Christopher Jones v. E. McDanielChristopher Jones v. E. McDaniel
BERZON, Circuit Judge:
While incarcerated in Ely State Prison in Ely, Nevada, Christopher Jones wrote a letter to his fellow inmates, calling on them to work together in support of his class action lawsuit against prison administrators. Later, prison officials discovered the letter in Jones’ cell and disciplined him for violating a prison regulation that prohibited encouraging disruption.
Jones filed suit pursuant to
The question in this case is whether Jones’ appeal may go forward or whether it was rendered moot by the parties’ settlement agreement. We hold the latter and dismiss the appeal.
I. Background
A. The Letter
In September 1999, Jones drafted a letter to his fellow inmates, calling on them to “work togather [sic] and try and tie this system in knots, by using the legal system and the administrative grievenee [sic] process to open the door for [a] class action I am working on.” By “working together for our common good,” Jones wrote, the inmates “[would] have a loud voice” to “direct [their] distrust, dissatisfaction, rage and intelligence in one direction (at the system) instead of at each other.” Jones concluded by telling inmates to “read this[,] and if you agree[,] just write your cell [number] on the back and pass it to the next cell and I‘ll get back to you with the next step.” Jones did not circulate the letter broadly; he may, however, have shown it to a few other inmates.
In September 2000, NDOC Corrections Officer Michael Nustad searched Jones’ cell as part of an unrelated prison-wide search. According to Jones, Officer Nustad was aware that Jones previously had filed
B. Disciplinary Proceedings
The following day, Officer Nustad wrote up charges against Jones for violating Code of Penal Discipline Section MJ-28, which prohibits prisoners from “[o]rganizing, encouraging or participating in a work stoppage or other disruptive demonstration or practice.” The charging document characterizes the letter as an “attempt to organize and disrupt,” citing language from the letter calling on inmates to “[tie] the system in knots” and “direct ... distrust, dissatisfaction, rage and intelligence ... at the system.”
Corrections Officer Mark Drain served as the Hearing Officer at Jones’ subse
Jones appealed Officer Drain‘s determination to Warden McDaniel, contending that the letter should have been presented at the hearing, and that it was protected under the First Amendment. Warden McDaniel upheld the finding and sanctions. Having exhausted his appeals within the prison system, Jones served the entirety of his disciplinary sanctions.
C. Jones’ § 1983 Suit
1. Partial Summary Judgment Orders
Pursuant to
Magistrate Judge Robert McQuaid, Jr. issued a Report and Recommendation (“R & R“) on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment recommending that the court: (1) grant Jones’ request for summary judgment as to the due process claim; (2) grant defendants’ request for summary judgment as to the First Amendment and retaliation claims; and (3) grant Jones’ request for summary judgment on his failure to supervise claim against Warden McDaniel, but deny Jones’ request for the same claim as to Crawford. The district court later issued an order accepting the R & R.
2. The Trial
Upon the district court‘s finding that Officer Drain and Warden McDaniel violated Jones’ due process rights, the parties “proceed[ed] to trial solely on the issue of Mr. Jones’ damages.”1 Magistrate Judge McQuaid, the same judge who issued the R & R, presided over the trial. As in his amended complaint, Jones sought nominal and punitive damages,2 as well as injunctive and declaratory relief. At trial, Jones argued that his disciplinary sanctions, particularly his placement in disciplinary segregation, constituted an exaggerated response to the uncirculated letter, thereby entitling him to punitive damages.
The jury agreed and awarded Jones $2 in nominal damages ($1 each for Officer Drain‘s violation and Warden McDaniel‘s violation) and $11,000 in punitive damages. That same day, the district court issued its “Judgement in a Civil Case,” which ordered that Jones recover $11,002 from defendants.
3. The Settlement
Following the district court‘s entry of judgment in this case, the parties filed
The parties thereupon executed an “Accord and Satisfaction,” providing that the defendants agreed to pay Jones a total of $11,800 plus $23,025.16 in attorney‘s fees, and to remove all record of the disciplinary charge. The document then states that “Jones, by and through his attorney ... hereby acknowledge[s] receipt of payment ... in full satisfaction of the judgment entered herein and the accord regarding post judgment disputes raised by the parties.”
4. The Appeal
Two days after executing the Accord and Satisfaction, Jones filed a pro se Notice of Appeal of the district court‘s order adopting the R & R. Defendants moved to dismiss the appeal on the grounds that the Accord and Satisfaction resolved all of Jones’ claims against them. Alternatively, defendants’ motion sought an indicative ruling from the district court pursuant to
Defendants thereupon filed a “Motion for Indicative Ruling” in the district court, seeking the court‘s views as to the scope of the Accord and Satisfaction. The district court denied the motion because “there [were] not any outstanding motions pending before [that] court on which to rule,” but stated that, insofar as
the Court of Appeals was seeking this court‘s opinion as to the scope of the settlement reached on June 29, 2010, it was [this court‘s] opinion that the case was fully and finally settled on that date with no issues remaining and that the case would be closed following the filing of the Satisfaction of Judgment.
Based on the district court‘s order, defendants renewed their motion to dismiss the appeal. We denied the renewed motion, and subsequently ordered the appointment of pro bono counsel to represent Jones on appeal.
II. Discussion
A. Settlement & Mootness
We begin with some general observations regarding the effect of a prior set
The question in this case, then, is whether the parties’ Accord and Satisfaction “resolved all facets of their dispute,” including Jones’ First Amendment claims, thereby rendering this appeal moot. Gator.com Corp., 398 F.3d at 1132; see also 13B Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3533.2, at 785 (3d ed.2008) (noting that a settlement moots only the issues the parties intended to settle). According to Jones, the Accord and Satisfaction is limited to the judgment entered on his due process claim, and “has nothing to do with the First Amendment claim[s].” Defendants disagree, urging that the parties intended “to settle the entire litigation” at the June 29, 2010 Status Conference.
As a general matter, “‘[t]he construction and enforcement of settlement agreements are governed by principles of local law.‘” O‘Neil v. Bunge Corp., 365 F.3d 820, 822 (9th Cir.2004) (quoting United Commercial Ins. Serv., Inc. v. Paymaster Corp., 962 F.2d 853, 856 (9th Cir.1992)). That is true “even where a federal cause of action is settled or released.” Botefur v. City of Eagle Point, 7 F.3d 152, 156 (9th Cir.1993) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
Under Nevada law, “a settlement agreement[‘s] construction and enforcement are governed by principles of contract law.” May v. Anderson, 121 Nev. 668, 119 P.3d 1254, 1257 (2005). The “ultimate goal is to effectuate the contracting parties’ intent.” In re Amerco Derivative Litig., 252 P.3d 681, 693 (Nev.2011). Although any analysis of a settlement‘s terms starts with the language of the agreement, “when that intent is not clearly expressed in the contractual language, [courts] may also consider the circumstances surrounding the agreement.” Id.
B. The Accord & Satisfaction
We turn now to the settlement agreement at issue in this case. Pursuant to the Accord and Satisfaction, the parties agreed to withdraw all post-trial motions. Defendants also agreed to pay Jones $11,000 in punitive damages, plus costs and attorney‘s fees, and to expunge all records of the disciplinary charge. For his part, Jones gave up the nominal damages and acknowledged receipt of the agreed-upon payment “in full satisfaction of the judgment entered herein.”
There is only one judgment to which the statement “the judgment entered herein” could possibly refer: the “Judgment in a Civil Action” entered by the district court on March 31, 2010. On its face, that judgment makes no mention of Jones’ individual causes of action. It simply states that “[t]he court has ordered that ... Jones[ ] recover from [Officer Drain] $1.00 in nominal damages, and $4,000.00 in punitive damages, and that [Jones] recover from [Warden McDaniel] $1.00 in nominal damages, and $7,000.00 in punitive damages.”
Jones maintains that because the “Judgement in a Civil Action” does not mention his First Amendment claims, it
Not so. Orders granting partial summary judgment “are not final appealable orders.” Dannenberg v. Software Toolworks Inc., 16 F.3d 1073, 1074 (9th Cir.1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). “As a result, parties ordinarily must obtain
Jones did not seek
Moreover, at no point did Jones attempt to reserve his right to appeal or otherwise exclude his First Amendment claims from the agreement. We can find no authority (and Jones cites none) supporting Jones’ claim that his right to appeal the First Amendment claims was automatically preserved. To the contrary, we have held in related contexts that “[i]n general, a party cannot appeal a judgment entered with its consent” unless it “specifically preserves its right to appeal.” Slaven v. Am. Trading Transp. Co., 146 F.3d 1066, 1070 (9th Cir.1998). In executing the Accord and Satisfaction, Jones essentially consented to the “full satisfaction of the judgment entered herein,” which, as noted, included the court‘s prior ruling on Jones’ First Amendment claims.
The circumstances surrounding the execution of the Accord and Satisfaction confirm the parties’ intent to settle all of Jones’ claims. At the June 29, 2010 Settlement Conference, Judge McQuaid explained to Jones that, under the terms of the agreement, Jones “will execute a release of all claims, releasing defendants from all claims arising out of this lawsuit.” At the parties’ request, Judge McQuaid indicated that the agreement would be designated a “satisfaction of judgment” instead of a “release,” meaning that “the defendants paid the judgment and it‘s satisfied.” Judge McQuaid then asked Jones, “[n]ow, you agree to that settlement, Mr. Jones?” to which Jones responded, “[y]es, I do, Your Honor.”
Although Judge McQuaid‘s statement that Jones would release “all [of the] claims arising out of this lawsuit” was not memorialized in the Accord and Satisfaction, that does not mean Jones may escape the legal consequences of his assent. Under Nevada law, a contract may be formed “when the parties have agreed to the material terms, even though the contract‘s exact language is not finalized until later.” May, 121 Nev. at 672, 119 P.3d 1254. What matters, therefore, is that parties intended to resolve the entire dispute at the settlement conference, and so indicated orally. Nothing in the written document is inconsistent with that intent.
Finally, it makes sense that Jones would have agreed to resolve the entire dispute with defendants, so as to preclude an appeal by the defendants. Jones initially sought in his amended complaint “damages in excess of $10,000.” Under the terms of the Accord and Satisfaction, that is precisely what he received. That $11,000 punitive damages award, moreover, represented a penalty against defendants for taking disciplinary action against Jones following discovery of the letter—namely, placing him in disciplinary segregation. Although that damages award would not, by itself, preclude Jones from seeking nominal damages for the alleged First Amendment violations, it is unlikely that Jones would be entitled to additional damages for the disciplinary sanctions. See, e.g., Elyousef v. O‘Reilly & Ferrario, LLC, 245 P.3d 547, 549 (Nev.2010) (holding that “[a] plaintiff may not recover damages twice for the same injury simply because he or she has two legal theories” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
Further, defendants had already returned the letter to Jones, and they agreed in the Accord and Satisfaction to remove all records pertaining to the MJ-28 disciplinary charges. In fact, much of the discussion at the June 2010 Status Conference centered on whether and how defendants would expunge Jones’ disciplinary record. The expungement was not part of the jury award; rather, it was relief bargained for at the Status Conference. By agreeing to relinquish his remaining claims against defendants in exchange for that benefit, Jones obtained a remedy responsive to his First Amendment concerns and not obtained in the course of litigating the due process issue. Having received that relief, it is difficult to see what further injunctive relief Jones could have obtained were he permitted to proceed with his First Amendment claims.
In short, given that Jones had obtained $11,000 in damages, return of the letter, and expungement of the violation and disciplinary sanctions, it is unsurprising that he agreed to release his remaining claims against defendants and did not seek to exclude his First Amendment claims from the agreement.
Finally, we note that there is little reason to remand Jones’ case to the district court for a determination as to the scope of the settlement agreement. The district court has already weighed in on the matter, stating its “opinion that the case was fully and finally settled on [June 29, 2010] with no issues remaining.” We agree and, accordingly, dismiss Jones’ appeal as moot. See Gator.com Corp., 398 F.3d at 1132.
DISMISSED.