A.C. V. ERICA CORTEZ, No. 19-55895 (9th Cir. 2021)
Annotate this Case
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on May 13, 2022.
Download PDF
NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED OCT 8 2021 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT A.C., a minor; et al., No. Plaintiffs-Appellants, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS 19-55895 D.C. No. 3:18-cv-02227-AJB-AGS v. ERICA CORTEZ, an individual; et al., MEMORANDUM* Defendants-Appellees, Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Anthony J. Battaglia, District Judge, Presiding Submitted October 5, 2021** Pasadena, California Before: GRABER and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges, and SEEBORG,*** Chief District Judge. * 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). *** The Honorable Richard Seeborg, Chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of California, sitting by designation. A.C., et al., appeal from the district court’s order dismissing their complaint without leave to amend. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review findings of fact for clear error and legal conclusions de novo, except for the district court’s denial of leave to amend, which we review for abuse of discretion. Pannebecker v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston, 542 F.3d 1213, 1217 (9th Cir. 2008); Gompper v. VISX, Inc., 298 F.3d 893, 898 (9th Cir. 2002). We affirm. Appellants contend that Gonzalez v. Spencer, 336 F.3d 832 (9th Cir. 2003) (per curiam), clearly established that a government attorney violates a minor’s constitutional right to privacy by accessing the minor’s juvenile case files without prior judicial authorization. The district court rejected this contention, holding that Gonzalez did not clearly establish this right and that qualified immunity applies. Since the parties submitted their briefing, we decided exactly this issue in another case, Nunes v. Arata, Swingle, Van Egmond & Goodwin (PLC), 983 F.3d 1108 (9th Cir. 2020) (per curiam). Nunes held that the “opaque opinion” in Gonzalez did not clearly establish a constitutional right to privacy in juvenile records. Id. at 1114. In fact, Nunes specifically approved of the district court’s decision in this case. See id. at 1113–14. Thus, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order. AFFIRMED. 2
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
