DENISE MEJIA V. WESLEY MILLER ( 2022 )

FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS NOV 14 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
DENISE MEJIA, an individual, No. 21-56282
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 5:20-cv-01166-SB-SP
v. OPINION
WESLEY MILLER, Bureau of Land
Management Officer, in his individual
and official capacity,
Defendant-Appellant,
and
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr., District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted October 3, 2022
Pasadena, California
Before: A. Wallace Tashima and Kenneth K. Lee, Circuit Judges, and Nancy D.
Freudenthal,* District Judge
Opinion By Judge Freudenthal
*
The Honorable Nancy D. Freudenthal, United States District Judge for the
District of Wyoming, sitting by designation.
SUMMARY **
Civil Rights
The panel vacated the district court’s denial, on summary judgment, of qualified
immunity to a now-retired officer of the Bureau of Land Management and remanded
with instructions to enter summary judgment dismissing with prejudice plaintiff’s
excessive force claim brought pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of
Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971).
In 1971, the Supreme Court in Bivens adopted an “implied cause of action theory”
permitting the petitioner to seek damages from federal officers for unreasonable
search and seizure in his home. Since then, the Supreme Court has recognized a
Bivens action in two other contexts: a claim asserting a Congressman discriminated
on the basis of gender in employment, in violation of Fifth Amendment due process
(Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228 (1979)), and an Eighth Amendment claim for cruel
and unusual punishment against federal jailers for failing to treat a prisoner’s severe
asthma. Carlson v. Green, 446 U.S. 14 (1980). These three cases—Bivens, Davis,
and Carlson—represent the only instances in which the Court has approved of an
implied damages remedy under the Constitution itself. Since Carlson, expanding
the Bivens remedy is a disfavored judicial activity.
Shortly after the briefing in this case, the Supreme Court issued Egbert v. Boule,
596 U.S. ––, 142 S. Ct. 1793 (2022), which held that in all but the most unusual
circumstances, prescribing a cause of action is a job for Congress, not the
courts. The existence of alternative remedial structures is reason enough to not infer
a new Bivens cause of action. Similarly, uncertainty about the potential systemwide
consequences of implying a new Bivens cause of action is by itself a special factor
that forecloses relief.
The panel held that there was no Bivens cause of action for plaintiff’s claim,
which presented a new context. And given this new context, special factors
counseled against implying a cause of action here. For example, Fourth Amendment
excessive force claims against Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) officers
**
This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been
prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
would have “‘systemwide’ consequences” for BLM’s mandate to maintain order on
federal lands, and uncertainty about these consequences provided a reason not to
imply such a cause of action. The panel further determined that plaintiff had
alternative remedies, including administrative remedies. And while plaintiff’s
claims pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act were based on a different legal
theory, in plaintiff’s instance they were an alternative avenue to seek damages for
the injuries alleged in her Bivens claim.
COUNSEL
Dennis E. Wagner (argued), Wagner Zemming Christensen LLP, Riverside,
California, for Defendant-Appellant.
Barry M. Walker (argued), Walker Trial Lawyers LLP, Canyon Lake, California,
for Plaintiff-Appellee.
FREUDENTHAL, District Judge.
Defendant-Appellant Wesley Miller, a now-retired officer of the Bureau of
Land Management (“BLM”), brings an interlocutory appeal from the denial of
qualified immunity on summary judgment.
I. JURISDICTION
In light of Egbert v. Boule, 596 U.S. ––, 142 S. Ct. 1793, 213 L. Ed. 2d 54(2022), we first address whether a cause of action exists under Bivens v. Six
Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971). We have
jurisdiction to do so on this interlocutory appeal because the existence of the cause
of action is an antecedent legal question defining the claim (Hernández v. Mesa, 589
U.S. ––, 137 S. Ct. 2003, 2006, 198 L. Ed. 2d 625 (2017), (“Hernández I”)), and it
is directly implicated by the defense of qualified immunity. Rodriguez v. Swartz, 899
F.3d 719, 735 (9th Cir. 2018), vacated on other grounds, 140 S. Ct. 1258 (2020);
Hartman v. Moore, 547 U.S. 250, 257 n.5 (2006) (appellate jurisdiction on
interlocutory appeal to consider the definition of an element of the claim). As the
Court concludes below, there is no Bivens cause of action for Plaintiff-Appellee
Denise Mejia’s claim. Therefore, we do not reach the question of qualified
immunity.
II. BACKGROUND
1
Mejia alleges that Miller used excessive force while attempting an arrest on
June 10, 2018 in Berdoo Canyon, part of public lands managed by BLM near Joshua
Tree National Park. At the time, Miller was a senior law enforcement officer for
BLM. Mr. and Mrs. Mejia had spent the day driving their utility terrain vehicle
(“UTV”). Shortly before sunset, the Mejias failed to yield to a park ranger. The
ranger was attempting to stop them for a traffic violation and to alert the Mejias that
one of their rear tires was very low. The UTV temporarily stopped but then went
off-road.
The National Park Service requested that Miller assist them. The dispatcher
indicated the suspected violation was at a felony level due to reported speeds
endangering the park ranger and the public, and an apparent attempt to ram the
ranger. Miller and the park ranger searched until late at night when they saw a
flashlight above them on high ground and heard an engine start. Miller and the park
ranger positioned their vehicles to block the UTV as it came down. They turned on
their vehicle lights when they saw the UTV approach. Miller yelled, “police, put
your hands up.”
Most of what happened next is disputed. But the parties do not dispute that
the UTV passed Miller within arm’s reach, and as it did so, he fired multiple shots.
Mejia was shot in the right hand and a bullet grazed her head.
2
In the case below, Mejia asserts several claims against the United States under
the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”). The district court denied the United States’
summary judgment motion, and those claims await trial. Mejia also brought Bivens
claims against Miller, asserting unreasonable seizure and excessive force in violation
of the Fourth Amendment. 1 Miller did not raise the issue of whether a Bivens cause
of action existed and sought summary judgment on qualified immunity. The district
court granted his motion on the unreasonable seizure claim, but denied it as to
excessive force. Miller timely sought relief under Rules 59(e) and 60(b)(6), which
was denied. He timely appeals from these decisions.
III. THE BIVENS QUESTION
In 1971, the Supreme Court in Bivens adopted an “implied cause of action
theory” permitting the petitioner to seek damages from federal officers for
unreasonable search and seizure in his home. The petitioner also asserted
“unreasonable force” during his arrest, but the Court noted he “primarily” asserted
the officers violated his rights of privacy. Bivens, 403 U.S. at 389–90. The opinion
focuses entirely on the unreasonable search-and-seizure context. The Court held:
the Fourth Amendment does not in so many words provide for its enforcement
by an award of money damages for the consequences of its violation. But it is
well settled that where legal rights have been invaded, and a federal statute
provides for a general right to sue for such invasion, federal courts may use
any available remedy to make good the wrong done.
1
Mejia also sued the park ranger but voluntarily dismissed those claims.
3
Id. at 396 (marks omitted).
Since then, the Supreme Court has recognized a Bivens action in two other
contexts: a claim asserting a Congressman discriminated on the basis of gender in
employment, in violation of Fifth Amendment due process (Davis v. Passman, 442
U.S. 228 (1979)), and an Eighth Amendment claim for cruel and unusual punishment
against federal jailers for failing to treat a prisoner’s severe asthma. Carlson v.
Green, 446 U.S. 14 (1980). “These three cases—Bivens, Davis, and Carlson—
represent the only instances in which the Court has approved of an implied damages
remedy under the Constitution itself.” Ziglar v. Abbasi, 582 U.S. ––, 137 S. Ct. 1843,
1855, 198 L. Ed. 2d 290 (2017).
Since Carlson, there has been a “notable change in the Court’s approach to
recognizing implied causes of action.” Id. at 1857. The Court has grown increasingly
reluctant to recognize any new Bivens claims. Indeed, “in light of the changes to the
Court’s general approach to recognizing implied damages remedies, it is possible
that the analysis in the Court’s three Bivens cases might have been different if they
were decided today.” Id. at 1856. However, the Court also held
it must be understood that this opinion is not intended to cast doubt on the
continued force, or even the necessity, of Bivens in the search-and-seizure
context in which it arose.
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Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. at 1857. In sum, Bivens is “settled law” in the search-and-seizure
context and relied upon “as a fixed principle in the law,” but “expanding the Bivens
remedy is now a ‘disfavored’ judicial activity.” Id.Under a longstanding framework, courts were first to determine whether the
Bivens claim arose in a “new context,” such as a “new category of defendants.” A
“new context” is one that is “different in a meaningful way from previous Bivens
cases decided by this Court.” The Court gave non-exclusive examples:
the rank of the officers involved; the constitutional right at issue; the
generality or specificity of the official action; the extent of judicial guidance
as to how an officer should respond to the problem or emergency to be
confronted; the statutory or other legal mandate under which the officer was
operating; the risk of disruptive intrusion by the Judiciary into the functioning
of other branches; or the presence of potential special factors that previous
Bivens cases did not consider.
Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. at 1859–60.
If the context was new, Abbasi required courts to analyze whether there were
other “special factors counselling hesitation.” Id. at 1857–58. Without defining an
exhaustive list, Abbasi held “[t]he necessary inference … is that the inquiry must
concentrate on whether the Judiciary is well suited, absent congressional action or
instruction, to consider and weigh the costs and benefits of allowing a damages
action to proceed.” Id. (emphasis added). “[S]eparation-of-powers principles are or
should be central to the analysis. The question is “who should decide” whether to
provide for a damages remedy, Congress or the courts? * * * The answer most often
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will be Congress.” Id. at 1857. In that case, alien detainees’ claims regarding a post-
9/11 policy presented a new context due to the national security concerns and
executive level of the policy. For largely the same reasons, the creation of such a
cause of action was for Congress, not the Judiciary.
Three years later, the Court issued Hernández v. Mesa, 589 U.S. ––, 140 S.
Ct. 735, 206 L. Ed. 2d 29 (2020) (“Hernández II”). Hernández II articulated the
same analytical framework as Abbasi, including whether the Judiciary is well suited
to creating the new cause of action. Hernández II also observed that the Court’s
“understanding of a ‘new context’ is broad.” Id. at 743. The cross-border shooting
in that case was a new context, and several factors counselled hesitation –– including
the case’s potential effect on international relations. Again, the cause of action was
for Congress to create, not the courts.
Neither the district court nor the parties’ briefing to this Court addressed
whether a Bivens cause of action existed. Then shortly after the briefing in this case,
the Court issued Egbert. Egbert reiterates the longstanding first step of the Bivens
question, but clarified that the second step is now whether:
special factors indicate that the Judiciary is at least arguably less
equipped than Congress to weigh the costs and benefits of allowing a
damages action to proceed.
Egbert, 142 S. Ct. at 1797–98 (emphasis added, marks omitted).
The question is no longer whether the Judiciary is well suited, but whether
6
Congress is better suited. After Egbert, the two-step analysis “often resolve[s] to a
single question: whether there is any reason to think that Congress might be better
equipped to create a damages remedy.” Id. at 1803. “[A]ny rational reason … to
think that Congress is better suited to weigh the costs and benefits” is enough to
preclude extending Bivens. Id. at 1805 (marks omitted). “If there are alternative
remedial structures… that alone … is reason enough to … [not] infer a new Bivens
cause of action.” Id. at 1804 (marks omitted). Similarly, uncertainty about the
potential “‘systemwide’ consequences” of implying a new Bivens cause of action is
by itself “a special factor that forecloses relief.” Id. at 1803-04 (quoting Abbasi, 137
S. Ct. at 1858).
In Egbert, a border patrol agent allegedly used excessive force against a
Washington resident (Boule) in the driveway of his home. His property backed to
the Canadian border and was notorious for illegal crossings and smuggling. This
Court held in relevant part that the Fourth Amendment claim was a “‘modest
extension’ in a new context” because the officer was a border patrol agent, not an
F.B.I. agent. Boule v. Egbert, 998 F.3d 370, 387 (9th Cir. 2021). But because it was
a “conventional Fourth Amendment excessive force claim arising out of actions by
a[n] … agent on Boule’s own property,” this Court held that no special factors
weighed against the extension. Id.The Supreme Court reversed and held that “similar allegations of excessive
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force,” “almost parallel circumstances,” or a “similar ‘mechanism of injury’” as
Bivens “are not enough to support the judicial creation of a cause of action.” Egbert,
142 S. Ct. at 1805. The Court held that Boule had no Bivens action for two
independent reasons: courts are not better suited than Congress to weigh creating a
cause of action that involves national security concerns, and alternative remedies
were available. Id. at 1806–07.
Given the Supreme Court’s decision in Egbert, this Court requested
supplemental briefs on its significance. Miller argues Mejia’s claim presents a new
context because he is a new category of defendant. He further argues that unlike
Bivens’ narcotics arrest in a home, this incident occurred on public lands. Miller was
also exercising a different mandate than the narcotics officers; his mandate was “to
find [Mejia] after a reported high-speed chase in Joshua Tree National Park, which
was a violation of federal law on federal lands.” Miller further notes that Mejia has
existing alternative remedies, a special factor weighing against this Court creating a
cause of action.
Mejia argues Egbert gives no guidance regarding what constitutes a new
context, and there is no new context here. She argues there is no meaningful
distinction between narcotics officers and BLM officers, relying on this point from
the dissent in Egbert. Egbert, 142 S. Ct. at 1815 (Sotomayor, J., Breyer, J., and
Kagan J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). But the majority opinion in
8
Egbert, to the contrary, identifies the “legal mandate under which the officer was
operating” as an example of a new context. Id. at 1814. Mejia does not point to any
reason to believe that most federal agencies have the same or similar legal mandates,
or more to the point, that BLM has the same mandate as agencies enforcing federal
anti-narcotics law. The majority also emphasizes that the question is whether to
create a cause of action against all of an agency’s officers. Id. at 1806. This likewise
focuses on the agency.
Moreover, reading the Egbert majority opinion as a whole, it conveys a
heightened restriction on Bivens. “Sometimes, it seems, this Court leaves a door ajar
… even as it devises a rule that ensures no one … ever will” walk through it. Id. at
1810 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in the judgment, marks omitted). The dissent in Egbert
does not appear to be wrong in inferring the Court now sees a new Bivens context
even if only the officer’s employing agency is different. Id. at 1815.
Mejia does not identify any Supreme Court cases recognizing a Bivens
excessive force claim against a BLM officer, and this Court is aware of none. The
only case in which the Court has considered any kind of Bivens claim against BLM
officers is Wilkie v. Robbins, 551 U.S. 537 (2007). The Court declined to find a
Bivens due process claim for a landowner alleging retaliation for exercising property
rights. Id. at 561–62.
More importantly, unlike Bivens, none of the events in question occurred in
9
or near Mejia’s home. The entire incident occurred on public lands managed by
BLM and the National Park Service, a place where Mejia had no expectation of
privacy. In Bivens, the unreasonable government intrusion occurred in his home. In
short, Mejia’s claim presents a new context. And given this new context, special
factors counsel against implying a cause of action here. For example, a Fourth
Amendment excessive force claims against BLM officers would have “‘systemwide’
consequences” for BLM’s mandate to maintain order on federal lands, and
uncertainty about these consequences provides a reason not to imply such a cause of
action. Egbert, 142 S. Ct. at 1803-04.
Under Egbert, rarely if ever is the Judiciary equally suited as Congress to
extend Bivens even modestly. The creation of a new cause of action is inherently
legislative, not adjudicative. Egbert, 142 S. Ct. at 1802 (“At bottom, creating a cause
of action is a legislative endeavor”). Although Mejia points to Egbert’s discussion
of national security as a special factor—a concern which is not present here—that
was only one of the factors counselling hesitation in that case. The other factor was
that Boule had alternative remedies. Egbert, 142 S. Ct. at 1806–07. The same is true
here: Mejia has alternative remedies, including administrative remedies. See Report
Misconduct, U.S. Dep’t of the Interior Bureau of Land Mgmt,
https://www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/law-enforcement/report-
misconduct, last accessed October 6, 2022. And while her FTCA claims are based
10
on a different legal theory, in Mejia’s instance they are an alternative avenue to seek
damages for the injuries alleged in her Bivens claim.
In short, under Egbert “in all but the most unusual circumstances, prescribing
a cause of action is a job for Congress, not the courts.” 142 S. Ct. at 1800. This case
is not the rare exception. Accordingly, we vacate the district court’s denial of
summary judgment and remand with instructions to enter summary judgment
dismissing the Bivens excessive force claim with prejudice.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
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