L. Lin Wood v. Secretary of State for the State of Georgia ( 2022 )


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  • USCA11 Case: 21-11330        Date Filed: 01/06/2022    Page: 1 of 4
    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
    In the
    United States Court of Appeals
    For the Eleventh Circuit
    ____________________
    No. 21-11330
    Non-Argument Calendar
    ____________________
    L. LIN WOOD,
    Plaintiff-Appellant,
    versus
    SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE STATE OF GEORGIA,
    REBECCA N. SULLIVAN,
    in her official capacity as Vice Chair of the Georgia State Election
    Board,
    DAVID J. WORLEY,
    in his official capacity as a Member of the Georgia State Election
    Board,
    MATTHEW MASHBURN,
    USCA11 Case: 21-11330       Date Filed: 01/06/2022    Page: 2 of 4
    2                     Opinion of the Court                21-11330
    in his official capacity as a Member of the Georgia State Election
    Board,
    ANH LE,
    in her official capacity as a Member of the Georgia State Election
    Board,
    Defendants-Appellees
    DSCC
    Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc.,
    Intervenors-Defendants-Appellees.
    ____________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Northern District of Georgia
    D.C. Docket No. 1:20-cv-05155-TCB
    ____________________
    Before WILSON, BRASHER, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:
    Appellant, L. Lin Wood, appeals from the from the district
    court’s denial of his motion for extension of time to serve certain
    USCA11 Case: 21-11330       Date Filed: 01/06/2022    Page: 3 of 4
    21-11330              Opinion of the Court                       3
    defendants. For the reasons explained below, his appeal is dis-
    missed as moot.
    On December 18, 2020, Appellant filed his complaint seek-
    ing to halt Georgia’s January 2021 runoff election for the U.S.
    Senate because the state’s election procedures allegedly violated
    his right to vote under the Equal Protection and Due Process
    Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Guarantee Clause
    of the U.S. Constitution. On December 28, 2020, the district
    court dismissed Appellant’s suit for lack of jurisdiction because
    the court found that he did not have Article III standing to sue.
    That same day, Appellant filed his notice of appeal. Nearly three
    months later, on March 18, 2021, Appellant filed with the district
    court a motion for extension of time to serve certain defendants.
    The district court summarily denied that motion the next day.
    Appellant appealed that denial out of “an abundance of caution”
    because his underlying case was, at that time, pending on appeal
    before this Court.
    On July 12, 2021, we stayed this appeal pending the resolu-
    tion of Appellant’s appeal of the district court’s dismissal of his
    underlying suit. On August 6, 2021, this Court affirmed the dis-
    trict court’s ruling because Appellant lacked Article III standing.
    Wood v. Raffensperger, No. 20-14813, 
    2021 WL 3440690
    , at *2–3
    (11th Cir. Aug. 6, 2021) (per curiam). Because this Court affirmed
    the dismissal of Appellant’s complaint, we cannot grant effective
    relief and accordingly must dismiss this appeal as moot. See Unit-
    ed States v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t of Corr., 
    778 F.3d 1223
    , 1228 (11th
    USCA11 Case: 21-11330           Date Filed: 01/06/2022       Page: 4 of 4
    4                        Opinion of the Court                    21-11330
    Cir. 2015) (“An appeal is moot ‘when, by virtue of an intervening
    event, a court of appeals cannot grant any effectual relief whatev-
    er in favor of the appellant.’” (quoting Calderon v. Moore, 
    518 U.S. 149
    , 150, 
    116 S. Ct. 2066
    , 2067 (1996) (per curiam))). This ap-
    peal is
    DISMISSED AS MOOT.1
    1
    In light of this ruling, Appellees’ conditional motion for leave to supple-
    ment the record on appeal is also DISMISSED AS MOOT.
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 21-11330

Filed Date: 1/6/2022

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 1/6/2022