Liliana Hernandez v. Afscme California, 20-15076

Plaintiffs filed a putative class action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging compulsory agency (fair-share) fees and mandatory union membership dues as First Amendment violations.
The district court entered judgment for defendants; plaintiffs appealed. The Ninth Circuit reviews de novo and has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
For fees collected before Janus, the court relied on the Ninth Circuit precedent recognizing a public-sector union’s affirmative good-faith defense to retrospective monetary liability.
One appellant (Porter) sought declaratory and injunctive relief; the court found he lacked a concrete, imminent injury and so lacked standing.
The court granted summary judgment for defendants on claims about dues deducted under membership agreements, concluding Janus did not create a right to avoid dues agreed to in valid membership contracts.
The panel granted unopposed motions to substitute parties and correct the caption; disposition affirmed without publication and without oral argument.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a public-sector union can be held retrospectively liable under § 1983 for agency fees collected before Janus	Fees collected before Janus violated plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights and are recoverable	Union relied in good faith on then-binding Supreme Court precedent and presumptively valid state law, so retrospective liability is barred by a good-faith defense	Dismissal affirmed; union may assert good-faith affirmative defense to retrospective monetary liability
Whether Porter has standing for declaratory and injunctive relief	Porter alleged injury from fee/dues practices and sought relief	Defendants argued Porter failed to show a concrete, particularized, imminent injury	Porter lacks injury-in-fact; claims for declaratory and injunctive relief dismissed for lack of standing
Whether Janus invalidates dues deductions under voluntary membership agreements	Janus extends to allow avoiding dues even if agreed in membership contracts	Dues arising from valid membership agreements are private contracts/state-action rules do not extend Janus to void them	Summary judgment for defendants; Janus does not create a right to avoid dues agreed in valid membership agreements

Danielson v. Inslee, 945 F.3d 1096 (9th Cir. 2019) (public-sector unions may assert good-faith defense to retrospective § 1983 monetary liability when they relied on then-binding precedent)
Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016) (injury-in-fact must be concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent for Article III standing)
Belgau v. Inslee, 975 F.3d 940 (9th Cir. 2020) (Janus did not extend a First Amendment right to avoid dues agreed to in valid membership agreements)
Janus v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018) (compelled public-sector union agency fees violate the First Amendment)
Serra v. Lappin, 600 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir. 2010) (standards of review for dismissal for failure to state a claim and lack of subject-matter jurisdiction)