Melodie Depierro v. Las Vegas Police Protective As

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: August 24, 2022
• Docket: 21-16541
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED AUG 24 2022 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MELODIE DePIERRO, No. 21-16541

Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:20-cv-01481-GMN-VCF

v. MEMORANDUM* LAS VEGAS POLICE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION METRO, INC.; LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT,

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Gloria M. Navarro, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted August 17, 2022**

Before: S.R. THOMAS, PAEZ, and LEE, Circuit Judges.

Melodie DePierro appeals from the district court’s judgment dismissing her

42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging a First Amendment claim arising out of union

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). DePierro’s request for oral argument, set forth in the opening brief, is denied. membership dues paid to Las Vegas Police Protective Association Metro, Inc.

(“union”). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C § 1291. We review de novo a

district court’s dismissal for failure to state a claim. Puri v. Khalsa, 844 F.3d

1152, 1157 (9th Cir. 2017). We affirm.

The district court properly dismissed DePierro’s First Amendment claim for

retrospective relief because the deduction of union membership dues arose from a

private membership agreement between union and employee, and “private dues

agreements do not trigger state action and independent constitutional scrutiny.”

Belgau v. Inslee, 975 F.3d 940, 946-49 (9th Cir. 2020), cert. denied 141 S. Ct.

2795 (2021) (discussing state action); see id. at 950-52 (concluding that the

Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County &

Municipal Employees, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), did not extend a First

Amendment right to avoid supporting the union and paying union dues that were

agreed upon under voluntarily entered membership agreements); Knutson v. Sirius

XM Radio Inc., 771 F.3d 559, 565 (9th Cir. 2014) (discussing mutual assent).

DePierro’s claim for prospective relief is moot. DePierro is no longer a

member of the union and defendants stopped deducting union membership dues.

See Bain v. Cal. Teachers Ass’n, 891 F.3d 1206, 1211-14 (9th Cir. 2018)

(explaining that plaintiffs’ claims for prospective relief were moot when they

resigned their union membership and presented no reasonable likelihood that they

2 21-16541 would rejoin the union in the future).

AFFIRMED.

3 21-16541