Townsend

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ROBERT DAVID TOWNSEND, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, No. 07-35993 v. UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA;  D.C. No.

CV 06-0171 TMB

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA AT

OPINION

FAIRBANKS,

Defendants-Appellees.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska Timothy M. Burgess, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted August 7, 2008—Anchorage, Alaska

Filed September 5, 2008

Before: Dorothy W. Nelson, A. Wallace Tashima, and Raymond C. Fisher, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Tashima

12333 TOWNSEND v. UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA 12337

COUNSEL

Donald L. Hyatt, II, New Orleans, Louisiana, for the plaintiff- appellant.

William B. Schendel, Fairbanks, Alaska, for the defendants- appellees.

OPINION

TASHIMA, Circuit Judge:

Robert David Townsend sued his former employer, the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, in federal district court, alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (“USERRA” or the “Act”), 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-4333. The district court dismissed his action, concluding that it lacked jurisdiction over a USERRA…