Court Opinion

ID: 9928014
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-30 18:01:41.056137+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:44:40.923403
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                        FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        JAN 30 2024
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                              FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

OMA'S ANGEL FOUNDATION; THIEN                   No.    22-55894
CHI BUI, “Patrick”,
                                                D.C. No.
                Plaintiffs-Appellants,          8:18-cv-00155-DOC-JDE

 v.                                             MEMORANDUM*

ORANGE COUNTY CATHOLIC
WORKER, an unincorporated association,

                Plaintiff-Appellee,

and

CYNDI UTZMAN; DEBORAH KRAFT;
WENDY POWITZKY; JOSHUE OGLE;
CATHERINE L. MOORE; CALLIE
RUTTER; CITY OF STANTON,

                Plaintiffs,

 v.

ORANGE COUNTY; CITY OF ANAHEIM;
MERCY HOUSE LIVING CENTER,

                Defendants-Appellees,

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
and

CITY OF COSTA MESA; CITY OF BREA;
CITY OF BUENA PARK; CITY OF
CYPRESS; CITY OF FULLERTON; CITY
OF LA HABRA; CITY OF LA PALMA;
CITY OF PLACENTIA,; CITY OF VILLA
PARK; CITY OF YORBA LINDA; CITY
OF LOS ALAMITOS; CITY OF
BELLFLOWER; CITY OF LAGUNA
BEACH; CITY OF WHITTIER; CITY OF
TUSTIN; CITY OF LAGUNA NIGUEL,

                Defendants.

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Central District of California
                    David O. Carter, District Judge, Presiding

                      Argued and Submitted January 9, 2024
                              Pasadena, California

Before: RAWLINSON, MELLOY,** and H.A. THOMAS, Circuit Judges.

      Oma’s Angel Foundation (the Foundation) and Thien Chi “Patrick” Bui

appeal the district court’s May 4, 2022, order accepting jurisdiction over their

claims brought in state court. We have jurisdiction to review final orders, including

orders enforcing or interpreting settlement agreements, under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

See, e.g., O’Connor v. Colvin, 70 F.3d 530, 531 (9th Cir. 1995). Because we

      **
            The Honorable Michael J. Melloy, United States Circuit Judge for the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation.

                                          2
determine that the district court lacked jurisdiction over this case,1 we vacate this

matter and remand with instructions that the case be returned to state court.2

         We find no basis for this suit having been heard in the district court. Neither

party filed a motion to remove the case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1446. Instead, the

parties appeared in federal court after the state court stayed an ongoing state action

pending the outcome of a dispute resolution process available in a separate federal

lawsuit. The district court subsequently ordered that it, rather than the state court,

would assume jurisdiction over all injunctive and declaratory relief claims in the

case, while remanding the parties’ damages claims to state court. No federal law or

procedure permits a state lawsuit to be resolved in federal court in this manner.3

         VACATED AND REMANDED.

1
 We DENY the parties’ motions for judicial notice, filed on January 5, 2023; May
5, 2023; and May 11, 2023.
2
    Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal. Fed. R. App. P. 39.
3
  As we find that the district court lacked jurisdiction over this action, and Bui has
standing to appeal, we need not address the question whether the Foundation has
standing to appeal despite its not being a party in the district court.

                                             3