Richard A. Canatella v. John K. Van De Kamp Marie M. Moffat Jay Goldman Nancy McCarthy California Bar Journal Robert Hawley Zanassi Martha Daetwyler

Appellant Richard Canatella (“Canatel-la”) appeals the United States District Court’s order dismissing his civil rights suit against the State Bar of California (“California Bar”), several officers of the California Bar (collectively, with the California Bar, “Appellees”), and attorney Martha Daetwyler (“Daetwyler”). The district court disposed of Canatella’s civil rights claims against Appellees on statute of limitations grounds and Canatella’s claims against Daetwyler on state action and privilege grounds. We now deal with Canatella’s claims against Appellees and affirm the district court’s dismissal order.

I

Canatella is a California attorney, who has been repeatedly sanctioned by both state and federal courts. At some point after 1992, the California Bar initiated disciplinary proceedings against Canatella in connection with those sanctions. Canatella challenged those proceedings in federal court, but his suit was dismissed on abstention grounds. After that dismissal, Canatella and the California Bar reached an agreement concerning his professional conduct, and as part of that agreement, Canatella consented to a thirty-day suspension of his license and a probationary period…