Shannon Atkinson v. Carolyn Allred

MEMORANDUM

Shannon Atkinson appeals the district court’s denial of her motion for relief from an allegedly premature order to distribute the proceeds of a life insurance policy and from her motion requesting that Judge Leighton recuse himself. We dismiss the former claim as moot, and affirm the latter. We also decline Carolyn Allred’s invitations to impose sanctions or to dismiss this appeal on the basis of formatting irregularities in Atkinson’s opening brief and alleged omissions in the excerpts of record.

I. Where a party appeals an interlocutory order subsequently superseded by a valid final judgment, the matter is moot. See Taylor v. United States, 181 F.3d 1017, 1018, 1022-23 (9th Cir.1999) (en banc). Under such circumstances, reversing the initial order “would have no practical consequences.” Dex Media West, Inc. v. City of Seattle, 696 F.3d 952 , 956 n. 1 (9th Cir.2012). Here, the district court’s initial distribution order has been superseded by a subsequent, identical order, issued alongside the judgment after a bench trial in which the district court evaluated all of Atkinson’s claims. Although Atkinson purports to appeal that final judgment, she does not contest the…