NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MAR 27 2024
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
T.A., a Disabled Adult, by and through her No. 23-55332
Guardian Ad Litem, Liana Harmandjian,
D.C. No.
Plaintiff-Appellant, 2:21-cv-09757-SB-PD
v.
MEMORANDUM*
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, by and
through The LA County Department of
Children and Family Services; ADRIENNE
M. ZACHERY, an individual,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr., District Judge, Presiding
Submitted March 25, 2024**
Pasadena, California
Before: GRABER, GOULD, and FORREST, Circuit Judges.
T. A., a disabled adult, brings this action through her mother as her guardian
ad litem, alleging that her constitutional rights were violated when she was removed
*
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).
from her mother’s custody when she was a minor. T.A. appeals the district court’s
denial of her Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) motion seeking relief from that
court’s final order dismissing her claim against Los Angeles County (the County).1
She argues that the district court erred by dismissing her Monell2 claim, without
considering its merits, because her counsel failed to file an opposition to the
County’s motion for summary judgment. As discussed below, we have jurisdiction
under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 to review both the district court’s order denying T.A.’s Rule
60(b) motion and its order granting the County’s summary judgment motion. See
also Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(4)(A)(vi). We affirm.
1. Rule 60(b) Motion. Under Rule 60(b)(1), a court may relieve a party
from final judgment based on, among other things, excusable neglect. Casey v.
Albertson’s Inc., 362 F.3d 1254, 1259 (9th Cir. 2004). We review for abuse of
discretion the denial of a Rule 60(b) motion. Latshaw v. Trainer Wortham & Co.,
452 F.3d 1097, 1100 (9th Cir. 2006). Contrary to T.A.’s assertions, the district court
applied the correct law and made no clearly erroneous findings of material fact in
concluding that T.A.’s counsel’s failure to comply with the district court’s standing
1
In the same order dismissing T.A.’s claim against the County, the district
court also dismissed her claims against Adrienne Zachary for lack of prosecution,
but T.A. did not appear to seek reconsideration of that portion of the order.
2
Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Serv. of New York, 436 U.S. 658 (1978).
2
order was not due to excusable neglect that would warrant reconsideration under
Rule 60(b). See Bateman v. U.S. Postal Serv., 231 F.3d 1220, 1223 (9th Cir. 2000).
2. Jurisdiction Over Summary Judgment. We disagree with the County’s
assertion that we lack jurisdiction to review the district court’s summary judgment
order because T.A.’s notice of appeal was untimely. Although T.A. did not file her
notice of appeal within 30 days of the district court’s entry of its order granting
summary judgment, she filed her Rule 60(b) motion within 28 days of the district
court’s order, which is what was required when T.A. filed her Rule 60 motion. See
Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(4)(A)(vi) (amended Dec. 1, 2023). Accordingly, the time for
appeal ran from the district court’s entry of the order denying T.A.’s Rule 60(b)
motion, see id., and T.A. filed her notice of appeal within 30 days of that order.
To the extent that the County argues we lack jurisdiction to review the
summary judgment order because the notice of appeal referenced only the order
resolving the Rule 60(b) motion, we disagree. Fed. R. App. P. 3 specifies that a
notice of appeal must “designate the judgment—or the appealable order—from
which the appeal is taken.” Fed. R. App. P. 3(c)(1)(B). We have instructed that “a
mistake in designating the judgment appealed from should not bar appeal as long as
the intent to appeal a specific judgment can be fairly inferred and the appellee is not
prejudiced or misled by the mistake.” See United States v. $84,740.00 Currency, 981
F.2d 1110, 1112 (9th Cir. 1992) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
3
Here, where the district court’s denial of T.A.’s Rule 60(b) motion denied
reconsideration of its summary judgment order, T.A.’s intent to appeal both the Rule
60(b) ruling and the underlying summary judgment ruling is “fairly inferred.” Id.
And we conclude that there is no prejudice to the County that warrants limiting the
notice of appeal to only the Rule 60(b) ruling.
3. Summary Judgment Motion. T.A. argues that the district court erred
by granting the County’s motion for summary judgment on her Monell claim solely
on procedural grounds without considering the merits. This argument
mischaracterizes the district court’s order. The district court clearly considered the
merits of T.A.’s Monell claim. On appeal, T.A. does not make any specific argument
that the County’s summary judgment papers were themselves insufficient to support
its motion or that they revealed a genuine issue of material fact. See United States v.
Real Prop. Located at Incline Vill., 47 F.3d 1511, 1520 (9th Cir. 1995), rev’d on
other grounds sub nom. Degen v. United States, 517 U.S. 820 (1996). Accordingly,
we conclude that the district court did not err in granting the County’s motion.3
AFFIRMED.4
3
T.A.’s request for judicial notice [Dkt. 18] is DENIED, and the County’s
motion to strike the request [Dkt. 20] is DENIED as moot.
4
Counsel is ordered to pay the costs taxed against the appellant, if any, and
not pass them to T.A. See Fed. R. App. P. 39.
4