Ballou v. McElvain

Opinion

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 9 10 JULIE BALLOU, CASE NO. 3:19-cv-05002-DGE 11 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING WITHOUT 12 v. PREJUDICE DEFENDANT CITY OF VANCOUVER’S MOTION FOR 13 JAMES MCELVAIN et al., LEAVE TO DEPOSIT FUNDS INTO COURT REGISTRY (DKT. 14 Defendants. NO. 240) 15

16 Defendant City of Vancouver seeks leave to deposit into the court registry the costs and 17 attorney fees awarded to Plaintiff pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 67. (Dkt. No. 18 240.) The City, however, has not moved to stay execution of the judgment awarding costs and 19 attorney fees. And while the City seeks to “halt[] the accrual of any post-judgment interest” (id. 20 at 1) pending its appeal, the City has not identified why post-judgment interest should not accrue 21 pending appeal in this case. 22 In Shaver Transp. Co. v. Chamberlain, 399 F.2d 893, 895 (9th Cir. 1968), after the 23 appellant paid the judgment into the court registry pursuant to Rule 67, the “[a]ppellee then 24 1 withdrew the deposit—highlighting that there was nothing in place preventing withdrawal. As in 2 Shaver, nothing would prevent Plaintiff from moving to withdraw funds from the court registry 3 to satisfy the judgment. And from the Court’s perspective, there is no point to utilizing the court 4 registry to transfer funds from the City to the Plaintiff.

5 Notwithstanding, the Court presumes the City’s true intent is to restrict Plaintiff’s access 6 to funds deposited into the court registry thereby effectively staying enforcement of the 7 judgment. Yet, the City has not moved to stay enforcement of the judgment. And while it may 8 be true that funds deposited into the court registry pursuant to Rule 67 can halt the accrual of 9 post-judgment interest, the City offers no reason why Plaintiff’s right to post-judgment interest 10 should be eliminated pending a decision on the City’s appeal. 11 Accordingly, the City’s motion (Dkt. No. 240) for leave to deposit funds into the court 12 registry is DENIED without prejudice. The motion may be renewed in conjunction with a 13 motion to stay execution of the judgment that addresses both the basis for the stay and the basis 14 for denying Plaintiff post-judgment interest pending appeal.

15 Dated this 12th day of August, 2024. 16 A 17 David G. Estudillo 18 United States District Judge

19 20 21 22 23 24