McPeak v. Butcher

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: July 31, 2023
• Docket: 3:21-cv-05821
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 AT TACOMA 10 11 ERIN McPEAK, CASE NO. 3:21-cv-05821-TL 12 Plaintiff, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE v. 13 COREY BUTCHER, in his individual 14 capacity, 15 Defendant. 16

17 18 This matter comes before the Court sua sponte. On April 24, 2023, the Parties stipulated 19 to the dismissal of Defendants Centralia Police Department, Chief Stacy Denham, and Corey 20 Butcher in his official capacity. See Dkt. No. 58. On July 28, the Parties stipulated to the 21 dismissal of Defendant Lewis County Sheriff’s Department, as well as Defendants Kevin 22 Engelbertson and Robert Snaza in both their official and individual capacities. See Dkt. No. 77. 23 Therefore, the only Parties remaining in this matter are Plaintiff Erin McPeak and Defendant 24 Corey Butcher in his individual capacity. 1 “Subject matter jurisdiction can never be forfeited or waived, and federal courts have a 2 continuing, independent obligation to determine whether subject matter jurisdiction exists.” 3 Mashiri v. Dep’t of Educ., 724 F.3d 1028, 1031 (9th Cir. 2013); see also Corral v. Select 4 Portfolio Servicing, Inc., 878 F.3d 770, 773 (9th Cir. 2017) (examining and finding lack of

5 diversity jurisdiction sua sponte). If the Court determines at any time that it lacks subject matter 6 jurisdiction, the Court must dismiss the action. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3); Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp., 7 546 U.S. 500, 514 (2006). 8 Defendant does not (and could not) assert diversity jurisdiction, as both Plaintiff and 9 Defendant were residents of Washington State when this matter was commenced. See Dkt. 10 No. 1-1 at 2; 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Instead, Defendant asserts federal question jurisdiction for 11 alleged violation of Plaintiff’s constitutional rights under the First, Fourth, Eighth, and 12 Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Dkt. No. 1 13 at 1–2; 28 U.S.C. § 1331. However, all state actors in this matter have been dismissed, leaving 14 only Defendant in his individual capacity.

15 Accordingly, the Court ORDERS: 16 (1) Defendant is ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE by August 14, 2023, why this matter 17 should not be remanded to the Lewis County Superior Court for lack of subject 18 matter jurisdiction. Plaintiff may respond by August 28, 2023. No reply brief is 19 permitted. No brief shall exceed ten (10) pages. 20 (2) Given the dismissal of Defendants Lewis County Sheriff’s Department, Kevin 21 Engelbertson, and Robert Snaza, their Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. 22 No. 50) is STRICKEN as moot. 23

24 1 (3) The matter is STAYED pending resolution of this Order. 2 Dated this 31st day of July 2023. 3 A 4 Tana Lin United States District Judge 5

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