Ah Quin v. County of Kauai Department of Transportation

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

KATHLEEN M. AH QUIN, No. 10-16000 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 1:08-cv-00507-

BMK

COUNTY OF KAUAI DEPARTMENT OF

TRANSPORTATION,

Defendant-Appellee. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii Barry M. Kurren, Magistrate Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 12, 2013—Honolulu, Hawaii

Filed July 24, 2013

Before: Susan P. Graber, Jay S. Bybee, and Morgan Christen, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Graber; Dissent by Judge Bybee QUIN V. COUNTY OF KAUAI DEP’T OF TRANSP.

SUMMARY*

Bankruptcy / Judicial Estoppel

The panel vacated the district court’s summary judgment holding that judicial estoppel prohibited the plaintiff from proceeding with her employment discrimination action, which she had failed to list in her bankruptcy schedules.

Disagreeing with the test articulated by other circuits, the panel held that the district court applied the wrong legal standard in determining whether the plaintiff’s bankruptcy omission was “mistaken” or “inadvertent.” The panel concluded that when a…

Opinion by Judge GRABER; Dissent by Judge BYBEE.

OPINION

Plaintiff Kathleen M. Ah Quin contends that her employer, Defendant County of Kauai Department of Transportation, discriminated against her because she is a woman. While pursuing this action, however, Plaintiff filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and initially failed to list this action in her bankruptcy schedules. The district court held that judicial estoppel prohibits her from proceeding and, therefore, granted summary judgment to Defendant. We hold that the district court applied the wrong legal standard in determining whether Plaintiffs bankruptcy omission was “mistaken” or “inadvertent.” Accordingly, we vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff initiated this employment-discrimination action on November 10, 2008. She alleges that, because of her gender, Defendant reduced her work hours and denied her full-time status, in violation of various discrimination statutes and under the common law. On December 18, 2009, the district court denied Defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the merits. The court scheduled the case for a jury trial in April…

dissenting:

Kathleen Ah Quin filed a discrimination lawsuit against the County of Kauai Department of Transportation in which she sought approximately $350,000. She later claimed that her damages were $800,000, and in response to the County’s interrogatories she told the County she was entitled to $6,000,000. When Ah Quin filed for bankruptcy to get relief from less than $80,000 in debt, she told the bankruptcy court there were no “suits or administrative proceedings to which [she] is or was a party” within the year preceding commencement of her bankruptcy, even though her discrimination suit was ongoing. That statement was obviously false. Finding that “Ah Quin’s failure to disclose this [discrimination] lawsuit during the bankruptcy proceedings was not based on mere inadvertence or mistake,” and relying on our decision in Hamilton v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 270 F.3d 778 (9th Cir.2001), the magistrate judge dismissed Ah Quin’s discrimination claim against the County on the basis of judicial estoppel.

The magistrate judge’s reliance on Hamilton was understandable. In Hamilton, we said all of the following:

In finding that the district court abused its discretion, the…