Opinion ID: 729784
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: CPUC's and PG&E's Petitions for Review Are Moot

Text: 41 As noted, FERC moved to dismiss these appeals as moot. CPUC opposes this motion, arguing that the facts of these cases fit one or more exceptions to the mootness doctrine. 42 The jurisdiction of federal courts depends on the existence of a 'case or controversy' under Article III of the Constitution. GTE California, Inc. v. Federal Communications Comm'n, 39 F.3d 940, 945 (9th Cir. 1994). The usual rule in federal cases is that an actual controversy must exist at stages of appellate or certiorari review, and not simply at the date the action is initiated. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 125, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147, 93 S. Ct. 705 (1973) (citations omitted). In general a case becomes moot ' when the issues presented are no longer 'live' or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome. ' Murphy v. Hunt, 455 U.S. 478, 481, 71 L. Ed. 2d 353, 102 S. Ct. 1181 (1982) (quoting United States Parole Comm'n v. Geraghty, 445 U.S. 388, 396, 63 L. Ed. 2d 479, 100 S. Ct. 1202 (1980) (quoting Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 496, 23 L. Ed. 2d 491, 89 S. Ct. 1944 (1969))). The court must be able to grant effective relief, or it lacks jurisdiction and must dismiss the appeal. GTE California, 39 F.3d at 945 (citing Iron Arrow Honor Soc'y v. Heckler, 464 U.S. 67, 70, 78 L. Ed. 2d 58, 104 S. Ct. 373 (1983); Pomerantz v. County of Los Angeles, 674 F.2d 1288, 1291 (9th Cir. 1982); and Enrico's, Inc. v. Rice, 730 F.2d 1250, 1254 (9th Cir. 1984)). 43 In determining whether a request for declaratory relief has become moot,  basically, 'the question in each case is whether the facts alleged, under all the circumstances, show that there is a substantial controversy, between parties having adverse legal interests, of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of a declaratory judgment.' Preiser v. Newkirk, 422 U.S. 395, 402, 45 L. Ed. 2d 272, 95 S. Ct. 2330 (1975) (quoting Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co., 312 U.S. 270, 273, 85 L. Ed. 826, 61 S. Ct. 510 (1941)); see also Jones Intercable of San Diego v. City of Chula Vista, 80 F.3d 320, 328 (9th Cir. 1996) (holding that a case was moot when a cable television licensee no longer could or wanted to operate a cable system); Nome Eskimo Community v. Babbitt, 67 F.3d 813, 815 (9th Cir. 1995) (holding that when a lease sale that was the center of a controversy had been canceled for lack of bids, and that there was no immediate prospect of another, similar lease sale, that was the end of the 'case,' constitutionally and practically.). 44 The only relief CPUC has requested is that FERC's orders be vacated. This FERC has already done, subject to leave of this court. Moreover, Mojave Pipeline has refused the required certificate of public convenience and necessity and has determined not to proceed with its proposed Northward Expansion, eliminating the subject of the jurisdictional controversy between FERC and CPUC. Neither Mojave Pipeline nor any other company has filed an application for a similar proposal, and both sides have acknowledged, both in briefing and in oral argument, that it is the particular configuration of the Northward Expansion that created the jurisdictional controversy in these cases. Indeed, the parties have referred to the Northward Expansion as sui generis. Thus, this court now lacks the ability to grant effective relief. When barge lines appealed the Interstate Commerce Commission's order allowing certain railroad tariffs that would otherwise be illegal and then the railroads eliminated the illegality and notified the ICC of their withdrawal of their application for administrative relief, the barge lines' appeal was moot. A.L. Mechling Barge Lines, Inc. v. United States, 368 U.S. 324, 327-30, 82 S.Ct. 377, 339-41, 7 L. Ed. 2d 317, 82 S. Ct. 337 (1961). 1 These appeals are similarly moot. 45 Even if CPUC's request for relief is construed as a request for a declaratory judgment that FERC has no jurisdiction over Mojave Pipeline's proposed expansion, this court cannot grant that relief. A federal court cannot issue an declaratory judgment if a claim has become moot. United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75, 89, 91 L. Ed. 754, 67 S. Ct. 556 (1947); Native Village of Noatak v. Blatchford, 38 F.3d 1505, 1514 (9th Cir. 1994). 46