William Webster v. Department of Veterans Affairs

FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION JAN 02 2014 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT WILLIAM T. WEBSTER, No. 12-16088 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:09-cv-02433-JCM- VCF v. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS MEMORANDUM* AFFAIRS; et al., Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada James C. Mahan, District Judge, Presiding Submitted December 17, 2013** Before: GOODWIN, WALLACE, and GRABER, Circuit Judges. William T. Webster appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment dismissing his action alleging federal and state law claims arising from his removal from transitional housing. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). review for an abuse of discretion the imposition of discovery sanctions. Conn. Gen. Life Ins. Co. v. New Images of Beverly Hills, 482 F.3d 1091, 1096 (9th Cir. 2007). We affirm. The district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing terminating sanctions under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2) on the basis of Webster’s willful violations of the court’s discovery orders that prevented defendants from conducting meaningful discovery. See Conn. Gen. Life Ins. Co., 482 F.3d at 1096- 97 (discussing factors for evaluating terminating sanctions, and noting that terminating sanctions may be appropriate “[w]here a party so damages the integrity of the discovery process that there can never be assurance of proceeding on the true facts” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). Webster’s contentions concerning the denial of his motion for partial summary judgment are unsupported by the record. See Balvage v. Ryderwood Improvement & Serv. Ass’n, Inc., 642 F.3d 765, 775 (9th Cir. 2011) (setting forth standard of review). AFFIRMED. 2 12-16088