Wood
Wood v. City of San Diego
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Janet M. Wood, a long-time employee of the City of San Diego (“City”), brought suit against the City alleging that the Surviving Spouse Benefit portion of the City’s retirement plan violates 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2 (“Title VII”) and Cal. Gov’t.Code § 12940(a) because it discriminates on the basis of both gender and marital status. The district court, acting sua sponte, dismissed Wood’s Title VII claim for lack of standing and declined to continue to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claim. This appeal followed. We reverse and remand.
I. Standing
We find that the district court did not violate Wood’s due process rights by sua sponte raising and then ruling on the standing issue without providing Wood an opportunity to respond. Nevertheless, we emphasize that the preferred practice for district courts is to afford parties an opportunity to be heard (through an Order to Show Cause or otherwise) on any basis the court invokes sua sponte. This is particularly true where the sua sponte ruling results in a dispositive order. As this case demonstrates, district courts should always make every effort to afford the parties such an opportunity.