NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JAN 28 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
RIGOBERTO CARDENAS, Jr., No. 12-55555
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:10-cv-06132-ODW-
CW
v.
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, INC., an MEMORANDUM*
Ohio corporation,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Otis D. Wright, II, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted January 10, 2014
Pasadena, California
Before: W. FLETCHER, M. SMITH, and WATFORD, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff Rigoberto Cardenas, Jr. appeals the district court’s grant of
summary judgment in favor of defendant United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”) on
his federal retaliatory termination and state-law wrongful discharge claims. The
district court based its grant of summary judgment on two grounds: (1) plaintiff’s
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
claims were preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, and (2) even if they
were not preempted, plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case on either claim
sufficient to survive summary judgment. We affirm.
“[W]e may affirm the district court’s ruling on the merits ‘on any ground
supported by the record.’” Heinemann v. Satterberg, 731 F.3d 914, 918 (9th Cir.
2013) (quoting Van Asdale v. Int’l Game Tech., 577 F.3d 989, 994 (9th Cir. 2009)
(internal quotation marks omitted)). We agree with the district court’s conclusion
that plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case of retaliatory discrimination
under federal law or wrongful termination under state law. We therefore need not
reach the question of preemption, and express no views as to the district court’s
conclusions on that issue.
AFFIRMED.
-2-