Horton v. PG&E Corporation

Opinion

1 2 3 6 7 HORTON, Case No. 22-cv-06367-HSG

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS 9 v. Re: Dkt. No. 5 11 Defendant.

12 13 In October 2022, Ricky-Dean Horton filed a notice of appeal regarding an order entered by 14 the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California (the “Bankruptcy 15 Court”). Dkt. No. 1. Pending before the Court is PG&E Corporation’s and Pacific Gas and 16 Electric Company’s (collectively, “PG&E”) motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. 17 See Dkt. No. 5. The Court agrees that it lacks jurisdiction to hear this appeal and accordingly 18 GRANTS the motion. 19 Mr. Horton filed a claim in the underlying bankruptcy case, asserting damages from the 20 alleged wrongful death of his brother in September 2016. See Dkt. No. 1 at 70. The Bankruptcy 21 Court found that Mr. Horton’s claims were barred by the statute of limitations, and disallowed and 22 expunged his claims. See id. at 67, 70. Mr. Horton filed a motion for reconsideration, requesting 23 that the Court reconsider the order disallowing his claims. See In re PG&E Corporation, 24 Bankruptcy Case No. 19-30088 (N.D. Cal.), Dkt. No. 11031. The Bankruptcy Court denied the 25 motion for reconsideration on October 7, 2021. Id., Dkt. No. 11386. Mr. Horton then filed 26 several documents with the Bankruptcy Court, suggesting that the court’s order denying his 27 motion for reconsideration was somehow improper. See id., Dkt. Nos. 11416, 11434, 11435. The 1 file a notice of appeal until almost a year later on October 14, 2022. Id., Dkt. No. 13084. 2 Bankruptcy Rule 8002(a)(1) states that “a notice of appeal must be filed with the 3 || bankruptcy clerk within 14 days after entry of the judgment, order, or decree being appealed.” It 4 || is well settled that the deadlines imposed by Bankruptcy Rule 8002 are “mandatory and 5 jurisdictional.” In re Ozenne, 841 F.3d 810, 814 (9th Cir. 2016) (quotation omitted); see also 6 Canyon Cap. Advisors LLC v. PG&E Corp., No. 20-CV-04949-HSG, 2020 WL 7342683, at *3 7 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 14, 2020), aff'd sub nom. Matter of PG&E Corp., No. 21-15025, 2021 WL 8 || 5985027 (9th Cir. Dec. 6, 2021). Because Mr. Horton filed his notice of appeal 372 days after the 9 || Bankruptcy Court’s order denying his motion for reconsideration, and 358 days after the deadline, 10 || his appeal was untimely under Bankruptcy Rule 8002(a)(1), and it must be dismissed for lack of 11 || jurisdiction. See In re Delaney, 29 F.3d 516, 518 (9th Cir. 1994) (“The provisions of Bankruptcy 12 || Rule 8002 are jurisdictional; the untimely filing of a notice of appeal deprives the appellate court 5 13 of jurisdiction to review the bankruptcy court’s order.”). The Court acknowledges that Mr. Horton 14 || disagrees with the Bankruptcy Court’s findings, but that is not a basis to toll the deadline to file an 3 15 appeal. The Court therefore GRANTS the motion to dismiss. The Clerk is directed to close the a 16 || case and terminate this appeal. IT IS SO ORDERED. || ated: 3/21/2023 19 Absurd 5 Mbt). HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR. 20 United States District Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28