Copelan

Copelan v. Ferry County

Good Law
326 F. App'x 989
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitJune 8, 2009No. 08-35152California427 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Llois B. Copelan appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment dismissing all federal and state-law claims she asserted against Ferry County, Washington, its Sheriff Pete Warner, and oth *990 ers. Although in her brief Copelan lists a number of issues as subjects of her appeal, the only one for which she offers any argument is the district court’s ruling that Sheriff Warner was entitled to qualified immunity from liability on Copelan’s § 1983 claim for violation of her constitutional rights. We therefore confíne our review to that issue. See Officers for Justice v. Civil Serv. Comm’n, 979 F.2d 721 , 726 (9th Cir.1992).

Sheriff Warner is entitled to qualified immunity from § 1983 liability because the facts demonstrate that his conduct violated no clearly established constitutional right of Copelan. See Pearson v. Callahan, — U.S. —, 129 S.Ct. 808, 818 , 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009). First, Copelan claims that open range cattle grazing is a clearly established constitutional right. Yet she provides no support for this conclusion. Indeed, Wash. Rev.Code § 16.24.010 demonstrates that there is no such constitutional right, because it grants counties the authority to…

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