Ruth Lopez v. City of Needles, Ca, a Municipal Corporation Leon Berger William Cetti Roy Mills Flora Hill Leroy Morgan

We must decide whether an order dismissing a complaint without prejudice may be treated as an appealable final decision when the plaintiff fails to notify the district court of her intention to stand on the dismissed complaint.

I

At an October 4,1993 meeting of the Needles City Council, Council member Ruth Lopez announced that she had been informed of possible hazardous waste dumping in the City of Needles sewer treatment plant. Lopez was asked to identify the source of her knowledge of the allegedly illegal dumping, but refused to do so.

After the City Manager filed a police report asserting that Lopez had announced the existence of hazardous waste dumping into the City of Needles sewer treatment plant, sheriff Leroy Morgan questioned Lopez at her home. The sheriff requested that she divulge her sources to him, but Lopez refused to identify her informants.

On October 15, 1993, the City held a special “Board of Inquiry” meeting. Lopez was subpoenaed to testify in a second Board of Inquiry meeting held on October 20, 1993, at which City Council members and Deputy City Attorney Michael Andelson questioned her. Lopez refused to name her sources and insisted that she had never…