Nicolas Andreas v. Matthew Cate

FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION JAN 10 2012 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT NICOLAS DAVID ANDREAS, No. 10-17367 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:09-cv-01207-FCD- GGH v. MATTHEW CATE, MEMORANDUM * Defendant, and K. JOHNSON; et al., Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Frank C. Damrell, Jr., District Judge, Presiding Submitted December 19, 2011 ** Before: GOODWIN, WALLACE, and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges. * 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). California state prisoner Nicolas David Andreas appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, without prejudice, for failure to exhaust administrative remedies as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo. Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F.3d 1108, 1117 (9th Cir. 2003). We affirm. By failing to discuss the issue of exhaustion in his opening brief, Andreas has waived any arguments that the district court erred in dismissing for nonexhaustion. See Entm’t Research Grp., Inc. v. Genesis Creative Grp., Inc., 122 F.3d 1211, 1217 (9th Cir. 1997) (“We review only issues which are argued specifically and distinctly in a party’s opening brief. We will not manufacture arguments for an appellant, and a bare assertion does not preserve a claim[.]” (citation omitted)); Wilcox v. Comm’r, 848 F.2d 1007, 1008 n.2 (9th Cir. 1988) (arguments not raised on appeal by a pro se litigant are deemed abandoned). Andreas’s remaining contentions are unpersuasive. AFFIRMED. 2 10-17367