Strike 3 Holdings California Filings: Sacramento and Santa Ana adds 18 Cases: How to Deal with this?

Strike 3 Holdings California filings include 18 new John Doe copyright lawsuits filed on September 25, 2026.

These Strike 3 Holdings California filings name the defendant only by an IP address. Ten were filed in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento courthouse location, docket numbers starting with 2:). Eight were filed in the Central District of California, Southern Division (Santa Ana courthouse location, docket numbers starting with 8:). Each complaint names the defendant only by an IP address. Antonelli Law has represented nearly 400 clients in California.

Nothing in these court documents show that the account holder downloaded anything.

This Torrent Defenders® explainer is educational. It is not legal advice. Antonelli Law® defends people who receive these papers. We do not represent copyright holders.

What usually happens next

A complaint filed in court does not mean a letter goes out that day. Strike 3 Holdings first asks the judge for permission to serve a subpoena on the internet provider before the usual discovery conference. If the judge allows it, the provider writes to its subscriber, usually with the case number, the IP address, and a date. That date is normally the provider’s own date for responding to the subpoena. It is not a deadline to answer a complaint that names you. Orders and timing vary by judge, so read your letter carefully. Subpoena timing is covered on its own page: Strike 3 Holdings ISP subpoena orders.

The person who pays the internet bill may not be the person who used the connection. A housemate, guest, family member, or someone on an open network can share the same IP address.

What you can do

• Keep the provider’s letter and the envelope or email it came in.
• Write down the docket number and the date on the letter.
• Do not contact Strike 3 Holdings or its lawyers yourself before you understand your options.
• Do not delete files or change equipment in a way that could look like destroying evidence.

What you Can Learn

Our short videos explain some of the important things to know about the Strike 3 Holdings lawsuit process, and your main options right now.

Many clients have told us our videos are very helpful. Click the image below to watch.

All 18 complaints were signed by the same attorney, Lincoln D. Bandlow of the Law Offices of Lincoln Bandlow, PC in Los Angeles. The complaints use essentially the same template. The differences are the court, the ISP name, and the IP address. Each complaint lists the brands Blacked, Blacked Raw, MILFY, Slayed, Tushy, Tushy Raw, Vixen, and Wifey, and refers to Maxmind for IP location.

Strike 3 Holdings California Filings at a Glance

The filing date, docket, IP address, city, ISP, and works count in the tables below come from the official federal court records including the Strike 3 Holdings lawsuit Exhibit A and the complaint in each case – found on Pacer.gov. Each row below links both documents so you can check them yourself. You can register for an account with Pacer.gov right here – no law degree required.

Eastern District of California – Sacramento courthouse location (10 cases)

Each case below has a docket number beginning with “2:”, which is the courthouse location (Sacramento) where it was filed.

Central District of California – Santa Ana courthouse location (8 cases)

Each case below has a docket number beginning with “8:”, the courthouse location for the Southern Division in Santa Ana.

What the Exhibit A records show

The 18 Exhibit A attachments list 650 works in total (328 in the Sacramento cases, 322 in the Orange County cases). Individual cases range from 24 to 61 works. Exhibit A lists file hashes, recorded times, and brand names. It does not list film titles.

Some cases list activity going back to late 2023. Two Orange County cases (8:26-cv-02832 and 8:26-cv-02827) cover nearly three years of recorded activity. One case (8:26-cv-02831) covers just eight days in early September 2026. The most recent recorded activity in each case was between 9 and 50 days before the September 25 filing date. The shortest gaps were 9 days (2:26-cv-03406 and 8:26-cv-02826). Several Exhibits show most of the activity on a single day.

When the recorded times are converted to Pacific time, most fall in the afternoon (12–6 pm) or evening (6 pm–midnight). Fewer fall overnight or in the morning. Sunday was the least frequent day. Those times come from the plaintiff’s monitoring logs. They do not show who was at a device.

Of the 603 distinct file hashes across all 18 cases, 41 appear in more than one case. Fourteen of those appear in both the Sacramento and Orange County groups. No two cases share an identical timestamp. The same popular files show up in more than one case. Shared files by themselves do not mean the Does are the same person.

Three Sacramento Comcast cases (2:26-cv-03402, 2:26-cv-03404, and 2:26-cv-03405) list IP addresses that differ only in the last number. Two of them (03402 and 03405) list 17 of the same files, but at different times. ISPs reassign addresses. The filings do not say whether these are the same or different households.

Who is handling these cases – The Judges

Sacramento (Eastern District of California): Senior Judge William B. Shubb is assigned to four cases (2:26-cv-03391, 03399, 03402, and 03406). An initial scheduling conference is set for March 8, 2027 in those cases. Senior Judge John A. Mendez is assigned to the other six. Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney is on all 10. As of October 12, 2026, no related-case order, reassignment, or early-subpoena request appears in these 10 dockets.

Santa Ana (Central District of California, Southern Division): All eight cases are assigned to Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr., with discovery referred to Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym. This follows the court’s practice of assigning related Strike 3 Holdings cases together. A September 30, 2026 order by Judge Mark C. Scarsi (chair of the case assignment committee) assigned the related group to Judge Hatter with discovery to Magistrate Judge Pym. Judge Hatter issued a minute order regarding new cases on October 1.

What happens next: the early subpoena stage

Because the defendant is known only by IP address, Strike 3 typically asks the court for permission to subpoena the ISP before the normal discovery conference. These requests are called ex parte applications for leave to serve a third-party subpoena prior to a Rule 26(f) conference.

In the Orange County cases, those applications were filed on October 6 (for 8:26-cv-02827 and 02832) and October 8 (for the other six). As of October 12, 2026, they were pending before Magistrate Judge Pym. In the Sacramento cases, no such application had been filed as of October 12, 2026. That step typically comes next.

If the court grants the request, the ISP usually notifies the subscriber before turning over information. That notice gives time to consult a lawyer and consider options. Outcomes and timelines vary by case and court. This description is general information only.

Alec Dardis – Orange County Native Helping People in These Strike 3 Holdings Cases

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Clients we have represented in California

Antonelli Law has represented clients in federal copyright matters in California who lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Irvine, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Orange, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Long Beach, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Torrance, and other California locations.

These are federal cases filed in the Eastern, Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of California. A free confidential consultation is available if your ISP letter lists one of the docket numbers in the tables above.

This post is legal information, not legal advice for any one case. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Status information is as of October 12, 2026.

TORRENT DEFENDERS® is a federally registered trademark owned exclusively by the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Antonelli, Ltd. dba Antonelli Law.

Related reading

• Strike 3 Holdings ISP subpoena orders
• Strike 3 Holdings September 2026 filings
• Strike 3 Holdings amended complaint: later stage