Filed: Nov. 25, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION NOV 25 2019 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT ONTARIO FOOD AND BEVERAGE, No. 18-56090 LLC, a California limited liability company, D.C. No. 5:18-cv-00753-SJO-SP Plaintiff-Appellant, MEMORANDUM* v. ANDRE SCHOORL, Director of the State of California Department of Industrial Relations, and DAVID M. LANIER, Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION NOV 25 2019 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT ONTARIO FOOD AND BEVERAGE, No. 18-56090 LLC, a California limited liability company, D.C. No. 5:18-cv-00753-SJO-SP Plaintiff-Appellant, MEMORANDUM* v. ANDRE SCHOORL, Director of the State of California Department of Industrial Relations, and DAVID M. LANIER, Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the U..
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FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
NOV 25 2019
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ONTARIO FOOD AND BEVERAGE, No. 18-56090
LLC, a California limited liability
company, D.C. No. 5:18-cv-00753-SJO-SP
Plaintiff-Appellant,
MEMORANDUM*
v.
ANDRE SCHOORL, Director of the State
of California Department of Industrial
Relations, and DAVID M. LANIER,
Secretary of the California Labor and
Workforce Development Agency,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California,
S. James Otero, Senior District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 8, 2019
Pasadena, California
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The Honorable Virginia M. Kendall, United States District Judge for
the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
Before: FARRIS and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges, and KENDALL,** District
Judge.
Ontario Food and Beverage, LLC (“Ontario Food”), owner of Deja Vu Bar
and Nightclub in Ontario, California, appeals the District Court’s dismissal of its
(1) motion for preliminary injunction, and (2) claims for declaratory and injunctive
relief against California state officials. Ontario Food alleges that the definition of
“gratuity” in California Labor Code § 350(e), as amended by 2000 Cal. Assembly
Bill No. 2509 (“AB 2509"), is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth
Amendments and preempted by the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.,
Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and Consumer Credit Protection
Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.
The District Court (1) denied the preliminary injunction, finding that Ontario
Food failed to satisfy any of the required factors laid out in Winter v. Nat’l Res.
Def. Council, Inc.,
555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008). It then (2) granted Defendants’ motions
to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction without reaching the
merits, finding that Ontario Food lacked standing and that its claims were not ripe.
It further found Defendants to be immune from suit under the Eleventh
Amendment, and it denied leave to amend. We review the District Court’s order
granting a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction de novo,
2
Maronyan v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.,
658 F.3d 1038, 1039 (9th Cir.
2011), and we affirm.
To establish standing, a plaintiff must show (1) an injury in fact that is both
concrete and particularized, and actual or imminent, (2) causation, and (3)
redressability. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife,
504 U.S. 555, 560–61 (1992). A
plaintiff not presently subject to prosecution must demonstrate a “reasonable threat
of prosecution” that is “not imaginary or wholly speculative.” Thomas v.
Anchorage Equal Rights Comm’n,
220 F.3d 1134, 1143 (9th Cir. 2000) (internal
quotations omitted). “‘[G]eneral threat[s] by officials to enforce those laws which
they are charged to administer’ do not create the necessary injury in fact.” Lopez v.
Candaele,
630 F.3d 775, 787 (9th Cir. 2010) (quoting United Pub. Workers of Am.
v. Mitchell,
330 U.S. 75, 88 (1947)).
Ontario Food fails to allege an injury in fact, as any potential threat of
prosecution under AB 2509 is not imminent and is wholly speculative. Neither
Defendants nor the agencies they represent have attempted to enforce AB 2509
against Ontario Food; nor does Ontario Food allege that Defendants have
threatened enforcement, warned of it, or enforced AB 2509 in any way since its
January 2001 inception sufficient to establish injury. See San Diego Cty. Gun
Rights Comm. v. Reno,
98 F.3d 1121, 1127–28 (9th Cir. 1996); Darring v.
3
Kincheloe,
783 F.2d 874, 877 (9th Cir. 1986). The California Department of
Industrial Relations’ June 2001 letter regarding AB 2509 is merely an
acknowledgment by the agency that it is charged with administration of the law in
question. See
Lopez, 630 F.3d at 787.
Ontario Food cites Babbitt v. United Farm Workers Nat’l Union,
442 U.S.
298, 301–02 (1979), for the notion that Defendants’ failure to “disavow”
enforcement of AB 2509 is sufficient to establish injury in fact. But in Babbitt,
plaintiffs had in fact been forced to chill their protected speech for fear of violating
a labor statute. See
id. In contrast, Ontario Food fails to allege that it has curtailed
its speech or changed its behavior in any meaningful way in response to AB 2509.
Indeed, it has declined to enforce its own policy that would bring it into
compliance with the law. As a result, the District Court properly dismissed Ontario
Food’s claims for lack of standing.
We conclude that Ontario Food lacks standing, so we need not reach
whether its claims are ripe or barred by sovereign immunity. For the same reason,
we hold that the District Court’s denial of preliminary injunction was proper. See
Townley v. Miller,
722 F.3d 1128, 1136–37 (9th Cir. 2013); Vegan Outreach, Inc.
v. Chapa, 454 Fed.App’x 598, 600 (9th Cir. 2011).
AFFIRMED.
4