NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

TARA LASHAM, Co-Trustee, Kingdom of 

Heaven Trust, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

 v. 

JASON GRIMES; et al., 

Defendants-Appellees.

No. 22-15768 

D.C. No. 

1:22-cv-00098-DKW-KJM 

MEMORANDUM*

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Hawaii

Derrick Kahala Watson, Chief District Judge, Presiding

Submitted July 27, 2023**

Before: OWENS, LEE, and BUMATAY, Circuit Judges.

Tara Lasham appeals the district court's dismissal of her claims against four 

defendants: Jason Grimes, Gerald Scatena (Grimes’ attorney), the State of Hawaii,

and Judge Bruce Larson (Judge of the Family Court for the Third District, State of 

Hawaii). Lasham sought injunctive and declaratory relief from Judge Larson’s 

* 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).

FILED

AUG 1 2023

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
2 

temporary order, which gave temporary legal and physical custody of Lasham and 

Grimes’ minor daughter, S.H.L.G., to Grimes. The federal district court dismissed

Lasham’s claims under Younger abstention because of the ongoing family court 

proceeding, which had yet to be finalized at the time Lasham filed suit in federal 

district court. 

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the decision to 

dismiss de novo, and we affirm without reaching the merits. Green v. City of Tucson, 

255 F.3d 1086, 1093 (9th Cir. 2001). 

1. The district court correctly abstained here under Younger. Younger

abstention is “essentially a jurisdictional doctrine,” Canatella v. California, 404 F.3d 

1106, 1113 (9th Cir. 2005), and each of the four factors for applying 

Younger abstention are met. See Arevalo v. Hennessy, 882 F.3d 763, 765 (9th Cir. 

2018). Here, the family court proceeding was ongoing at the time Lasham filed suit

in the district court on March 13, 2022. The family court proceeding involved a

custody dispute over S.H.L.G., which is a traditional area of state concern, expertise,

and experience. H.C. v. Koppel, 203 F.3d 610, 613 (9th Cir. 2000); see Moore v.

Sims, 422 U.S. 415, 435 (1979). States also have an interest in protecting “the

authority of the judicial system, so that its orders and judgments are not rendered

nugatory.” Juidice v. Vail, 430 U.S. 327, 336 (1977). Lasham had an adequate

opportunity to assert her claims in state court proceedings. See Pennzoil Co. v. 
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Texaco, Inc., 481 U.S. 1, 15 (1987) (highlighting that a federal court should assume 

that state procedures will afford an adequate remedy). The family court’s temporary

order even informed Lasham of her right to appeal, yet she did not appeal that order

in state court. Lastly, had the district court ruled on Lasham’s claims, it might have

practically enjoined any final family court decision by preventing that court from

exercising authority over Lasham and Grimes. For these reasons, the district court

correctly refrained from exercising jurisdiction over Lasham’s claims due to

Younger abstention.

2. We DENY Hawaii’s motion to supplement the record with the final state 

court judgment granting custody of S.H.L.G. to Grimes. Because Younger

abstention is analyzed at the time the federal complaint is filed, the final state court 

judgment is not necessary in our determination that the district court correctly 

abstained under Younger. See Rynearson v. Ferguson, 903 F.3d 920, 924 (9th Cir. 

2018).

AFFIRMED.