Lovaas v. United States Forest Service

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 08-35987 · 2009-11-16 · Unpublished

Patty LOVAAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE, Defendant-Appellee

Area: other
Panel: Raymond C. Fisher (author), Richard A. Paez, Moskowitz

Analysis

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Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT NOV 16 2009

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS PATTY LOVAAS, No. 08-35987 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:07-cv-00071-RKS v. MEMORANDUM * UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE, Defendant - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana Keith Strong, Magistrate Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted November 2, 2009 Portland, Oregon Before: FISHER and PAEZ, Circuit Judges, and MOSKOWITZ, District Judge.** Lovaas appeals from the district court’s order dismissing her amended complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the order de novo, see Nuclear Info. & Res. Service * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The Honorable Barry Ted Moskowitz, United States District Judge for the Southern District of California, sitting by designation. v. United States Dept. of Transp., 457 F.3d 956, 958 (9th Cir. 2006), and we affirm.

The district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear Lovaas’ abuse of process claim because she did not allege the misuse of legal process, which requires the involvement of a court. See Hughes v. Lynch, 164 P.3d 913, 919 (Mont. 2008); see also Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 121, at 898 (5th ed. 1984) (“[I]t is clear that the judicial process must in some manner be involved.”); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 682.

Lovaas abandoned her other claims at oral argument.

AFFIRMED.