Phillips

Phillips v. Electoral College

Good Law
36 F. App'x 306
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitJune 4, 2002No. 01-16475; D.C. No. CV-01-00011-WHOCalifornia230 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Arnie Phillips appeals the dismissal of his complaint seeking, inter alia, declaratory relief abolishing the Electoral College and declaring Albert Gore and Joseph Lie *307 berman President and Vice-President of the United States. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.

The district court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing Phillips’ complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(m). 1 Because Phillips failed to serve process on the defendants in accordance with Rules 4(i) and 4(h), the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants. See Jackson v. Hayakawa, 682 F.2d 1344, 1347 (9th Cir.1982).

Phillips’ additional arguments fail. The moving defendants did not waive their objection to the defect in service by filing their motion to dismiss. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(h); Martens v. Winder, 341 F.2d 197, 200 (9th Cir.1965). The district court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that Phillips did not establish “good cause” existed for his failure to properly serve the defendants and that neither the exception announced in Borzeka v. Heckler, 739 F.2d 444, 447 (9th Cir.1984), nor Rule 4(m) applied to excuse the…

Sign in to read the full opinion

Create a free account to read the complete opinion text, citation history, and good-law status for this case.