Alfriend v. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MAR 22 2016 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS KIMBERLY JANE ALFRIEND; et al., No. 14-15347 Plaintiffs - Appellants, D.C. No. 3:11-cv-05046-DWM v. MEMORANDUM* U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA; et al., Defendants - Appellees. JOSE J. GARCIA; et al., No. 14-15349 Plaintiffs - Appellants, D.C. No. 4:12-cv-04504-DWM v. U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA; et al., Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. Donald W. Molloy, Senior District Judge, Presiding Submitted March 17, 2016** San Francisco, California Before: BYBEE and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges and HELLERSTEIN,*** Senior District Judge. The only claims surviving on appeal are against the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and its judges (collectively “Federal Defendants”).1 The district court dismissed these claims on the basis of sovereign immunity. Federal Defendants have sovereign and judicial immunity.2 See Block v. North Dakota, ex rel. Bd. of Univ. & Sch. Lands, 461 U.S. 273, 287 (1983) (“The basic rule of federal sovereign immunity is that the United States cannot be sued at all without the consent of Congress.”); Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 355–56 (1978) (finding that judges have judicial immunity and “are not liable to civil actions for their judicial acts, even when such acts are in excess of their jurisdiction, and are alleged to have been done maliciously or corruptly”) (internal ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). *** The Honorable Alvin K. Hellerstein, Senior District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. 1 Plaintiffs moved to dismiss the other defendants and their motion was granted. 2 Federal Defendants’ Request for Judicial Notice is GRANTED. quotation marks omitted). “Any waiver of immunity must be ‘unequivocally expressed,’ and any limitations and conditions upon the waiver ‘must be strictly observed and exceptions thereto are not to be implied.’” Hodge v. Dalton, 107 F.3d 705, 707 (9th Cir. 1997) (quoting Lehman v. Nakshian, 453 U.S. 156, 160–61 (1981)). Because Plaintiffs have failed to establish that Federal Defendants waived either sovereign or judicial immunity, we do not have jurisdiction to review Plaintiffs’ appeal. DISMISSED.