Nina Ringgold v. Jerry Brown ( 2019 )

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT APR 30 2019
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
NINA RINGGOLD; et al., No. 17-16269
Plaintiffs-Appellants, D.C. No. 2:12-cv-00717-JAM-JFM
Eastern District of California,
v. Sacramento
JERRY BROWN, in his Individual and ORDER
Official Capacity as Governor of the State of
California and in his Individual and Official
Capacity as Former Attorney General of the
State of California; et al.,
Defendants-Appellees.
Before: SILVERMAN, GRABER, and GOULD, Circuit Judges.
The memorandum disposition filed October 29, 2018, is hereby amended.
An amended disposition is filed concurrently with this order.
With these amendments, the panel has voted to deny the petition for panel
rehearing.
The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no
judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. See Fed. R.
App. P. 35.
Appellants’ petition for panel rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc
(Docket Entry No. 77) are denied.
Appellants’ request for judicial notice (Docket Entry No. 78) is denied.
No further filings will be entertained in this closed case.
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS APR 30 2019
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
NINA RINGGOLD; et al., No. 17-16269
Plaintiffs-Appellants, D.C. No. 2:12-cv-00717-JAM-JFM
v.
AMENDED MEMORANDUM*
JERRY BROWN, in his Individual and
Official Capacity as Governor of the State of
California and in his Individual and Official
Capacity as Former Attorney General of the
State of California; et al.,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of California
John A. Mendez, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted October 22, 2018**
Before: SILVERMAN, GRABER, and GOULD, Circuit Judges.
Nina Ringgold, Justin Ringgold-Lockhart, and the Law Office of Nina
Ringgold appeal from the district court’s order denying various post-judgment
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
motions. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review for an abuse of
discretion. Hamid v. Price Waterhouse, 51 F.3d 1411, 1415-16 (9th Cir. 1995).
We may affirm the district court on any basis supported by the record. Moreno v.
Baca, 431 F.3d 633, 638 (9th Cir. 2005). We affirm in part and vacate in part.
The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiffs’ motion
for disqualification because plaintiffs failed to establish extrajudicial bias or
prejudice. See 28 U.S.C. § 455 (listing circumstances requiring recusal); Clemens
v. U.S. Dist. Court, 428 F.3d 1175, 1178 (9th Cir. 2005) (test for disqualification of
judge under § 455(a)). Contrary to plaintiffs’ contention, the district court did not
err by resolving the motion without an evidentiary hearing. See Fed. R. Civ.
P. 78(b). We reject as without merit plaintiffs’ arguments that the district court
erred by denying their request for “intercircuit assignment” under 28 U.S.C. § 292.
The district court did not err in denying plaintiffs’ motions for a three-judge
panel. See 28 U.S.C. § 2284(a). We reject as without merit plaintiffs’ contention
that the district court lacked jurisdiction because the action was subject to the
jurisdiction of a three-judge court.
The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiffs’ motion
for reconsideration and motion to vacate the judgment because plaintiffs failed to
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establish any basis for relief. See Sch. Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah Cty., Or. v.
ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1262-63 (9th Cir. 1993) (setting forth standard of
review and grounds for reconsideration under Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) and 60). We
reject as without merit plaintiffs’ contentions regarding the applicability of Fed. R.
Civ. P. 52 and 54(b).
The district court did not abuse its discretion in taking judicial notice of the
Central District of California’s pre-filing order against Nina Ringgold and Justin
Ringgold-Lockhart because courts may take judicial notice of documents in the
public record. See Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 689 (9th Cir. 2001)
(setting forth standard of review).
The district court did not abuse its discretion in sanctioning Nina Ringgold
and Justin Ringgold-Lockhart under Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 because the record supports
the conclusion that Ringgold and Ringgold-Lockhart filed their First Amended
Complaint for the improper purpose of circumventing the pre-filing order. See
Fed. R. Civ. P. 11; Townsend v. Holman Consulting Corp., 929 F.2d 1358, 1361-
62, 65 (9th Cir. 1990) (en banc) (“A district court confronted with solid evidence
of a pleading’s frivolousness may in circumstances that warrant it infer that it was
filed for an improper purpose.”).
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The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiffs’ cross-
motion for sanctions because plaintiffs failed to establish grounds for sanctions.
See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b); Christian v. Mattel, Inc., 286 F.3d 1118, 1126-27 (9th
Cir. 2002) (describing grounds for Rule 11 sanctions).
The district court, however, abused its discretion in imposing a $1,000
monetary sanction on Nina Ringgold because the record does not support the
district court’s conclusion that Ringgold violated a court order in a manner
tantamount to bad faith. See Fink v. Gomez, 239 F.3d 989, 991-94 (9th Cir. 2001)
(“[T]he district court has the inherent authority to impose sanctions for bad faith,
which includes a broad range of willful improper conduct.”). We vacate the
$1,000 sanction against Nina Ringgold.
We do not consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal, or matters
not specifically and distinctly raised and argued in the opening brief. See Padgett
v. Wright, 587 F.3d 983, 985 n.2 (9th Cir. 2009).
All pending motions and requests are denied.
Appellants shall bear the costs on appeal.
AFFIRMED in part and VACATED in part.
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