Patricia Long v. Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Department , 385 F. App'x 641 ( 2010 )

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUN 22 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
PATRICIA A. LONG, No. 09-35281
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:08-cv-00071-FVS
v.
PEND OREILLE COUNTY SHERIFF’S MEMORANDUM *
DEPARTMENT; et al.,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Washington
Fred Van Sickle, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted May 25, 2010 **
Before: CANBY, THOMAS, and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.
Patricia A. Long appeals pro se from the district court’s summary judgment
for defendants in her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging that defendants violated her
constitutional rights by entering her house to gather documents pursuant to a court
order in connection with guardianship proceedings for a previous resident of the
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
09-35281
house. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo.
Huseman v. Icicle Seafoods, Inc., 471 F.3d 1116, 1120 (9th Cir. 2006). We affirm.
The district court properly granted summary judgment for defendants
because Long failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether sheriff’s
deputies were acting under the special needs exception to the Fourth Amendment’s
warrant requirement. See Henderson v. City of Simi Valley, 305 F.3d 1052, 1061
(9th Cir. 2002) (affirming summary judgment for police officers under the special
needs exception where, pursuant to a court order, officers accompanied daughter to
mother’s home to keep the peace while daughter retrieved belongings). Because
Long failed to establish that the deputies violated her constitutional rights,
summary judgment for the sheriff and the sheriff’s department also was proper.
See Quintanilla v. City of Downey, 84 F.3d 353, 355-56 (9th Cir. 1996) (plaintiff
could not recover on a § 1983 claim against city or police chief absent underlying
violation of his constitutional rights).
The district court properly granted summary judgment as to the guardian ad
litem and her assistant because, as a matter of law, they are not state actors. See
Kirtley v. Rainey, 326 F.3d 1088, 1095-96 (9th Cir. 2003) (a guardian ad litem
appointed by a Washington court was not a state actor under § 1983).
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The district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Long’s request for
an extension of time to conduct discovery. Long had been granted an extension
previously but had not propounded discovery. See Margolis v. Ryan, 140 F.3d
850, 853-54 (9th Cir. 1998) (upholding denial of Rule 56(f) discovery motion
where “appellants failed to identify facts, either discovered or likely to be
discovered, that would support their § 1983 claim”).
AFFIRMED.
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