Semaj Howard v. Robert Ranum

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: July 24, 2023
• Docket: 20-15072
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 24 2023 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

SEMAJ HOWARD, No. 20-15072

Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:17-cv-01807-JAM-DB

v. MEMORANDUM* ROBERT RANUM, Deputy, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department; et al.,

Defendants-Appellees,

and

YIANNI ATHENS, Sergeant, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department; et al.,

Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California John A. Mendez, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted July 18, 2023**

Before: SCHROEDER, RAWLINSON, and BADE, Circuit Judges.

* 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). Semaj Howard appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment following a

jury trial in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging constitutional claims arising from

his pretrial detention. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm.

Howard has waived any argument that the district court abused its discretion

by admitting defendants’ testimony at trial because Howard did not object to the

testimony before the district court. See Marbled Murrelet v. Babbitt, 83 F.3d 1060,

1066 (9th Cir. 1996) (“By failing to object to evidence at trial and request a ruling

on such an objection, a party waives the right to raise admissibility issues on

appeal.”). We also reject as without merit Howard’s contentions on appeal

regarding the admissibility of testimony at trial.

To the extent that Howard challenges the sufficiency of the evidence

supporting the jury’s verdict, Howard waived such a challenge by failing to move

for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial before the district court. See Nitco

Holding Corp. v. Boujikian, 491 F.3d 1086, 1089-90 (9th Cir. 2007) (to preserve a

sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge, a party must file both a pre-verdict motion

under Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(a) and a post-verdict motion for judgment as a matter of

law or new trial under Rule 50(b)).

Howard is not entitled to reversal of the district court’s judgment on the

basis of his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. See Nicholson v. Rushen,

767 F.2d 1426, 1427 (9th Cir. 1985) (“Generally, a plaintiff in a civil case has no

2 20-15072 right to effective assistance of counsel.”).

We do not consider arguments and allegations raised for the first time on

appeal. See Padgett v. Wright, 587 F.3d 983, 985 n.2 (9th Cir. 2009).

Howard’s motion to amend his opening brief (Docket Entry No. 34) is

denied.

AFFIRMED.

3 20-15072