Government App Solutions, Inc. v. City of New Haven ( 2021 )

1 PAHctIiLnLg IUPn Ait.e dT AStLaBteEs RATtt orney 2 PHILIP A. SCARBOROUGH (SBN 254934) Assistant United States Attorney 3 501 I Street, Suite 10-100 Sacramento, CA 95814 4 Telephone: (916) 554-2700 Facsimile: (916) 554-2900 5 Philip.Scarborough@usdoj.gov 6 Attorneys for the United States 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 GOVERNMENT APP SOLUTIONS, INC., CASE NO. 2:21-CV-00696-TLN-KJN 11 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND ORDER TO DISMISS ALL 12 REMAINING CLAIMS AGAINST THE FEDERAL v. DEFENDANTS WITHOUT PREJUDICE 13 FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, 14 et al., JUDGE: Hon. Troy L. Nunley 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff Government App Solutions, Inc. (“GAS”), and defendants Michael Anderson; Rebekah 18 Bills; Rachael LaChapelle; and the United States (together, the “Federal Defendants”) jointly stipulate to 19 dismiss all remaining claims against the Federal Defendants without prejudice. Specifically, GAS and 20 the Federal Defendants stipulate as follows. 21 GAS, the United States, and Bills stipulate that pursuant to the Westfall Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2679, 22 Bills is immune from suit for the torts alleged in Count IX and Count X of the First Amended Complaint 23 (“FAC”) (ECF 6) because at all relevant times she was acting within the course and scope of her 24 employment. See 28 U.S.C. § 2679(b)(1); id. § 2679(d)(1). GAS, the United States, and Bills further 25 stipulate that, pursuant to the Westfall Act, the United States must be substituted in the place of Bills as 26 the tort defendant with respect to Count IX and Count X of the FAC, and these claims must be dismissed 27 with respect to Bills. 28 U.S.C. § 2679(d)(1). 28 1 With the United States substituted as the tort defendant in the place of Bills for Count IX and 2 Count X, GAS and the United States further stipulate that this Court lacks jurisdiction over any tort 3 claim against the United States because GAS did not exhaust the administrative remedy process prior to 4 filing suit. See 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a); McNeil v. United States, 508 U.S. 106, 113 (1993). GAS and the 5 United States accordingly stipulate that Count IX and Count X be dismissed for lack of subject matter 6 jurisdiction. 7 GAS, Anderson, LaChapelle, and Bills stipulate that Count V of the FAC be dismissed without 8 prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2). 9 GAS and the Federal Defendants further stipulate that each party to this stipulation shall bear its 10 own costs. 11 A proposed order is submitted with this document. 12 Respectfully submitted, 13 Dated: November 12, 2021 PHILLIP A. TALBERT Acting United States Attorney 14 15 By: /s/ Philip A. Scarborough PHILIP A. SCARBOROUGH 16 Assistant United States Attorney 17 Attorneys for defendants the United States, Rebekah Bills, Rachael LaChapelle, and 18 Michael Anderson 19 Dated: November 12, 2021 CYRUS ZAL, A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 20 21 By: /s Cyrus Zal CYRUS ZAL 22 Attorney for plaintiff Government App 23 Solutions, Inc. 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 Pending before the Court is the stipulation of plaintiff Government App Solutions, Inc., 3 || (“GAS”), and defendants Michael Anderson, Rachael LaChapelle, Rebekah Bills, and the United States 4 || (together, these defendants are referred to herein as the “Federal Defendants”) to dismiss all remaining 5 || claims against the Federal Defendants. Good cause appearing, the stipulation is APPROVED. 6 GAS, Bills, and the United States have stipulated that at all relevant times, Bills was acting 7 || within the course and scope of her employment as a federal employee. Accordingly, to the extent Count 8 || IX and Count X of the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) (ECF 6) are asserted against Bills, Bills is 9 immune to suit for those claims under the Westfall Act and the United States must be substituted in her 10 || place as the sole tort defendant under the FTCA. 28 U.S.C. § 2679(b)(1); id. § 2679(d)(1). GAS and the 11 || United States have stipulated that GAS did not complete the administrative remedy process required by 12 || the FTCA prior to filing this lawsuit. See 28 U.S.C. § 2675. Accordingly, this Court lacks subject 13 || matter jurisdiction over Count IX and Count X of the FAC to the extent those claims are based on Bills’ 14 || conduct. 15 GAS, Anderson, Bills, and LaChapelle have stipulated to dismiss Count V of the FAC without 16 || prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2). 17 Accordingly, Count IX and Count X of the FAC are DISMISSED to the extent they are asserted 18 || against Bills, the United States is SUBSTITUTED in her place as the tort defendant, and Count [X and 19 || Count X are DISMISSED FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION to the extent those counts are based on 20 || Bills’ conduct. Count V of the FAC is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE in its entirety pursuant to 21 || stipulation. 22 GAS, Anderson, Bills, LaChapelle, and the United States shall each bear their own costs. 23 IT IS SO ORDERED. 24 () jf 25 || Dated: November 15, 2021 “ uM / hohe 26 Troy L. Nunley □ United States District Judge 28 STIPULATION TO DISMISS;