Have any courts issued judgments, dismissals, or orders in Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump (5:16-cv-00797) and where are those orders publicly posted?
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Executive summary
The public record confirms that a civil complaint titled Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump, No. 5:16-cv-00797 (C.D. Cal.), was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on April 26, 2016 (complaint and docket entries) [1] [2]. Available docket snapshots and secondary reporting show limited activity (including mailed notices returned) and contemporaneous accounts that the matter was later dropped or dismissed in 2016, but the specific court-entered dismissal or judgment document is not present in the provided sources, so a definitive court order text cannot be produced from these materials [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. Filing and docket presence: what the court records in the sources show
The case was opened in the Central District of California and the complaint is publicly available in multiple online mirrors and docket summaries showing the April 26, 2016 filing and assignment to Judge Dolly M. Gee, with discovery referred to Magistrate Judge Karen L. Stevenson (copies of the complaint and PACERMonitor filing summary) [1] [2]. CourtListener and related index pages record docket activity for case 5:16-cv-00797, including administrative notes such as mailed notices returned to the court, which demonstrate at least some docket entries were made after filing (mail-returned entries) [3] [4].
2. Reporting that the case was dropped or dismissed, and what those outlets cite
Contemporaneous and later press reports indicate the lawsuit did not proceed to a public judgment: Newsweek’s reporting states allegations from a lawsuit “that was dismissed in 2016” have circulated on social media, and tabloid coverage at the time said the plaintiff “dropped” the case in November 2016 (Newsweek; Daily Mail) [5] [6]. Those media pieces reflect secondary reporting rather than attaching a scanned court order; the Newsweek item explicitly characterizes the lawsuit as dismissed in 2016 [5].
3. What the sources do not provide — the key limitation
None of the provided sources includes an explicit court-entered dismissal order, final judgment, or minute order signed by a judge and posted to the Central District of California docket in the material supplied here; the copies of the complaint and docket summaries show filing and administrative entries but do not contain a scanned document labeled “Order of Dismissal” or a final judgment text in the supplied links (petition and docket copies) [1] [7] [2]. Therefore, based on the supplied reporting and docket snapshots, it is not possible to produce or cite a specific court-issued judgment or dismissal document.
4. Where authoritative orders would be publicly posted if they exist
If a court entered an order or judgment, the authoritative public posting would appear on the Central District of California’s electronic docket (PACER) and on repositories that mirror PACER dockets such as CourtListener, Justia Dockets, Law360’s docket pages, and public archival sites that have copies of filings (CourtListener; Justia; Law360; PacerMonitor) [3] [8] [9] [10]. Multiple provided sources — CourtListener, Justia, Law360, PacerMonitor and archival mirrors of the complaint — confirm those platforms carry the case docket or filings and are the correct places to search for any judge-signed orders [3] [8] [9] [10] [7].
5. Bottom line and next steps for verification
The record supplied proves filing and docketing of Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump (5:16-cv-00797) and shows media accounts stating the case was dropped or dismissed in 2016, but the specific court-signed dismissal or judgment document is not present in these sources [1] [2] [5] [6]. To confirm a court-issued order conclusively, the appropriate next step is to query the Central District of California’s PACER docket for case 5:16-cv-00797 and to search CourtListener/Justia/Law360 for a scanned order or judgment entry; if PACER records show a disposition entry, the corresponding PDF there will be the primary source for any dismissal or judgment [3] [8] [9].