat vacated byWilliam Duffy Keller.[3] Klausner, aRepublican, was recommended for the post by a unanimous vote of a local bipartisan committee that screens potential judicial nominees, and his nomination was uncontroversial.[4] Klausner was rated "well qualified" by a substantial majority of theAmerican Bar Association'sStanding Committee on the Federal Judiciary.[5] He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on November 14, 2002, byvoice vote,[6] and received his commission the following day.[3]
In 2006, Klausner presided overUnited States v. Ancheta, the federal prosecution ofJeanson James Ancheta ofDowney, California, the firstbotnet-related prosecution in U.S history. Following Ancheta's guilty plea, Klausner sentenced Ancheta to 57 months in prison for various botnet-related crimes.[7] In 2016, Klausner presided over a copyright case filed by the estate ofSpirit guitaristRandy Wolfe againstLed Zeppelin foundersRobert Plant andJimmy Page. The estate of Wolfe alleged that Wolfe was entitled to a writing credit for the song "Stairway to Heaven"; Klausner ruled in April 2016 that a jury could find "substantial similarity" between the elements of the two songs.[8] In another copyright case arising from theStar Trek fan filmPrelude to Axanar, Klausner rejected various motions by both parties in January 2017, setting the stage for a civil trial on the matter to go forward.[9][10] The parties settled the suit.[11] In August 2017, Klausner dismissed aclass-action lawsuit filed by boxing fans who contended that the 2015Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao boxing match was deceptively marketed because Pacquiao failed to disclose a shoulder injury that affected his performance. Klausner ruled that fans of sporting events have no right to have the event meet their expectations for excitement.[12] In October 2017, Klausner ruled in favor of the plaintiffCoachella Music Festival in a lawsuit against the fledgling "Filmchella" film festival, finding that the names were likely to cause consumer confusion.[13]
On May 1, 2020, Klausner rejected a lawsuit by theUnited States women's national soccer team's for equal pay, ruling there was no genuine issue of material fact that they were discriminated against in pay.[14][15][16]
A 2022 Klausner ruling dismissed a class-action suit against the FBI after the agency seized tens of millions of dollars in cash and valuables from hundreds of safe-deposit boxes. According to the LA Times, Klausner ruled that the raid "did not violate anyone’s constitutional rights" under the Fourth Amendment. The search warrant omitted FBI instructions which included "permanent confiscation of everything inside any box containing at least $5,000 in cash or goods, a senior FBI agent recently testified," the newspaper reported.[17] A plaintiff in the suit said the ruling would “set a dangerous precedent that will allow the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to bypass the4th Amendment,” which bars “unreasonable searches and seizures.”[17] A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned Klausner's ruling.[18]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California 2002–present | Incumbent |