Justia U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

In 2003, the City of Santa Monica enacted an exception to the general prohibition on “unattended displays” of nativity scenes in its parks for the month of December in the City’s Palisades Park. A decade later, after a number of atheists began opposing the nativity scenes, the City repealed the “Winter Display” exception. The Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee sued the City, alleging that the repeal ordinance violated the Committee’s right to free speech because it was an unconstitutional heckler’s veto and violated the Establishment Clause by conveying the message that the City disapproved of Christianity. The district court dismissed the Committee’s complaint under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). A panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the heckler’s veto doctrine had no application in this case because the repeal was a valid content-neutral time, place, and manner regulation; and (2) the Committee failed to state a claim under the Establishment Clause. View "Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Comm. v. City of Santa Monica" on Justia Law

Appellant, a California state prisoner serving a life sentence for first-degree murder and attempted robbery, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court more than six years after the statutory filing deadline had passed. Appellant sought equitable tolling on the basis of his previous counsel’s handling of the case. The district court dismissed the habeas petition as time-barred, concluding that Appellant had not met his burden of proving entitlement to equitable tolling. The Fourth Circuit vacated the district court’s judgment dismissing Appellant’s federal habeas petition, holding (1) this Court’s cases holding that egregious attorney misconduct may serve as a basis for equitable tolling, even if the misconduct falls short of abandonment, remain good law; and (2) the professional misconduct of Appellant’s former counsel constituted an extraordinary circumstance, and that misconduct prevented Appellant from filing his federal habeas petition on time. Remanded for a determination of whether Appellant diligently pursued his rights through the date of filing. View "Luna v. Kernan" on Justia Law

In 2011, the Arizona Legislature enacted a new law requiring voter registration forms to list the two largest parties, as well as provide a blank line for “other party preferences.” See Ariz. Rev. Stat. 16-152(A)(5). The Arizona Green Party, the Arizona Libertarian Party, and three of their members (together, Plaintiffs) brought this action alleging that the new voter registration form violated their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments because the form failed to “treat equally the four parties with Statewide continuing ballot access.” The district court granted summary judgment for the State. A panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding that Plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of establishing that section 16-152(A)(5) is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest. View "Ariz. Libertarian Party v. Bennett" on Justia Law

Appellant, an Idaho state prisoner, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction and capital sentence for two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of felony murder, and one count of grand theft. The district court denied the petition. Appellant subsequently filed a motion under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) and 60(d) for relief from the district court’s judgment, arguing (1) Martinez v. Ryan gives cause for the state-law procedural default of three of the claims he raised in his initial federal habeas petition; and (2) he was entitled to relief under Rules 60(b)(6) and 60(d)(3) because the state’s attorneys perpetrated a fraud on the federal district court. A panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Appellant’s claims related to judicial bias were not the type of claims that could be pursued under Martinez; (2) Appellant’s claim relating to his counsel’s conflict of interest did not satisfy this circuit’s test for establishing cause to excuse procedural default under Martinez; and (3) Appellant failed to establish a factual basis to show that the state Attorney General’s office perpetrated a fraud on the court during Appellant’s federal habeas proceedings. View "Pizzuto v. Ramirez" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed this state law negligence action against two park maintenance employees of the City of Portland after she fell and was injured while jogging in one of Portland’s parks. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants, concluding (1) Defendants were “owners” of the park for purposes of the Oregon Public Use of Lands Act and were hence entitled to immunity under the Act; and (2) granting Defendants immunity under Act did not violate the remedy clause of the Oregon Constitution. Plaintiff appealed the adverse judgment. The parties subsequently filed a joint motion to certify two questions to the Oregon Supreme Court: (1) whether city maintenance workers are “owners” of the park and therefore entitled to immunity under the Act; and (2) if so, whether the Act violates the remedy clause of the Oregon Constitution. Because there is no controlling precedent on these questions in the decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court and the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Ninth Circuit certified them to the Oregon Supreme Court. View "Johnson v. Gibson" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of illegal reentry. The district court entered an order revoking supervised release based on that conviction. Defendant appealed, arguing, among other things, that the district court erred in rejecting his challenges to three of the government’s peremptory strikes under Batson v. Kentucky. A panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the district court erred in failing to reach the third step of the Batson framework without evaluating the persuasiveness of the government’s facially neutral reason for its peremptory strikes of three Hispanic individuals in the venire, but Defendant failed to show purposeful discrimination, and the record did not support such a finding on de novo review; and (2) the district court’s supplemental jury instruction, which clarified that the insanity defense would not apply if, while Defendant was illegally present in the United States, Defendant was sane for a long enough period to have left the country, was substantially correct and not coercive. View "United States v. Alvarez-Ulloa" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of twelve felony counts related to a complex mortgage fraud scheme. Defendant filed two motions for a new trial, arguing that the government violated Brady v. Maryland by withholding material exculpatory evidence and violated her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. The district court denied the motions, concluding that Defendant’s rights under Brady and the Fourth Amendment had not been violated. A panel of the Ninth Circuit vacated the district court’s orders denying Defendant’s motions for a new trial and remanded, holding that the district court (1) abused its discretion in denying Defendant’s requests for an evidentiary hearing and for discovery; (2) should reconsider Defendant’s Brady claims on an open record, in conjunction with the additional disclosure with which Defendant sought to augment the record on appeal; and (3) erred in concluding that an employee’s copying of documents from Defendant’s real estate and investment offices was not a search implicating the Fourth Amendment. View "United States v. Mazzarella" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs brought a class action for declaratory and injunctive relief against Sheriff Joseph Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, alleging that Defendants have a custom, policy and practice of racially profiling Latino drivers and passengers and of stopping them pretextually under the auspices of enforcing immigration-related laws. After a bench trial, the district court concluded that Defendants employed unconstitutional policies in relation to patrol operations and entered a permanent injunction against Defendants. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part the permanent injunction, holding (1) Maricopa County, rather than the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, should have been named as the party in the action; (2) sufficient evidence supported the court’s finding that Defendants’ constitutional violations occurred during regular, non-saturation patrols; (3) the named plaintiffs had standing to assert the claims of absent class members who were stopped during non-saturation patrols; and (4) while many of the provisions of the injunction were narrowly tailored to remedy the specific constitutional violations found by the district court, some terms of the injunction were broader than necessary to cure the constitutional violations at issue in this case. Remanded. View "Melendres v. Arpaio" on Justia Law

Here a panel of the Ninth Circuit withdrew its opinion filed on February 25, 2015 and replaced it with this amended opinion. The panel reversed the district’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Sears, Roebuck and Co. in a suit filed by Plaintiff, a former employee of Sears. Plaintiff alleged three disability discrimination claims under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The panel concluded that Plaintiff presented triable claims under FEHA that deserved trial. The panel additionally noted (1) it was beside the point that some of Plaintiff’s evidence was self-serving because such testimony was admissible, though absent corroboration, it may have limited weight; and (2) a district court could disregard a self-serving declaration that stated only conclusions and not facts that would be admissible evidence. Remanded. View "Nigro v. Sears, Roebuck and Co." on Justia Law

A panel of the Ninth Circuit filed an amended opinion in this dispute regarding attorney’s fees. In the amended opinion, the panel affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court’s award of attorney’s fees and costs to Capristrano Unified School District as the prevailing defendant in an action brought by the mother of a special education student alleging violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and 42 U.S.C. 1983. The panel (1) agreed with the district court that the ADA and section 1983 claims were frivolous and affirmed the award of attorney’s fees and costs for representation relating to those claims; and (2) disagreed with the district court that the IDEA and Rehabilitation Act claims were frivolous and/or brought for an improper purpose and reversed the district court to the extent that it awarded attorney’s fees and costs related to the litigation of those claims. The cause was remanded. The panel also filed an order amending the opinion, denying a petition for rehearing and a suggestion for rehearing en banc, and directing the mandate to issue forthwith. View "C.W. v. Capistrano Unified Sch. Dist." on Justia Law