McQuillion v. Schwarzenegger

• Decision Date: 19 May 2004
• Docket Number: No. 01-16037.,01-16037.
• Citation: 369 F.3d 1091
• Parties: Carl D. McQUILLION; Willie B. Thomas; Michael Milan; Robert L. Polete; Minh Nguyen; Lloyd Garcia; Frank Juan Rivera; Raymond Rogers; Keith E. Wiggins; Dennis E. Riney; Alfredo Hernandez Cruz; Jessie L. Davis; Roger Brown; Sebastian Llorente; Thomas Wells; Randall Cowans; Zachary Lilliard; Donald Ray Washington, # C-12677, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Arnold SCHWARZENEGGER;<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL> Pete Wilson; Bill Lockyer, Attorney General; Dan Lungren; Robert Presley; Joe Sandoval; James W. Nielsen, Chairman; John W. Gillis; Ted Rich; Lewis Chartrand, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1091

369 F.3d 1091

Carl D. McQUILLION; Willie B. Thomas; Michael Milan; Robert L. Polete; Minh Nguyen; Lloyd Garcia; Frank Juan Rivera; Raymond Rogers; Keith E. Wiggins; Dennis E. Riney; Alfredo Hernandez Cruz; Jessie L. Davis; Roger Brown; Sebastian Llorente; Thomas Wells; Randall Cowans; Zachary Lilliard; Donald Ray Washington, # C-12677, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Arnold SCHWARZENEGGER;^* Pete Wilson; Bill Lockyer, Attorney General; Dan Lungren; Robert Presley; Joe Sandoval; James W. Nielsen, Chairman; John W. Gillis; Ted Rich; Lewis Chartrand, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-16037.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted October 9, 2003.

Filed May 19, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Steve M. Defilippis, Picone & Defilippis, San Jose, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

Michael J. Williams, Deputy Attorney General, Sacramento, CA, for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; Gregory G. Hollows, Magistrate Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-99-02060-GGH.

Before CUDAHY,^** GOODWIN, and KLEINFELD, Circuit Judges.

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge.

Carl McQuillion ("McQuillion") and his co-plaintiffs ("co-plaintiffs") appeal the dismissal of their civil rights complaint against the Board of Prison Terms (the "Board") and the Governor of California, inter alia, for allegedly administering California's parole statutes to achieve an unwritten, unconstitutional policy of denying parole to inmates convicted of certain offenses. We affirm.

I.

In 1979, following a 1973 conviction for murder, the Community Release Board, as the Board was named at the time, found McQuillion suitable for parole. The Board moved up his parole date at six hearings over fifteen years. But in 1994, sitting en banc, the Board reversed the 1979 parole suitability determination.¹ In 1996, before commencing the present action, McQuillion filed a complaint ("1996 complaint") under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against members of the Board, alleging that the Board had rescinded his parole date to further then Governor Wilson's policy of denying parole to inmates convicted of murder. He sought monetary damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief.

In September 1996, the district court dismissed the claim for damages, ruling that parole board members are entitled to absolute immunity.² In March 1998, the court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the claims for injunctive and declaratory relief because McQuillion had not stated a cognizable claim under Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994). We affirmed in an unpublished opinion: "Because McQuillion's claim, which challenges the policies and procedures of the Board of Prison Terms as well as the constitutionality of various California statutes, would necessarily imply the invalidity of his continuing confinement, it is not cognizable under § 1983."

In May 1998, McQuillion filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that the Board's rescission of his parole date violated his due process rights. The district court denied the petition, but we reversed in September 2002, holding that "McQuillion is ... entitled to habeas relief on the grounds that his parole rescission violated due process." McQuillion I, 306 F.3d at 912. After further litigation, McQuillion was released. See McQuillion v. Duncan, 253 F.Supp.2d 1131, 1132-33 (C.D.Cal.2003) (ordering release but staying judgment); McQuillion v. Duncan, 342 F.3d 1012, 1016 (9th Cir.2003) (affirming judgment of release) ("McQuillion II").

While McQuillion's habeas litigation was pending, he and co-plaintiffs, all of whom were serving life sentences with the possibility of parole for offenses of kidnapping, attempted murder, or first or second degree murder, filed the present action pro se, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1986, against then Governor Gray Davis, former Governor Pete Wilson, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, members of the Board, and other state officials charged with administering parole in California. The essence of the eighteen claims raised by plaintiffs is that Governor Davis conspired with the other defendants to deny parole to inmates serving life sentences by abusing state statutes that authorize him to be involved with parole, namely California Penal Code §§ 3041.1, 3041.2, and 5075. They seek compensatory and punitive damages in addition to various forms of injunctive and declaratory relief aimed at removing the Governor from the parole process or ordering him to comply with the state statutes. The complaint disclaims any relief "in the form of action that implicates the continuing validity of their confinement."

In May 2001, the district court dismissed McQuillion's claims as barred by collateral estoppel, dismissed co-plaintiffs' claims for money damages under Heck and dismissed co-plaintiffs' claims for prospective relief as seeking redress that no federal court could provide. Alternatively, the court ruled that co-plaintiffs had not exhausted their administrative remedies and, therefore, could not pursue declaratory or injunctive relief. The court found that co-plaintiffs' damages claims need not be exhausted because no administrative process could provide such a remedy.

II.

We begin by considering sua sponte whether McQuillion's successful habeas petition and subsequent release render his § 1983 action moot. See Bernhardt v. County of Los Angeles, 279 F.3d 862, 871 (9th Cir.2002). "A case becomes moot `when the issues presented are no longer "live" or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome.'" See Porter v. Jones, 319 F.3d 483, 489 (9th Cir.2003) (quoting Clark v. City of Lakewood, 259 F.3d 996, 1011 (9th Cir.2001)). McQuillion's release extinguishes his legal interest in an injunction because it would have no effect on him. See Bernhardt, 279 F.3d at 871.

Similarly, although in some instances declaratory relief may exist after injunctive relief becomes moot, see, e.g., Super Tire Eng'g Co. v. McCorkle, 416 U.S. 115, 122, 94 S.Ct. 1694, 40 L.Ed.2d 1 (1974), McQuillion's claim for declaratory judgment also cannot proceed. A judicial pronouncement, as it would relate to McQuillion, would be an advisory opinion, which the Constitution prohibits. See U.S. Const. art. III; see also Preiser v. Newkirk, 422 U.S. 395, 401, 95 S.Ct. 2330, 45 L.Ed.2d 272 (1975). Moreover, considered in conjunction with his claim for damages, declaratory judgment without the possibility of prospective effect would be superfluous. See Green v. Branson, 108 F.3d 1296, 1300 (10th Cir.1997).³

McQuillion's claims for damages are not moot, however. "If [plaintiff] is entitled to collect damages in the event that it succeeds on the merits, the case does not become moot even though declaratory and injunctive relief are no longer of any use." See Z Channel Ltd. P'ship v. Home Box Office, Inc., 931 F.2d 1338, 1341 (9th Cir.1991); Bernhardt, 279 F.3d at 872. McQuillion's complaint seeks one million dollars in compensatory damages and five million dollars in punitive damages from each defendant. Construing the allegations in the complaint as true, as we must on review of a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, we conclude that his damages claims remain justiciable, subject to defenses.

III.

We first consider whether collateral estoppel is a defense. We review de novo the application of collateral estoppel. See United States v. Real Prop. Located at 22 Santa Barbara Drive, 264 F.3d 860, 868 (9th Cir.2001).

McQuillion contends that, unlike his earlier complaint, his present complaint does not imply the invalidity of his sentence or seek damages to redress past injury. To the extent the issues are identical and collateral estoppel would otherwise apply, he argues that he has now complied with Heck by overturning the Board's rescission of his parole and his suit can now proceed.

Where a federal court has decided the earlier case, federal law controls the collateral estoppel analysis. Trevino v. Gates, 99 F.3d 911, 923 (9th Cir.1996). Three factors must be considered before applying collateral estoppel: "`(1) the issue at stake must be identical to the one alleged in the prior litigation; (2) the issue must have been actually litigated [by the party against whom preclusion is asserted] in the prior litigation; and (3) the determination of the issue in the prior litigation must have been a critical and necessary part of the judgment in the earlier action.'" Id. (quoting Town of N. Bonneville v. Callaway, 10 F.3d 1505, 1508 (9th Cir.1993)) (alteration in Callaway).

All three factors are present in McQuillion's claims for damages against members of the Board. The 1996 complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages from individual members of the Board for unconstitutionally rescinding McQuillion's parole date, and the present complaint seeks the same damages for the same conduct by some of the same defendants. The issue was fully and finally litigated when McQuillion's initial damages claim was dismissed due to absolute immunity, and he had the opportunity to appeal. Contrary to McQuillion's argument here, his earlier damages claim was thus not dismissed without prejudice on Heck grounds. It was dismissed because the defendants enjoyed absolute immunity. Therefore, the earlier dismissal of the damages claim was a final determination on a ground not altered by McQuillion's subsequent receipt of habeas relief. Finally, the district court's determination of the issue was necessary to its judgment.

But collateral estoppel does not apply to the issue of whether McQuillion can seek damages against the remaining defendants. As noted, the dismissal of his initial damages claim settled the issue of whether absolute immunity shielded members of the Board from money damages. Because not all defendants in the present action are members of the Board, and therefore not entitled to absolute...