State Board of Equalization v. Harleston

331 F.3d 699, 2003 WL 21286586
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 5, 2003
DocketNo. 02-55770
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 331 F.3d 699 (State Board of Equalization v. Harleston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Board of Equalization v. Harleston, 331 F.3d 699, 2003 WL 21286586 (9th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

CLIFTON, Circuit Judge.

Jerry and Donna Harleston commenced an adversary proceeding against the Cali[701]*701fornia Board of Equalization for a declaratory judgment that their debt to the Board was discharged in a previous bankruptcy proceeding in which the Board had filed a proof of claim. The Board moved for judgment on the pleadings on the ground that it enjoyed sovereign immunity. The bankruptcy court denied the motion. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel affirmed, concluding that the Board had waived its sovereign immunity by filing a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

The Harlestons filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition in February 1998. The Board filed a proof of claim, alleging a fully secured debt. The Harlestons objected that the debt was unsecured. The bankruptcy court entered an order (the “Order”) stating that the claim was not a priority claim under 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8), and set an evidentiary hearing to determine the extent of the claim’s secured status. The court converted the case to Chapter 7 status in March 1999 and entered a discharge order in June 1999. The evidentiary hearing that had been set was struck for want of prosecution after the conversion to Chapter 7 status.

In May 2001, the Board commenced collection efforts outside of the bankruptcy court proceedings, sending an earnings withholding order to Jerry Harleston’s employer. The Harlestons responded by filing in bankruptcy court a complaint for declaratory relief, seeking a judgment that: (1) the Order amounted to an order that the debt was dischargeable; (2) the Order barred further adjudication of the issue of dischargeability under the doctrine of res judicata; and (3) the Harlestons’ debt to the Board had been discharged. The Board moved for judgment on the pleadings, asserting that the bankruptcy court lacked jurisdiction over the Harlestons’ adversary proceeding under the Eleventh Amendment. The bankruptcy court denied the motion.

The BAP affirmed that denial on interlocutory appeal, concluding that the Board had waived sovereign immunity with respect to the Harlestons’ adversary proceeding by filing its proof of claim. 275 B.R. 546 (9th Cir.BAP 2002). The Board timely appealed from that decision.

II. DISCUSSION

Under the collateral order doctrine, we have jurisdiction over the Board’s appeal from a denial of Eleventh Amendment immunity. See Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewer Auth. v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., 506 U.S. 139, 147, 113 S.Ct. 684, 121 L.Ed.2d 605 (1993). We review de novo whether the Board is entitled to sovereign immunity. See Schulman v. Cal. (In re Lazar), 237 F.3d 967, 974 (9th Cir.2001).

“Under the Eleventh Amendment, a state is immune from suit under state or federal law by private parties in federal court absent a valid abrogation of that immunity or an express waiver by the state.” Mitchell v. Franchise Tax Bd. (In re Mitchell), 209 F.3d 1111, 1115-16 (9th Cir.2000). That immunity applies to state agencies as well. Id. at 1116 n. 1. A state may waive its immunity if it voluntarily invokes the jurisdiction of a federal court or if it makes a “clear declaration” that it intends to submit itself to federal court jurisdiction. Coll. Sav. Bank v. Fla. Prepaid Postsecondary Educ. Expense Bd., 527 U.S. 666, 675-76, 119 S.Ct. 2219, 144 L.Ed.2d 605 (1999) (citations omitted).

In the bankruptcy context, the Supreme Court has held that a state, by filing a proof of claim, waives its sovereign immunity with respect to adjudication of that claim:

[702]*702It is traditional bankruptcy law that he who invokes the aid of the bankruptcy court by offering a proof of claim and demanding its allowance must abide the consequences of that procedure. [Citation omitted.] ... When the State becomes the actor and files a claim against the fund, it waives any immunity which it otherwise might have had respecting the adjudication of the claim.

Gardner v. New Jersey, 329 U.S. 565, 573-74, 67 S.Ct. 467, 91 L.Ed. 504 (1947).1 Accordingly, we have held that, when a state files a proof of claim for unpaid tax debts, it waives its sovereign immunity with respect to a court’s determination that those debts are dischargeable. See Cal. Franchise Tax Bd. v. Jackson (In re Jackson), 184 F.3d 1046, 1049 (9th Cir.1999).

The scope of the waiver is not limited to adjudication of the proof of claim. “[W]hen a state or an ‘arm of-the state’ files a proof of claim in a bankruptcy proceeding, the state waives its Eleventh Amendment immunity with regard to the bankruptcy estate’s claims that arise from the same transaction or occurrence as the state’s claim.” Lazar, 237 F.3d at 978. Thus, the key question is whether the Harlestons’ adversary proceeding arises from the same transaction or occurrence as the Board’s claim. We hold that it does.

To determine whether the “same transaction or occurrence” requirement is met, we apply the “logical relationship” test delineated in Pinkstaff v. United States (In re Pinkstaff), 974 F.2d 113 (9th Cir.1992):

A logical relationship exists when the counterclaim arises from the same aggregate set of operative facts as the initial claim, in that the same operative facts serve as the basis of both claims or the aggregate core of facts upon which the claim rests activates additional legal rights otherwise dormant in the defendant.

Lazar, 237 F.3d at 979 (quoting Pinkstaff, 974 F.2d at 115).

The Lazars were gas station operators who filed a bankruptcy petition after having their bank accounts seized by the state of California for failure to pay gasoline taxes, including taxes payable to the California Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund (the “Fund”). Lazar, 237 F.3d at 971. Before filing for bankruptcy, the Lazars filed claims against the Fund to recover costs associated with correcting leaks from underground storage tanks. During bankruptcy proceedings, the Board of Equalization submitted proofs of claim against the Lazars for the unpaid taxes. After their claims against the Fund failed administratively, the Lazars commenced a mandamus adversary proceeding in state court. Id. at 972. When the Lazars removed that proceeding to federal bank[703]*703ruptcy court, the Board objected in part that the bankruptcy court lacked jurisdiction under the Eleventh Amendment. Id. at 972-73.

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