Background
Ricardo J. Calderon Lopez filed an action in the United States District Court for the Central District of California seeking a refund of a filing fee related to a landlord-tenant dispute. After the district court dismissed the complaint, Lopez appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which dismissed that appeal for failure to pay the docketing fee. Lopez then filed this appeal to the Federal Circuit, indicating his intent to challenge the Ninth Circuit’s decision and moving for leave to proceed in forma pauperis.
The court’s reasoning
The court explained that it lacks jurisdiction over decisions of the Ninth Circuit and that its authority to review district court decisions does not extend to the landlord-tenant disputes previously attempted by the appellant. The court further noted that no court of appeals has jurisdiction to review an appeal from a district court filed outside the thirty-day jurisdictional deadline. The court found that the appellant disregarded prior warnings regarding these jurisdictional limits.
What it means going forward
The appeal is dismissed, and the appellant faces potential sanctions including monetary fines, restrictions on filing documents, or an injunction against filing future appeals without a motion for leave to file.
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