SAVE THE BULL TROUT, ET AL V. MARTHA WILLIAMS, ET AL, No. 21-35480 (9th Cir. 2022)
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After the Oregon district court dismissed their initial complaint alleging claims concerning the Plan, two of the three plaintiffs in this action (Friends of the Wild Swan and Alliance for the Wild Rockies) elected not to amend to fix the deficiencies identified in the court’s order. Instead, Plaintiffs appealed, and after losing on appeal, they sought to amend their complaint. The district court denied their motion to amend and found no grounds to reopen the judgment. Rather than appealing that determination, Plaintiffs initiated a new action in the District of Montana raising a challenge to the legality of the Plan. The Montana district court declined to dismiss on the basis of claim preclusion, but granted summary judgment in favor of the Service on the merits of Plaintiffs’ challenges.
The Ninth Circuit filed (1) an order amending the opinion filed on September 28, 2022; and (2) an amended opinion affirming the district court’s judgment in favor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on claim preclusion in an action brought by plaintiff environmental groups, challenging the Service’s 2015 Bull Trout Recovery Plan (the “Plan”) under the citizen-suit provision of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). The court explained that here, the Service offered claim preclusion as an alternate basis for affirming the district court’s judgment. The panel held that because the Service raised claim preclusion before the district court and in its briefing on appeal, the issue was properly before the court. The panel held that Plaintiffs’ challenge to the Plan was precluded because the Oregon litigation was a final judgment on the merits of their claims.
Court Description: Standing / Claim Preclusion. The panel filed (1) an order amending the opinion filed on September 28, 2022; and (2) an amended opinion affirming the district court’s judgment in favor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on claim preclusion in an action brought by plaintiff environmental groups, challenging the Service’s 2015 Bull Trout Recovery Plan (the “Plan”) under the citizen-suit provision of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). After the Oregon district court dismissed their initial complaint alleging claims concerning the Plan, two of the three plaintiffs in this action (Friends of the Wild Swan and Alliance for the Wild Rockies) elected not to amend to fix the deficiencies identified in the court’s order. Instead, plaintiffs appealed, and after losing on appeal, they sought to amend their complaint. The district court denied their motion to amend and found no grounds to reopen the judgment. Rather than appealing that determination, plaintiffs initiated a new action in the District of Montana raising a challenge to the legality of the Plan. The Montana district court declined to dismiss on the basis of claim preclusion, but granted summary judgment in favor of the Service on the merits of plaintiffs’ challenges. The panel held that Friends of the Wild Swan and Alliance for the Wild Rockies had standing to challenge the Plan. Plaintiffs asserted a procedural injury. Their member declarations established ongoing aesthetic, recreational, and conservation interests in bull trout. The procedures outlined in Section 1533(f) of the ESA served to protect these interests by requiring the implementation of a bull trout recovery plan. Because plaintiffs established a procedural injury, they had standing as long as there was some possibility that the requested relief—revision of the Plan—would redress their alleged harms. The panel held that this benchmark was clearly met. Claim preclusion is a doctrine that bars a party in successive litigation from pursuing claims that were raised or could have been raised in a prior action. As a threshold matter, the Service was not obligated to file a cross-appeal to raise the issue. Here, the Service offered claim preclusion as an alternate basis for affirming the district court’s judgment. The panel held that because the Service raised claim preclusion before the district court and in its briefing on appeal, the issue was properly before the court. The panel next addressed claim identity and privity. First, the claims at issue are the same where plaintiffs challenge the legality of the Plan under Section 1533(f) of the ESA just as they did in the Oregon litigation. The plaintiffs’ additional claims rest on theories that they indisputably could have included in an amended complaint in Oregon. Second, plaintiffs have never disputed that Save the Bull is in privity with Friends of the Wild Swan and Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which were both parties in the Oregon action. Finally, the panel held that plaintiffs’ challenge to the Plan was precluded because the Oregon litigation was a final judgment on the merits of their claims. A second adjudication is precisely what plaintiffs attempted here. That the Oregon district court applied the more stringent standard for relief from judgment in denying plaintiffs’ post-appeal motion for leave to amend did not alter the panel’s conclusion. The panel noted that contrary to plaintiffs’ argument, the Oregon district court’s dismissal of the original complaint reached the merits of those claims. Dismissal for failure to state a claim is a judgment on the merits for purposes of claim preclusion. The judgment on the merits became final and preclusive when plaintiffs abandoned their opportunity to amend. Because the panel affirmed on the basis of claim preclusion, the panel did not pass judgment on the merits of plaintiffs’ claims or the district court’s assessment of them.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on September 28, 2022.
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