Marsh v. AFSCME Local 3299

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJanuary 19, 2021
Docket2:19-cv-02382
StatusUnknown

This text of Marsh v. AFSCME Local 3299 (Marsh v. AFSCME Local 3299) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marsh v. AFSCME Local 3299, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

“1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 TERRANCE MARSH, et al., No. 2:19-cv-02382-JAM-DB 10 Plaintiffs, 11 v. ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO DISMISS WITH 12 AFSCME LOCAL 3299, a labor PREJUDICE organization, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 This matter is before the Court on AFSCME Local 3299’s Motion 16 to Dismiss, UC President Michael V. Drake’s Motion to Dismiss, 17 and Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s Motion to Dismiss. Mot. to 18 Dismiss by AFSCME Local 3299 (“Union Mot.”), ECF No. 54; Mot. to 19 Dismiss by Michael V. Drake (“Drake Mot.”), ECF No. 55; Mot. to 20 Dismiss by Xavier Becerra (“Becerra Mot.”), ECF No. 56. 21 Defendants seek to dismiss Plaintiffs’ Corrected Second Amended 22 Complaint (“SAC”) under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the 23 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See SAC, ECF No. 53. 24 Plaintiffs opposed these motions. Opp’n by Kiska Carter et al. 25 to Drake and Becerra Mots. (“Opp’n to State”), ECF No. 57; Opp’n 26 by Kiska Carter et al. to Union Mot. (“Opp’n to Union”), ECF. No. 27 58. Each Defendant then filed a reply. Reply by AFSCME Local 28 3299 (“Union Reply”), ECF No. 59; Reply by Michael V. Drake “1 (“Drake Reply”), ECF No. 60; Reply by Xavier Becerra (“Becerra 2 Reply”), ECF No. 61. For the reasons set forth below, the Court 3 GRANTS Defendants’ motions to dismiss.1 4 I. BACKGROUND 5 Ten University of California employees (“Plaintiffs”) filed 6 this lawsuit against Attorney General Xavier Becerra (“Becerra”), 7 University of California President Michael V. Drake2 (“Drake”), 8 and AFSCME Local 3299 (“the Union”) under Section 1983 of the 9 Civil Rights Act, asserting Defendants’ payroll deduction scheme 10 violates their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. SAC ¶¶ 1- 11 3. The factual allegations, which have been set forth 12 extensively in the complaint, the parties’ briefings, and the 13 Court’s prior orders, will not be repeated here. 14 The present Motions are the second set of motions to dismiss 15 before the Court. On July 27, 2020, this Court granted the first 16 set of motions to dismiss. See Order Granting MTD FAC (“Order”), 17 ECF No. 46. The Court attached a chart to that Order summarizing 18 which of Plaintiffs’ numerous claims were dismissed with 19 prejudice and which Plaintiffs were given leave to amend. Id. at 20 24. 21 On September 14, 2020, Plaintiffs filed a corrected SAC, 22 which is now the operative complaint. See SAC. Plaintiffs re- 23 pled only two of the three claims considered by this Court in its 24 prior Order: the first count for violation of Plaintiffs’

25 1 These motions were determined to be suitable for decision without oral argument. E.D. Cal. L.R. 230(g). The hearing was 26 scheduled for October 13, 2020. 2 Michael V. Drake was appointed President of the University of 27 California in August 2020, and has been substituted for former President of the University of California, Janet Napolitano, 28 pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d). “1 Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process rights (the 2 “Procedural Due Process claim”) and the second count for 3 violation of Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights (the “Compelled 4 Speech claim”). SAC ¶¶ 167-186. As to the first count, 5 Plaintiffs seek prospective injunctive and declaratory relief and 6 retrospective monetary damages. SAC at 26-27. As to the second 7 count, Plaintiffs seek only prospective injunctive relief. SAC 8 at 27. Additionally, Plaintiffs added a new section of class 9 allegations. SAC ¶¶ 159-66. 10 II. OPINION 11 A. 12(b)(1) Motions 12 1. Legal Standard 13 A Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss tests whether a complaint 14 alleges grounds for federal subject-matter jurisdiction. See 15 Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). At the pleading stage, courts take all 16 the allegations in the complaint as true, then ask whether 17 plaintiffs adequately alleged subject-matter jurisdiction. 18 Chandler v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 598 F.3d 1115, 1121— 19 22 (9th Cir. 2010). 20 If a plaintiff’s claims are moot, then the court lacks 21 subject-matter jurisdiction, and the case must be dismissed. 22 U.S. CONST., art. III; Preiser v. Newkirk, 422 U.S. 395, 401 23 (1975). To pose a “live case or controversy,” claims must be 24 “definite and concrete”; they must “touch[] the legal relations 25 of parties having adverse legal interests.” DeFunis v. Odegaard, 26 416 U.S. 312, 317 (1974). If a case does not present questions 27 “affect[ing] the rights of litigants in the case before [the 28 court],” it is not a case the court can decide. See Preiser, 422 “1 U.S. at 401. 2 2. Analysis 3 Defendants first move to dismiss the two remaining counts 4 for lack of jurisdiction, contending Plaintiffs lack standing and 5 their claims are moot. See Union Mot. at 3-4, 5-6; Drake Mot. at 6 3-10; Becerra Mot. at 5-11. As explained below, the Court agrees 7 with Defendants that the prospective relief portions of 8 Plaintiffs’ two claims are moot and therefore must be dismissed. 9 a. Compelled Speech Claim 10 As to their compelled speech claim, Plaintiffs seek only 11 prospective injunctive relief. SAC at 27. Specifically, four 12 Plaintiffs – Marsh, Edde, Mendoza, and Davidson – request 13 prospective injunctive relief against the Union and Drake. SAC 14 at 27(vi-vii). All Plaintiffs seek prospective injunctive relief 15 against Becerra. SAC at 27(viii). 16 (i) The Union 17 The Union argues that Plaintiffs’ compelled speech claim 18 should be dismissed because the only four Plaintiffs bringing 19 this claim against the Union – Marsh, Edde, Mendoza, and Davidson 20 – still do not have a live claim for prospective relief, which is 21 the only form of relief sought for this claim. Union Mot. at 3- 22 4; Union Reply at 1. In its prior Order, the Court explained 23 that these four Plaintiffs’ request for prospective relief on 24 their compelled speech claim was moot because their payroll 25 deductions had already terminated. Order at 15-16, 22. Further, 26 the Court found that the “capable of repetition yet evading 27 review” exception to mootness did not apply because Plaintiffs 28 had not sufficiently alleged they would be subject to deductions “1 in the future. Id. at 16 (citing Few v. United Teachers Los 2 Angeles, No. 2:18-cv-09531-JLS-DFM, 2020 WL 633598, at *4-6 (C.D. 3 Cal. Feb. 10, 2020)). Accordingly, the Court concluded it could 4 not “grant these plaintiffs prospective relief for fees they are 5 no longer paying.” Id. (citing Babb v. Cal. Teachers Assocs., 6 378 F.Supp.3d 857, 870-871 (C.D. Cal. 2019)). 7 The Union contends the SAC does nothing to cure the mootness 8 defect identified by the Court in its prior Order. Union Mot. at 9 3; Union Reply at 1. The Court agrees. First, the SAC clearly 10 indicates these four Plaintiffs are no longer subject to payroll 11 deductions. SAC ¶¶ 49(Marsh), 59-60(Edde), 77-78(Mendoza), 12 87(Davidson). Second, the SAC still does not allege these 13 Plaintiffs are likely to be subject to deductions again in the 14 future. The Court therefore has no reason to deviate from its 15 prior analysis and once again finds these claims are moot. 16 In opposition, Plaintiffs appear to concede their named 17 plaintiffs’ claims are moot, but attempt to avoid dismissal on 18 mootness grounds by adding new class allegations. See SAC ¶¶159- 19 166.

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Bluebook (online)
Marsh v. AFSCME Local 3299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marsh-v-afscme-local-3299-caed-2021.