West Coast Theater Corp. v. City of Portland

897 F.2d 1519, 1990 WL 31924
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 26, 1990
DocketNo. 87-4356; D.C. No. CV-86-802-GEJ
StatusPublished
Cited by82 cases

This text of 897 F.2d 1519 (West Coast Theater Corp. v. City of Portland) 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
West Coast Theater Corp. v. City of Portland, 897 F.2d 1519, 1990 WL 31924 (9th Cir. 1990).

Opinion

TANG, Circuit Judge:

West Coast Theater (“West Coast”) appeals (1) the dismissal of its complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for lack of prosecution; (2) the grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of Portland, Robert Scanlan, Pat Harrington, Donald Stark and Barbee Lyon (“the Portland defendants”); (3) the granting of (i) Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 sanctions in favor of the Portland defendants and (ii) 28 U.S.C. § 1927 sanctions in favor of the Oregonian Publishing Company (“the Oregonian”); and (4) the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(j) dismissal of its complaint against (i) Oregon Supreme Court Justices Edwin Peterson and Berkeley Lent, Oregon Court of Appeals Judge George Joseph, and former Oregon trial judge William Dale (“the judicial defendants”) and (ii) the Oregonian.

We affirm. Because we conclude that West Coast has brought a frivolous appeal, [1522]*1522we also award costs and attorney fees pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 38 as sanctions.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

West Coast’s 1 current action arises out of an earlier Oregon state court eminent domain proceeding. In that earlier proceeding, the City of Portland, Oregon acquired West Coast’s property for use as part of its Performing Arts Center. West Coast was awarded $4,100,000 as just compensation for the property by a jury verdict in July 1983. West Coast appealed the judgment to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

In April 1984, the Oregon Court of Appeals dismissed West Coast’s appeal because it had failed to serve properly all of the parties to the appeal. The Oregon Court of Appeals subsequently denied reconsideration of its ruling. West Coast then petitioned the Oregon Supreme Court for review. The Oregon Supreme Court rejected the petition in July 1984.

On June 23, 1986, West Coast filed a complaint in federal court against twenty-one named defendants. The defendants included the City of Portland, Portland City Commissioners, members of the Performing Arts Center committee, the Oregonian, the various judges involved with the state court proceeding and the lawyers who represented the City of Portland.

In its complaint, West Coast asserts a right to recover under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982,1983, and 1985; 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7, and the First, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. West Coast also seeks injunctive relief under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202.

When the complaint was filed, the district court issued an order establishing (1) October 21, 1986 as the discovery cut-off date and (2) November 20, 1986 as the due date for lodging the pretrial order.

West Coast never properly served the June 23, 1986 complaint upon the judicial defendants and the Oregonian. Instead, West Coast tried to serve these defendants with an earlier incomplete draft of the complaint, which contained just 32 pages as opposed to the 39 pages in the filed complaint.

On November 10, 1986, the Portland defendants moved for summary judgment (“Portland summary judgment”). On November 20, 1986, West Coast filed a motion to reopen discovery and extend the date for lodging the pretrial order. On November 20, 1986, the judicial defendants moved for summary judgment as well as dismissal under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(4), 12(b)(5) and 4(j). On December 15, 1986, the magistrate ordered discovery to be completed by January 20, 1987 and the pretrial order be lodged by February 20, 1987.

On January 23, 1987, three days after discovery was to be completed, West Coast filed another motion retroactively to extend discovery. At the hearing on this motion, the magistrate determined that West Coast had conducted no discovery. Consequently, the motion was denied.

On January 30, 1987, the Oregonian filed for summary judgment. In addition, the Oregonian moved for dismissal because West Coast failed properly to serve the complaint.

In a series of findings and recommendations in February, March, May and June of 1987, the magistrate made the following recommendations to the district court:

(1) the Portland summary judgment motion should be granted on the claims that had been fully, fairly and necessarily litigated in state court because the full faith credit clause and 28 U.S.C. § 1738 require federal courts to give the Oregon state court determinations preclusive effect;

(2) the Portland summary judgment should be granted on the remaining claims [1523]*1523because West Coast had failed to present any evidence to support its claims;

(3) West Coast and its attorney should pay Rule 11 sanctions to the City of Portland in the sum of $10,370.80;

(4) the judicial defendants and the Oregonian should be dismissed from the suit pursuant to Rule 4(j) because West Coast failed properly to serve these defendants and failed to show any “good cause’’ for this failure;

(5) the Oregonian should be granted sanctions against West Coast’s counsel under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 which makes counsel liable for unreasonable and vexatious multiplication of the proceedings; and

(6) the complaint should be dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 41(b) for lack of prosecution because West Coast (i) failed to lodge its pretrial order; (ii) failed to appear at a show cause hearing as to why the complaint should not be dismissed for lack of prosecution; (iii) failed to respond in any way to the pretrial order or the show cause hearing; and (iv) failed to conduct any discovery whatsoever in the case since January of 1987.

West Coast failed to file any objections to the magistrate’s findings and recommendations. The district court adopted all of the magistrate’s findings and recommendations and dismissed the entire action. West Coast filed a timely appeal.

DISCUSSION

1. Lack of Prosecution

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Bluebook (online)
897 F.2d 1519, 1990 WL 31924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-coast-theater-corp-v-city-of-portland-ca9-1990.