Hardesty v. Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Mgt. Dist.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided November 2, 2023·No. 2:10-cv-02414·Unknown

Opinion

1 G. David Robertson, Esq. (SBN 111984) ROBERTSON, JOHNSON, MILLER & WILLIAMSON 2 50 W. Liberty Street, Suite 600 Reno, Nevada 89501 3 Telephone: 775.329.5600 4 Facsimile: 775.348.8300 Email: gdavid@nvlawyers.com 5 R. Paul Yetter, Esq. (pro hac vice) 6 Justin P. Tschoepe, Esq. (pro hac vice) YETTER COLEMAN LLP 7 811 Main Street, Suite 4100 8 Houston, Texas 77002 Telephone: 713.632.8000 9 Email: pyetter@yettercoleman.com Email: jtschoepe@yettercoleman.com 10 DAVID A. DIEPENBROCK (SBN 215679) 11 weintraub tobin chediak coleman grodin 12 LAW CORPORATION 400 Capitol Mall, 11th Floor 13 Sacramento, California 95814 Telephone: 916.558.6000 14 Facsimile: 916.446.1611 Email: ddiepenbrock@weintraub.com 15 Attorneys for Plaintiffs, 16 JOSEPH HARDESTY and YVETTE HARDESTY 17 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 18 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA – SACRAMENTO DIVISION 19 JOSEPH HARDESTY, an individual; and Case No. 2:10-cv-02414-KJM-KJN 20 YVETTE HARDESTY, an individual, Consolidated with: 2:12-cv-2457-KJM-KJN

21 Plaintiffs, STIPULATION FOR VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL OF ACTION WITH 22 vs. PREJUDICE AND RETENTION OF 23 JURISDICTION TO ENFORCE SACRAMENTO METROPOLITAN AIR SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT; 24 QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT, ORDER et al., 25 Judge: Hon. Kimberly J. Mueller 26 Defendants. Magistrate: Hon. Kendall J. Newman Trial Date: October 17, 2023 27 Action Filed: September 8, 2010 1 STIPULATION 2 WHEREAS, on September 10, 2010, Plaintiffs filed the Complaint in the above-entitled 3 action. 4 WHEREAS, a jury found the County liable for violating Plaintiffs’ procedural and substantive 5 due process rights and awarded damages. The County filed motions for judgment after trial and new 6 trial, which District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller denied by order dated March 31, 2018. 7 WHEREAS, the County appealed the jury's verdict to the United States Court of Appeals for 8 the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit, by memorandum opinion dated August 19, 2020, upheld the 9 jury’s finding of liability for violation of due process as to the County. The Court affirmed the jury’s 10 finding that the County acted arbitrarily and unreasonably to deprive the Hardestys of their chosen 11 occupation. But the Ninth Circuit reversed liability as to the individual defendants on grounds of 12 immunity and reversed and remanded damages to the District Court as the jury’s award of damages 13 was excessive. 14 WHEREAS, the Court had set this case for a second jury trial on October 11, 2023 limited to 15 determining the amount of damages caused to the Hardestys by the County’s actions. 16 WHEREAS, the Parties hereto have entered into a Settlement Agreement, a true and correct 17 copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A and fully incorporated herein by this reference, settling 18 and dismissing the claims alleged in this case in return for a payment by the County to the Hardestys 19 of $58.5 million, along with other terms in the Settlement Agreement. 20 WHEREAS, the Settlement Agreement includes a provision, Section 9, in which each of the 21 Parties agreed to the court retaining jurisdiction over the Parties under section 664.6 of the California 22 Code of Civil Procedure and applicable federal law to enforce the terms and conditions of the 23 Settlement Agreement, should that be necessary. 24 WHEREAS, Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that a 25 plaintiff may voluntarily dismiss an action without a court order by filing a stipulation of dismissal 26 signed by all parties who have appeared. 27 WHEREAS, federal law allows district courts to expressly retain jurisdiction to enforce a 1 dismissal order, and support the court’s exercise of ancillary jurisdiction. See Kokkonen v. Guardian 2 Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 381 (1994). 3 WHEREFORE, the Parties hereby stipulate that this action be dismissed with prejudice as to 4 all Defendants and in its entirety, with each Party to bear his own attorneys’ fees and costs; provided, 5 however, that the Parties’ stipulation of dismissal of this action with prejudice is conditioned upon 6 the Court issuing an order retaining jurisdiction over the Parties to enforce the terms and conditions 7 of the Settlement Agreement. 8 WHEREFORE, the Parties hereby stipulate to this Court retaining jurisdiction to enforce the 9 terms and conditions of the Settlement Agreement pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure 10 section 664.6 and applicable federal law, and respectfully request that the Court enter the 11 accompanying proposed order. 12 Dated: October 30, 2023 COLE HUBER LLP

13 14 By: /s/ Derek P. Cole Derek P. Cole 15 Counsel for Defendant SACRAMENTO COUNTY 16 17 Dated: October 30, 2023 YETTER COLEMAN LLP

18 19 By: /s/ Justin P. Tschoepe Justin P. Tschoepe 20 Counsel for Hardesty Plaintiffs

21 Dated: October 30, 2023 weintraub tobin chediak coleman grodin 22 LAW CORPORATION

23 24 By: /s/ David A. Diepenbrock David A. Diepenbrock 25 Attorneys for Plaintiffs JOSEPH HARDESTY and 26 YVETTE HARDESTY

27 | ORDER 2 In accordance with the above stipulation, and for good cause appearing therefore, it is hereby 3 || ordered that the above action shall be dismissed with prejudice as to all Defendants and in its entirety, 4 | with each Party to bear his own attorneys’ fees and costs; provided. However, the Court shall in this 5 || exceptional case, in accordance with section 664.6 of the California Code of Civil Procedure and 6 || applicable federal law, retain jurisdiction over the Parties to the above-entitled action to enforce the 7 ||terms and conditions of the Parties’ Settlement Agreement, a true and correct copy of which 1s 8 || attached hereto as Exhibit A, and to the accompanying Stipulation, and embodied herein by this 9 || reference. 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. 11 | DATED: November 2, 2023.

13 14 CHIEF ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 _4- STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR VOLUNTARY DIMISSAL AND RETAIN JURISDICTION TO ENFORCE

Exhibit A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND GENERAL RELEASE This Settlement Agreement and General Release (“Agreement”) is entered into between Plaintiffs Joseph L. Hardesty, Yvette Hardesty and Defendant County of Sacramento, parties to the civil rights action pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, entitled Joseph Hardesty, et al. v. Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, et al., No. 2:10-cv-02414-KJM-KJN, before the Honorable Kimberly J. Mueller. The Agreement is for the purpose of full and complete resolution of any and all claims, demands, cause or causes of action, obligations, rights or liabilities of any kind, whether known or unknown, express or implied, existing between the parties, arising from or in connection to, the aforementioned civil action. The parties enter into the Agreement for the good and valuable consideration acknowledged and accepted below. This Agreement shall be deemed to have been entered on the date the last party executes this Agreement, as provided within (“Effective Date”). PARTIES The parties to this Agreement are Plaintiffs Joseph L. Hardesty, Yvette Hardesty (“Plaintiffs”) and Defendant County of Sacramento (“County”). RECITALS This Agreement is made with reference to the following facts: 1. Certain claims, disputes and controversies have arisen between the parties to this Agreement. 1.1 The Schneider Historic Mine, California Mine ID No. 91-34-0042 (“SHM”) is a mining operation located at 14026 Meiss Road, in Sloughhouse, California, which has historically operated on approximately 3,691 acres composed of Assessor Parcel Nos.

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Hardesty v. Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Mgt. Dist., (E.D. Cal. 2023).

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Related

Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America
511 U.S. 375 (Supreme Court, 1994)