NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

SMITA SANGHVI and MOUNTAIN VIEW CENTERS, INC. ,

Appellants,

v. COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO, a municipal corporation; et. al. ,

Appellees. No. 21

- 554 2 2

D.C. No

. CV

- 20

- 11437

- PA

- JC

MEMORANDUM *

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Percy Anderson , District Judge, Presiding Submitted February 15, 2022 * * Pasadena, California Before: BRESS and BUMATAY, Circuit Judges, and BENITEZ, ** * District Judge.

* This disposition is not approp riate 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).

*** The Honorable Roger T. Benit ez, United States District Judge for the Southern District of California, sitting by designation. 

# FILED

FEB 17 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS2

Smita Sanghvi and Mountain View Centers, Inc. (collectively, “ Appellants ” ) , appeal a district court order grant ing a motion to dismiss filed by the County of San Bernardino, C alifornia , Adriane Picazo, and Jesse Archer (collectively,

“ Appellees ” ). We review de novo a district court’s decision to grant a motion to

dismiss , Zadrozny v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon , 720 F.3d 1163, 1167 (9th Cir. 2013) , and

we affirm.

I Appellants’ Section 1983 claim alleges violations of the Fourth Amendment, Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, and vicarious liability under Monell v. Dep ’ t of Soc

. Serv

s. , 436 U.S. 658 (1978) . The district court correctly dismis sed on all theories of liability

. Due Process There was no deprivation of due process here. Appellants can seek a remedy under California law for any damages suffered due to any alleged breach of contract

claim. California law thus affords Appellants suff icient opportunity to pursue th eir

breach of contract claim in state court . Accordingly, we conclude that the California statutory scheme does not deprive Appellants of their claim for damages without due process of law. See Lujan v. G & G Fire Sprinkler s, Inc. , 532 U.S. 189 , 195 (2001) (holding that a California law which provided sufficient opportunity to pursue payment in state court did not violate due process).3

Appellants’ attempt to d istinguish Lujan from the present case fails. First, Appellants do not have a property interest in the residents of the facility. Second, Appellants were not deprived of pursuing their occupation because Mountain View remained open and the County did not seize the ir pro perty. Finally, under California Probate Code § 2351(a), the right to the care, custody, and control of conservatees is reserved expressly to the conservator. Under Section 2352, this includes the authority to establish the residence of the ward at any p lace within the State without permission of the Court. Appellants had no “present entitlement” to control the housing decisions of the conservatees in their facility under state conservatorships.

S ee Lujan , 532 U.S. at 196. Appellants’ substantive due pr ocess claim fails too. To establish a violation of substantive due process, Appellants are required to prove that the County’s

actions were “‘clearly arbitrary and unreasonable, having no substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals or genera l welfare.’” Sinaloa Lake Owners Ass’n.

v. City of Simi Valley , 882 F.2d 1398, 1407 (9th Cir. 1989) (quoting Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. , 272 U.S. 365, 395 (1926)). To constitute a violation of substantive due process, the alleged deprivation must “shock the conscience and offend the community’s sense of fair play and decency.” Marsh v. Cty

. of San Diego , 680 F.3d 1148, 1154 (9th Cir. 2012) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Appellants fail to demonstrate how a decision to remove conservate es from an4

environment where there are allegations of sexual assault (even if they are later found out to be false) either “shock [ s ] the conscience” or “ offend[s] the community’s sense of fair play .” Id. Equal Protection Appellants did not brief the Equal Protection Clause issue to this Court. We

therefore decline to reach the issue. See , e.g. , Smith v. Marsh , 194 F.3d 1045, 1052 (9th Cir. 1999) (“[O]n appeal, arguments not raised by a party in its opening brief

are deem ed waived.”).

Monell Appellants’ complaint fails to point to any specific “ policy or custom ” that resulted in a constitutional deprivation. Monell , 436 U.S. at 694. Appellants’ conclusory allegation that Appellees “acted under color of statutes, regul ations, customs, and usages of the County of Los Angeles, County of San Bernardino and the State of California for purposes of ‘state action’ and ‘color of law’ under 42 U.S.C. § 1983” is insufficient to state a claim under Monell

. Fourth Amendment

The F ourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures of “their persons, houses, papers, and effects.” U.S. C ONST

. a mend

. IV

. Appellants’ complaint does not specify what their property interest is in this case

. T he opposition to Appell ees’ motion to dismiss indicates that the property interest5

is the residents. However, because Appellants do not have a property interest in the

residents , their Fourth Amendment claim fails

II

Federal Fair Housing Act Appellants’ complaint contains no allegations of how the County’s decision to remove residents was based on a protected status under the FHA. To the contrary, Appellants assert the decision to remove residents was based on an incorrect report

that one of the residents had sexually assaulted other residents. Appellants’ complaint thus demonstrates there were non

- discriminatory reasons for the removal of the patients from their facilities.

AFFIRMED.