Court Opinion

ID: 9407854
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-10 17:02:17.737127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:40.470671
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        JUL 10 2023
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

SHARRIE YATES,                                  No.    20-35879

                Plaintiff-Appellant,            D.C. No. 3:20-cv-05082-BJR

 v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
WASHINGTON FEDERATION OF STATE
EMPLOYEES, AFSCME COUNCIL 28,
AFL-CIO, a labor organization; JAY
ROBERT INSLEE, in his Official Capacity
as Governor of the State of Washington;
SUE BIRCH, in her Official Capacity as
Director of the Washington State Healthcare
Authority,

                Defendants-Appellees.

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                     for the Western District of Washington
                Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, District Judge, Presiding

                              Submitted July 6, 2023**

Before: WALLACE, O’SCANNLAIN, and SILVERMAN, Circuit Judges.

      *
             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).
      Sharrie Yates appeals from the district court’s judgment dismissing her 42

U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging First and Fourteenth Amendment claims arising

from the alleged unauthorized deduction of union membership dues. We have

jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo. Harris v. Cnty. of

Orange, 682 F.3d 1126, 1131 (9th Cir. 2012) (judgment on the pleadings under

Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c)); Wright v. SEIU Loc. 503, 48 F.4th 1112, 1118 n.3 (9th Cir.

2022), cert. denied, 143 S. Ct. 749 (2023) (dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1)

and 12(b)(6)). We may affirm on any ground supported by the record. Ochoa v.

Pub. Consulting Grp., Inc., 48 F.4th 1102, 1110 (9th Cir. 2022), cert. denied, 143

S. Ct. 783 (2023). We affirm.1

      The district court properly dismissed the First Amendment claims for

prospective relief for a lack of standing. Allegations of past injury alone with only

the potential for future unauthorized dues deductions are too speculative to

establish standing for a First Amendment claim for prospective relief. Wright, 48

F.4th at 1120.

      The Fourteenth Amendment Due Process claim alleged against the State

defendants fails because Yates did not allege that they intended to withhold

unauthorized dues. Ochoa, 48 F.4th at 1110-11. The Supreme Court did not

      1
       This appeal has been held in abeyance since February 10, 2022, pending
issuance of the mandate in No. 20-36076, Zielinski v. SEIU, Local 503, or further
order of this court. The stay is lifted.

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impose an affirmative duty on the government to ensure that the membership

agreement between the employee and union is genuine. Wright, 48 F.4th at 1125.

      The district court properly dismissed the civil rights claims alleged against

the union. The union was not a state actor when it certified that the employee had

entered into a private agreement to pay dues, even if the authorization was

fraudulent. Id. at 1121-25; Belgau v. Inslee, 975 F.3d 940, 946-49 (9th Cir. 2020),

cert. denied, 141 S. Ct. 2795 (2021).

      Nor did the district court err in dismissing the section 1983 claims against

the state officials, as neither are “persons” subject to suit under section 1983. See

Will v. Mich. Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 70–71 (1989).

      The district court had the discretion to decline to exercise supplemental

jurisdiction over the state law claims because Yates failed to state a federal claim.

Ove v. Gwinn, 264 F.3d 817, 826 (9th Cir. 2001).

      AFFIRMED.

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