Spokane County Deputy Sheriffs Ass'n v. Washington Department of Employment Security

MEMORANDUM *

Appellant Spokane County Deputy Sheriffs Association (the “Association”) appeals the district court’s order dismissing its complaint pursuant to the Eleventh Amendment of the United States Constitution and due to the Association’s failure to exhaust its administrative remedies. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I.

We review de novo a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. United States ex rel. Biddle v. Bd. of Trs. of the Leland Stanford, Jr. Univ., 161 F.3d 533, 535 (9th Cir.1998). We review for “clear error” a district court’s factual findings relevant to a determination of subject matter jurisdiction. Id. Because the defendants “assert[ ] that the allegations in the complaint are insufficient to establish subject matter jurisdiction as a matter of law ..., we take the allegations in the plaintiffs complaint as true.” Whisnant v. United States, 400 F.3d 1177, 1179 (9th Cir.2005) (citing Wolfe v. Strankman, 392 F.3d 358, 362 (9th Cir.2004)).

“We review de novo whether a party is immune under the Eleventh Amendment.” California v. Campbell, 138 F.3d 784 , 786 (9th Cir.1998).

We review de novo a dismissal for failure to…