ANNA SIGALA, ET AL V. OXNARD MANOR, LP, ET AL, No. 22-55710 (9th Cir. 2023)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION OCT 12 2023 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT ANNA SIGLA; ANTHONY SIGALA, individually, Plaintiffs-Appellees, No. U.S. COURT OF APPEALS 22-55710 D.C. No. 2:22-cv-02003-MEMF-MAR v. MEMORANDUM* OXNARD MANOR, LP, DBA Oxnard Manor Healthcare Center; BERTIE KRIEGER, an individual; SHLOMO RECHNITZ, an individual; OXNARD HEALTHCARE AND WELLNESS CENTRE, LP, a California Skilled Nursing Facility, Defendants-Appellants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, District Judge, Presiding Submitted October 12, 2023** Before: WALLACE, O’SCANNLAIN, SILVERMAN, Circuit Judges. * 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). Oxnard Manor, LP d/b/a Oxnard Manor Healthcare Center, a California Skilled Nursing Facility; Bertie Krieger, an individual; Shlomo Rechnitz, an individual; and Oxnard Healthcare & Wellness Centre, LP (collectively, “Oxnard”) appeal from the district court’s order remanding this case to state court for lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction. Oxnard argues that the district court had three independent grounds for such jurisdiction: federal officer removal, complete preemption, and the presence of an embedded federal question. I The district court did not have federal subject matter jurisdiction under the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1), because Oxnard’s actions were not “taken pursuant to a federal officer’s directions.” Saldana v. Glenhaven Healthcare LLC, 27 F.4th 679, 684 (9th Cir. 2022) (cleaned up). While Oxnard has demonstrated that, like the defendants in Saldana, it was subject to federal laws and regulations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, “simply complying with a law or regulation is not enough to bring a private person within the scope of the [federal officer removal] statute.” Id. (cleaned up). Similarly, recommendations, advice, and encouragement from federal entities do not amount to the type of control required for removal under the statute. See id. at 685. II The district court did not have federal subject matter jurisdiction under the doctrine of complete preemption because the Public Readiness and Emergency 2 Preparedness (PREP) Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 247d-6d, 247d-6e, is not a complete preemption statute—that is, it is not one of those “rare” statutes “where a federal statutory scheme is so comprehensive that it entirely supplants state law causes of action.” Saldana, 27 F.4th at 686 (cleaned up). While the PREP Act may preempt some state-law claims, any such conflict preemption would be an affirmative defense, and would not create federal subject matter jurisdiction. See id. at 688. III The district court did not have embedded federal question jurisdiction because the state-law causes of action in the complaint do not “necessarily” raise “substantial” federal issues that are “actually disputed” and “capable of resolution in federal court without disrupting the federal-state balance approved by Congress.” Id. at 688 (cleaned up). Although a federal defense may be available under the PREP Act, “a federal defense is not a sufficient basis to find embedded federal question jurisdiction.” Id. IV In short, all of Oxnard’s challenges are controlled by Saldana. Oxnard argues that Saldana was wrongly decided, but cites no “clearly irreconcilable” intervening authority permitting us to overrule it. Miller v. Gammie, 335 F.3d 889, 900 (9th Cir. 2003) (en banc). Accordingly, we apply Saldana. AFFIRMED. 3
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.
