Troy Lee Bridges, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Roy Lefcourt, San Francisco Public Defender, Defendant-appellee, 122 F.3d 1069 (9th Cir. 1997)

MEMORANDUM^* 

Troy Lee Bridges, a California state prisoner, appeals pro se the district court's dismissal of his civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1985(3). Bridges contends that his attorney's racially motivated actions resulted in ineffective assistance of counsel. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo the district court's dismissal for failure to 'state a claim, see Barnett v. Centoni, 31 F.3d 813, 815 (9th Cir. 1994) (per curiam), and we affirm.

Soon after the district court dismissed Bridges' complaint for failure to state a claim, the United States Supreme Court ruled that claims for damages which necessarily imply the invalidity of a plaintiff's conviction or sentence do not accrue until the conviction or sentence has been invalidated. See Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 489 (1994) (42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim); see also Alvarez-Machain v. United States, 107 F.3d 696, 700 (9th Cir. 1996) (tort claims), petition for cert. filed, 65 U.S.L.W. 3815 (May 28, 1997) (No. 96-1890). This rule applies retroactively. See Harper v. Virginia Dep't of Taxation, 509 U.S. 86, 96 (1993). Because Bridges did not allege in his complaint that his conviction or sentence had been invalidated, we affirm the district court's dismissal, but clarify that the dismissal was without prejudice. See Trimble v. City of San Diego, 49 F.3d 583, 585 (9th Cir. 1995) (per curiam)

AFFIRMED.