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

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of an action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681c(g), against the National Park Service. Plaintiff alleged that the Service violated the Act by failing to redact plaintiff's debit card expiration date from her park entrance purchase receipt. The panel held that plaintiff lacked standing where her complaint made only conclusory allegations that her stolen identity was traceable to the Park Service's alleged violation of the Act. The panel also held that leave to amend the complaint would be futile where the Act did not waive the federal government's sovereign immunity from suit. View "Daniel v. National Park Service" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment for plaintiffs in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action brought by five prisoners who were severely injured during cell extractions in two high security units. The panel held that the district court lacked jurisdiction to proceed to trial during the pendency of an interlocutory appeal from a prior qualified immunity ruling, but the error was harmless; in regard to the exhaustion of administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, the district court did not clearly err in finding that a reasonable fear of retaliation made the grievance system effectively unavailable for plaintiffs because they reasonably believed that they would suffer additional physical force if they complained; the district court did not err by denying defendants' Rule 50(b) motion based on qualified immunity where there was abundant evidence presented to the jury that defendants inflicted severe injuries on plaintiffs while they were not resisting, and even while they were unconscious; and the panel rejected claims under state law as well as claims of Monell liability, juror bias, punitive damages, and trial errors. Finally, the panel affirmed the district court's attorney's fee award of $5,378,174.66. View "Rodriguez v. County of Los Angeles" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Experian in an action alleging violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The panel held that plaintiffs' reasonable procedures and reasonable reinvestigation claims failed because Experian's credit reports were accurate. The panel also held that plaintiffs' failure to disclose claim failed because Experian clearly and accurately disclosed to plaintiffs all information that Experian recorded and retained that might be reflected in a consumer report. Finally, plaintiffs' request for statutory damages under 15 U.S.C. 1681n failed because they have not shown a willful violation by Experian. View "Shaw v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc." on Justia Law

An appellant's failure to attend and object at a bankruptcy court hearing has no bearing on the question of whether that appellant has standing to appeal a bankruptcy court order. The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of an appeal from the bankruptcy court's order authorizing a Chapter 7 trustee to assume the operating agreement of an LLC whose interests were implicated in the bankruptcy proceedings. The district court dismissed the appeal on the ground that appellants lacked standing to challenge the bankruptcy court order. The panel held that appellants' attendance and objection were not prerequisites for satisfying the "person aggrieved" requirement for prudential standing. Therefore, the panel remanded to the district court. View "In re Point Center Financial, Inc." on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal based on lack of standing of an action under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), alleging that the Department failed to turn over documents requested by one of its members, on behalf of the organization. The panel disagreed with the government's argument that the submitted form did not adequately identify the organization as the requester. The panel held that the submitted form's unambiguous reference to A Better Way, confirming correspondence, and common sense make clear that A Better Way was the requester and consequently had standing to sue. View "A Better Way for BPA v. U.S.D.O.E." on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's order dismissing an action brought by the United States and the Walker River Paiute Tribe against the Walker River Irrigation District and others over water rights in the Walker River basin. In 2015, without briefing or argument on the issue, the district court sua sponte dismissed all of the Tribe's and the United States' counterclaims on res judicata or jurisdictional grounds. The panel held that the district court had continuing jurisdiction over the counterclaims and that it erred in dismissing the claims on res judicata or jurisdictional grounds without giving the parties an opportunity to brief the issue. On remand, the panel ordered the reassignment of this case to another district judge. View "United States v. Walker River Irrigation District" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit certified to the Supreme Court of Nevada the following question: Does the public trust doctrine apply to rights already adjudicated and settled under the doctrine of prior appropriation and, if so, to what extent? View "Mineral County v. Walker River Irrigation District" on Justia Law

Farmers filed suit alleging injury to their water rights after the Nevada State Engineer and the California State Water Resources Control Board approved change applications for a voluntary water rights leasing program managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in the Walker River Basin. The Ninth Circuit principally held that the Decree court failed to defer to the findings and conclusions of the state agencies and, to the extent the Decree court entered its own findings, those findings were clear error. In this case, the Engineer properly found that a transfer to the Foundation limited to the consumption portion would avoid conflict and injury to other existing water rights, the findings were supported by substantial evidence, and the Engineer applied the correct legal rule. The panel also held that the export restriction of the Walker River Decree did not prohibit delivering water to Walker Lake because Walker Lake was part of the Walker River Basin. View "United States v. U.S. Board of Water Commissioners" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for an officer based on qualified immunity in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action alleging excessive force. The panel held that the district court did not err by raising the issue of qualified immunity sua sponte and by addressing it on summary judgment. The panel also held that, in viewing the record in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the officer's use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. In this case, the officer could have reasonably feared that plaintiff had a gun and was turning to shoot him when the officer shot plaintiff following a traffic stop. View "Easley v. City of Riverside" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, a devout Christian, alleged violations of his right to religious liberty under the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. 2000cc-1, and the denial of due process. In this case, plaintiff committed a disciplinary violation and was terminated from his kitchen assignment job after he refused to work on a religious holiday. The Ninth Circuit held that plaintiff's two inmate letters did not exhaust his administrative remedies, but that he exhausted administrative remedies through the disciplinary process. The panel held that defendants did not consider plaintiff's request for accommodation and RLUIPA mandated consideration of the requested accommodation. Finally, in regard to the district court's dismissal of certain defendants at the screening stage under 28 U.S.C. 1915A, the panel held that plaintiff's complaint did not explain how the dismissed defendants violated his rights under the First Amendment or RLUIPA. Therefore, the panel reversed the district court's ruling that plaintiff failed to exhaust his available administrative remedies; affirmed the section 1915A screening decision; and remanded for consideration of the merits of plaintiff's First Amendment and RLUIPA claims. View "Fuqua v. Ryan" on Justia Law