Danielson v. Inslee, No. 18-36087 (9th Cir. 2019)
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of a claim for monetary relief under 42 U.S.C. 1983 brought by public sector employees against their union after the Supreme Court's decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018). Janus held that the compulsory collection of agency fees by unions violates the First Amendment.
The panel joined the Seventh Circuit and held that private 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. The panel also held that the good faith affirmative defense applies as a matter of law, and the district court was right to dismiss plaintiffs' claim for monetary relief.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a claim for monetary relief bought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by public sector employees against their union following the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), which held that the compulsory collection of agency fees by unions violates the First Amendment. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus, public sector unions around the country relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209 (1977), which held that the unions could collect compulsory agency fees from nonmembers to finance their collective bargaining activities, without running afoul of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. State laws and * The Honorable Gregory A. Presnell, United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, sitting by designation. DANIELSON V. INSLEE 3 regulations further entrenched the union agency shop into the local legal framework. In 2018, the Supreme Court uprooted its precedent by overturning Abood. Immediately thereafter, the defendant Union stopped collecting mandatory fees from nonmembers. Plaintiffs subsequently brought suit seeking, among other things, a refund of all agency fees that were allegedly unlawfully collected from plaintiffs prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus. Joining the Seventh Circuit, the panel held that private 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. See Janus v. Am. Fed’n of State, Cty. & Mun. Emps., Council 31, 942 F.3d 352 (7th Cir. 2019) (“Janus II”); Mooney v. Ill. Educ. Ass’n, 942 F.3d 368 (7th Cir. 2019). The panel held that the good faith affirmative defense applied as a matter of law, and the district court was right to dismiss plaintiffs’ claim for monetary relief.
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