NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS APR 28 2021
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
WILLIAM D. BRICE, No. 19-56164
Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:19-cv-04095-JLS-DFM
v.
MEMORANDUM*
CALIFORNIA FACULTY
ASSOCIATION,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Josephine L. Staton, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted April 20, 2021**
Before: THOMAS, Chief Judge, TASHIMA and SILVERMAN, Circuit Judges.
William D. Brice appeals from the district court’s judgment dismissing his
42 U.S.C. § 1983 putative class action alleging a First Amendment claim arising
out of compulsory agency fees (also known as fair share fees) paid to the
California Faculty Association. 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 Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
review de novo the district court’s dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
12(c). Lyon v. Chase Bank USA, N.A., 656 F.3d 877, 883 (9th Cir. 2011). We
affirm.
The district court properly dismissed Brice’s action because a public sector
union can, as a matter of law, “invoke an affirmative defense of good faith to
retrospective monetary liability under section 1983 for the agency fees it collected”
prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. American Federation of State,
County & Municipal Employees, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018). Danielson,
945 F.3d at 1097-99 (“[P]rivate parties may invoke an affirmative defense of good
faith to retrospective monetary liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, where they acted
in direct reliance on then-binding Supreme Court precedent and presumptively-
valid state law.”).
We do not consider matters not specifically and distinctly raised and argued
in the opening brief. See Padgett v. Wright, 587 F.3d 983, 985 n.2 (9th Cir. 2009).
AFFIRMED.
2 19-56164