Opinion ID: 797281
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Plaintiffs' Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b) Motion

Text: 92 Once an appeal is filed, the district court no longer has jurisdiction to consider motions to vacate judgment. Gould v. Mut. Life Ins. Co. of N.Y., 790 F.2d 769, 772 (9th Cir.1986). However, a district court may entertain and decide a Rule 60(b) motion after notice of appeal is filed if the movant follows a certain procedure, which is to ask the district court whether it wishes to entertain the motion, or to grant it, and then move this court, if appropriate, for remand of the case. Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); see also Defenders of Wildlife v. Bernal, 204 F.3d 920, 930 (9th Cir.2000) (holding that a district court order declining to entertain or grant a Rule 60(b) motion is not a final determination on the merits); Scott v. Younger, 739 F.2d 1464, 1466 (9th Cir.1984) (holding that the district court's denial of a request to entertain a Rule 60(b) motion is interlocutory and not appealable and that if the court is inclined to grant the motion, the movant first should request limited remand from the appellate court); Crateo, Inc. v. Intermark, Inc. (In re Crateo, Inc. ), 536 F.2d 862, 869 (9th Cir.1976) (declining to order a remand after the district court declined to entertain the Rule 60(b) motion). 93 Here, an amended judgment was filed on August 31, 2004. Notice of appeal was filed on September 20, 2004. Plaintiffs filed their motion asking the district court to entertain and grant their Rule 60(b) motion on October 1, 2004. On October 4, 2004, the district court denied plaintiffs' request to entertain their motion. The same day, plaintiffs filed their cross-appeal. On November 3, 2004, plaintiffs appealed the district court's refusal to entertain their motion. On November 23, 2004, defendants moved to dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction and urged that if the court construed plaintiffs' appeal as a motion for limited remand, it should be denied. Plaintiffs then recast their appeal as a motion for limited remand, which asked us to require the district court to decide the Rule 60(b) motion on the merits. The Appellate Commissioner denied plaintiffs' motion for limited remand without prejudice to the jurisdictional issues on January 5, 2005. 94 Plaintiffs have followed the procedures outlined in Gould. They filed their Rule 60(b) motion after their notice of appeal. They asked the district court whether it wished to entertain or grant their motion, and the district court declined to entertain it. They moved for limited remand, and we denied it on January 5, 2005. Yet, plaintiffs ask for remand again. 17 We decline this second request for remand. In any case, the issue is moot, since we hold that plaintiffs cannot cure their standing defect through the use of Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(a).