Sepulveda v. Gazali
- Vince Chhabria
- 3:22-cv-01899
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Sepulveda v. Gazall, Judge Chhabria ordered Sepulveda to explain why the court should keep his Unruh Act claim or face dismissal of the action with prejudice.
Richard Sepulveda is required to respond within 21 days or the action will be dismissed with prejudice; the order concerns his California Unruh Act claim and the defendants named in the action.
What happened
In Sepulveda v. Gazall, Richard Sepulveda brought federal and state-law claims, including a claim under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act and a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The court said that when a “high-frequency” litigant brings an Unruh Act claim in federal court alongside an Americans with Disabilities Act claim, that may be an exceptional circumstance allowing the court to decline jurisdiction over the state-law claim. The court ordered Sepulveda to explain why it should continue exercising jurisdiction over his Unruh Act claim.
Judge Vince Chhabria gave Sepulveda 21 days to respond. The order did not yet dismiss the action, but it stated that failure to respond would result in dismissal of the action with prejudice.
The detailed version
- Sepulveda v. Gazali · No. 3:22-cv-01899
- Vince Chhabria
- Aug. 12, 2022
Background
The opinion is an order requiring Richard Sepulveda to show cause—that is, to explain why the court should take a particular action. The order concerns Sepulveda’s California Unruh Civil Rights Act claim, which he asserted in federal court alongside a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Court’s analysis
The court cited 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(4), which allows a federal court to decline supplemental jurisdiction over a state-law claim in exceptional circumstances. It stated that when a “high-frequency” litigant asserts a California Unruh Act claim in federal court together with an Americans with Disabilities Act claim, that situation will typically qualify as an exceptional circumstance justifying dismissal of the Unruh Act claim. The court cited Ninth Circuit and Northern District of California authority in support of that statement.
Order
The court ordered Sepulveda to show cause why it should not decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the Unruh Act claim. Sepulveda must respond within 21 days of the order. The court stated that failure to respond will result in dismissal of the action with prejudice. The order itself does not state that the action or the Unruh Act claim was dismissed at that time. The order was signed by United States District Judge Vince Chhabria.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.