AZZARMI v. WURTZ (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.2021-07-28No. No. 20-55590

Summary · law.co

Holding. The court affirmed the district court's dismissal of Azzarmi's claims on claim preclusion grounds and upheld the vexatious litigant designation and pre-filing restrictions.

Aasir Azzarmi appealed the dismissal of his civil rights and state law claims. The appellate court upheld the dismissal based on claim preclusion, finding that Azzarmi had already raised or could have raised these same claims in earlier lawsuits between the same parties, and those prior cases had concluded with final judgments. The court also found no abuse of discretion in the lower court's decision to label Azzarmi a vexatious litigant and impose restrictions on his ability to file future lawsuits, noting that the lower court had properly noticed him, allowed him to respond, documented its reasoning with specific findings, and crafted a narrowly tailored order.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Whether claims were barred by claim preclusion under federal law
Whether pre-filing restrictions on a vexatious litigant were properly imposed
Identity of claims between successive lawsuits

Procedural posture

Azzarmi appealed pro se from a district court judgment dismissing his action on claim preclusion grounds and designating him a vexatious litigant.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

MEMORANDUM **

Aasir Azzarmi appeals pro se from the district courts judgment dismissing his action alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and state law claims. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo a dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) based on claim preclusion. Stewart v. U.S. Bancorp, 297 F.3d 953, 956 (9th Cir. 2002). We affirm.

The district court properly dismissed Azzarmis action on the basis of claim preclusion because the claims were raised or could have been raised in prior actions between the parties or those in privity with them, and the prior actions resulted in final judgments on the merits. See Owens v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan, Inc., 244 F.3d 708, 710, 713-15 (9th Cir. 2001) (setting forth elements of claim preclusion under federal law and explaining that an identity of claims exists between the first and second adjudications when the suits arise out of the same transactional nucleus of facts and that a dismissal with prejudice under Rule 41(b) has preclusive effect).

The district court did not abuse its discretion by declaring Azzarmi a vexatious litigant and imposing pre-filing restrictions because the district court gave Azzarmi notice and the opportunity to oppose the pre-filing order, created a record adequate for review, made substantive findings of frivolousness, and tailored the order narrowly to prevent the abusive conduct. See Molski v. Evergreen Dynasty Corp., 500 F.3d 1047, 1056-58 (9th Cir. 2007) (setting forth standard of review and factors a district court must consider before imposing a pre-filing restriction on a vexatious litigant).

The parties’ motions to take judicial notice (Docket Entry Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 43, 44 and 63) are granted.

Azzarmis motions for sanctions (Docket Entry Nos. 38, 60 and 71), motions to amend jurisdictional allegations (Docket Entry Nos. 45 and 48), motion to strike (Docket Entry No. 46), and motion to adjudicate (Docket Entry No. 66) are denied.

Azzarmis motion to transmit the record (Docket Entry No. 31) is denied as unnecessary.

AFFIRMED.