Thomas Boothe v. City of Vancouver
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
Boothe, an attorney, was found in contempt of court and sanctioned $145,765.43, in the course of an employment discrimination case he tried for his client, Rolando Hernandez. He promptly filed a notice of appeal, in his own name, from the sanction, although no final judgment had been entered in the underlying case. His appeal was premature, under our decision in Cato v. Fresno City, 220 F.3d 1073 (9th Cir. 2000) (per curiam), and Stanley v. Woodford, 449 F.3d 1060 (9th Cir. 2006), so at the time he filed it, we lacked jurisdiction to decide it. Subsequently, the employment discrimination suit was resolved by a jury verdict in favor of his client Hernandez for $1,284,000, upon which final judgment was entered. Post-trial motions, appeal and cross-appeal of the underlying case, and mediation delayed completion, but they are all over. During all these procedural events, we withdrew this case from submission, but subsequently resubmitted it. In this circuit, under Cato, the jurisdictional defect in Boothe’s appeal of the sanctions against him was cured by the entry of final judgment in the underlying action. See Cato, 220 F.3d at 1074-75 .