Thomas et al v. County of Sonoma et al
Filing
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ORDER by Judge Laurel Beeler denying 49 Motion for Summary Judgment; denying 50 Motion. (lblc1S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 6/9/2017)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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San Francisco Division
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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GARY PRICE THOMAS, et al.,
Case No. 17-cv-00245-LB
Plaintiffs,
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ORDER
v.
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Re: ECF Nos. 49 & 50
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COUNTY OF SONOMA, et al.,
Defendants.
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The court previously granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss and dismissed this case under
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the Rooker–Feldman doctrine.1 The court decided the motions, including Mr. Thomas’s summary-
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judgment motions, on the parties’ submissions without oral argument under Local Rule 7-1(b).2
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After granting the defendants’ motions, the court entered judgment in their favor and against Mr.
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Thomas.3
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See Order Granting Motions to Dismiss – ECF No. 45. Record citations refer to material in the
Electronic Case File (“ECF”); pinpoint citations are to the ECF-generated page numbers at the top of
documents.
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See id. at 2; Clerk’s Notice – ECF No. 43.
Judgment – ECF No. 46. The court also dismissed without prejudice the claims purportedly brought
by minor M.N. Thomas. See Order Granting Motions to Dismiss at 7; see also Order – ECF No. 34 at
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ORDER – No. 17-cv-00245-LB
Fourteen days later, Mr. Thomas filed two new motions: (1) “Motion for Summary Judgment
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Oral Hearing Date,” and (2) “Motion for Response to Judicial Defendants Response.”4 From those
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motions, the court can discern two possible requests.
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First, Mr. Thomas asks for a hearing on the already-decided motions to dismiss and motions
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for summary judgment.5 He even proposes a date: July 13, 2017.6 But the court denies the request.
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The court, in its discretion, decided the parties’ motions without oral argument. Civil L.R. 7-1(b)
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(“In the Judge’s discretion . . . a motion may be determined without oral argument . . . .”). There is
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no need for a hearing.
Second, liberally construed, Mr. Thomas appears to request reconsideration of the court’s
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order dismissing his case. For example, the court decided that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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over Mr. Thomas’s claims under the Rooker–Feldman doctrine,7 but Mr. Thomas urges that the
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court has jurisdiction over his civil-rights claims under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343.8 He also
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asserts that the defendants’ motions to dismiss were unconstitutional, that he challenges the state-
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court divorce and child-custody decisions as void for lack of jurisdiction, and that “[i]t is clear and
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well established law that a void order can be challenged in any court.”9
A district court can “reconsider” final judgments or appealable interlocutory orders under
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Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59(e) (governing motions to alter or amend judgments) and 60(b)
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(governing motions for relief from a final judgment). See Balla v. Idaho Bd. of Corr., 869 F.2d
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461, 466–67 (9th Cir. 1989). Reconsideration is appropriate when (1) the court is presented with
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newly discovered evidence, (2) the underlying decision was in clear error or manifestly unjust, or
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(3) there is an intervening change in controlling law. See School Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah County,
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Motion for Hearing Date – ECF No. 49; Motion for Response – ECF No. 50.
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See Motion for Hearing Date at 1.
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Id.
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Order Granting Motions to Dismiss at 10–11.
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Motion for Hearing Date at 1–2.
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Motion for Response at 1–2.
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ORDER – No. 17-cv-00245-LB
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Or. v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1263 (9th Cir. 1993). “There may also be other, highly unusual,
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circumstances warranting reconsideration.” Id.
Under this District’s Civil Local Rules, a party seeking reconsideration must first request
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permission from the court before filing a motion for reconsideration. Civil L.R. 7-9. In seeking
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permission, the party must show that (1) at the time of the motion, a material difference in fact or
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law exists that was not previously presented to the court, (2) there has been an emergence of new
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material facts or a change in law since the court issued the order, or (3) there was a “manifest
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failure by the Court to consider material facts or dispositive legal arguments” that were presented.
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Id. 7-9(b). “No motion for leave to file a motion for reconsideration may repeat any oral or written
argument made by the applying party in support of or in opposition to the interlocutory order
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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which the party now seeks to have reconsidered.” Id. 7-9(c).
Here, Mr. Thomas has not satisfied this standard. He has not shown a material difference in
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law or fact that was not previously presented to the court, an emergence of new facts or a change
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in the law since the court’s order, or that the court’s dismissal was in clear error, manifestly unjust,
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or unresponsive to dispositive legal arguments. He instead simply argues that the state court
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lacked jurisdiction and that he can challenge that deficiency at any time. But, even if the state
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court lacked jurisdiction, he cannot appeal those decisions to this federal district court — as
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explained in the court’s order dismissing the case, Rooker–Feldman bars such “appeals.”10 He
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cites Old Wayne Mutual Life Association v. McDonough for the proposition that “[i]t is clear and
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well established law that a void order can be challenged in any court.”11 204 U.S. 8 (1907). But
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Old Wayne “vacated for lack of due process a state court judgment that had been affirmed by the
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Supreme Court of Indiana — it does not allow a federal district court to review a state court
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judgment.” Schwartz v. Bank of Hawaii Corp., No. 12-00267 JMS-KSC, 2012 WL 3841294, at *6
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n.4 (D. Haw. Sept. 4, 2012) (holding that Rooker–Feldman barred action brought to void a state-
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court foreclosure judgment). The court finds that the other cases he cites are similarly
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See Order Granting Motions to Dismiss at 7–12.
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Motion for Response at 2.
ORDER – No. 17-cv-00245-LB
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