McGee v. Milpitas Police Department
- Virginia Demarchi
- 5:23-cv-02559
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In McGee v. Milpitas Police Department, Judge DeMarchi denied McGee’s default-judgment motion because the case was already closed after dismissal and appeal.
The ruling affected Anthony McGee and the defendants, including the Milpitas Police Department; the court denied McGee’s request for default judgment and left the case closed.
What happened
In McGee v. Milpitas Police Department, Anthony McGee, representing himself, asked the court to enter a default judgment against the defendants for allegedly failing to provide a legally sufficient response to his complaint.
The court had dismissed McGee’s amended complaint without allowing another amendment, entered judgment for the defendants, and the Ninth Circuit later affirmed that decision. The appellate court issued its mandate before McGee filed the default-judgment motion.
Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi denied the motion, explaining that there was no justification for entering a default judgment after the dismissal and judgment had been affirmed on appeal. The case remains closed.
The detailed version
- McGee v. Milpitas Police Department · No. 5:23-cv-02559
- Virginia Demarchi
- Sept. 19, 2025
Background
Anthony McGee, who was representing himself, filed a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(b) seeking default judgment against Milpitas Police Department and the other defendants. He argued that the defendants had failed to submit a legally sufficient response to his complaint.
Earlier Proceedings
The court had previously granted the defendants’ motion under Rule 12(b)(6), which allows dismissal for failure to state a legally sufficient claim. The court dismissed McGee’s amended complaint without leave to amend on October 23, 2023, and entered judgment for the defendants the next day. McGee appealed all orders and final judgments in the case. On March 20, 2025, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the court’s order and judgment, and the court of appeals issued its mandate on April 11, 2025.
Ruling
The court denied McGee’s motion for default judgment. It explained that default may be entered when a party fails to plead or otherwise defend, and that a court may later enter default judgment after default. But because the case had already been dismissed, judgment had been entered for the defendants, and that decision had been affirmed on appeal, the court found no justification for entering default judgment. The case remains closed.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.