Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_17-cv-02144/USCOURTS-casd-3_17-cv-02144-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 850
Nature of Suit: Securities, Commodities, Exchange
Cause of Action: 28:1348 Banking association as party

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

MARGARET WILLETT, 

Plaintiff,

vs. 

ALEX PROCOPIO, et al., 

Defendants.

CASE NO. 17cv2144-LAB (JMA) 

ORDER DENYING EX PARTE MOTION 

FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING 

ORDER 

 For the second time in three months Margaret Willet asks this Court to prioritize her 

case over all others and take emergency action to enjoin Alex Procopio. Willet requests an 

order restraining Procopio (who hasn’t appeared) from selling any securities and freezing 

his assets. She maintains this extraordinary relief is warranted because Procopio is selling 

Cuba Beverage Company—the underlying entity at issue in this securities case—to stymie 

Willet’s efforts to collect before the Court rules on her motion for default judgment. The Court 

disagrees for two reasons. 

First, Willet failed to establish she’s likely to succeed on the merits. Winter v. Nat. 

Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008). Although a motion for default judgment is 

pending, that doesn’t mean she’s likely to win. The Court must still evaluate the merits of 

her claim, and the sufficiency of her complaint. And at this point, it appears unlikely Willet 

has stated a claim that entitles her to a default judgment. 

/ / / 

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Second, Willet failed to show she faces irreparable harm. Id. She argues that if Cuba 

Beverage is bought-out, the company’s assets “will be transferred overseas to a phantom 

company and impossible to attach,” and any proceeds will be “concealed by Defendant in 

an off shore account in the country of Cuba and equally impossible to attach.” That’s mere 

speculation. And she didn’t even attach the article she premised her argument on. Willet 

hasn’t provided “specific facts” that “clearly show” she faces immediate injury entitling her 

to emergency relief. Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b). 

The motion is denied. [Dkt. 38.] 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: May 1, 2018

HONORABLE LARRY ALAN BURNS

United States District Judge 

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