Peggy Jennings v. Ramos Properties, Lp ( 2020 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MAY 6 2020
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
In re: J. DOUGLASS JENNINGS, Jr.; No. 19-55322
PEGGY L. JENNINGS,
D.C. No.
Debtors, 3:17-cv-02172-DMS-KSC
______________________________
PEGGY L. JENNINGS, MEMORANDUM*
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
RAMOS PROPERTIES, L.P.; SSM
CAPITAL, INC.,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Dana M. Sabraw, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted May 4, 2020**
Pasadena, California
Before: GOULD and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges, and STEIN,*** District Judge.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Sidney H. Stein, United States District Judge for the
Peggy Jennings appeals the district court’s affirmance of the bankruptcy
court’s judgment in favor of Ramos Properties, L.P., and SSM Capital, Inc. On
remand from this court, the bankruptcy court found that Jennings was liable for
larceny, embezzlement, willful and malicious injury, and conspiracy to cause
willful and malicious injury, and that these debts were nondischargeable in her
chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. We affirm.
1. “We review a district court’s decision in an appeal from the
bankruptcy court de novo. In doing so, we apply the same standard of review to the
bankruptcy court’s decision as did the district court.” Northbay Wellness Grp., Inc.
v. Beyries, 789 F.3d 956, 959 (9th Cir. 2015) (citation omitted). Here, Jennings
challenges only the bankruptcy court’s compliance with this court’s mandate.
Jennings offers no argument challenging the bankruptcy court’s adoption of its
prior factual findings as the law of the case, and “[w]e will not manufacture
arguments for an appellant.” Greenwood v. FAA, 28 F.3d 971, 977 (9th Cir. 1994);
cf. Pit River Home & Agric. Coop. Ass’n v. United States, 30 F.3d 1088, 1096 (9th
Cir. 1994). Thus, the appropriate standard of review of the bankruptcy court’s
decision is de novo. See Bustos v. Molasky (In re Molasky), 843 F.3d 1179, 1184
(9th Cir. 2016).
Southern District of New York, sitting by designation.
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2. The bankruptcy court did not violate the rule of mandate by adhering
to its prior factual findings and limiting the scope of trial to Jennings’s intent. “A
district court that has received the mandate of an appellate court cannot vary or
examine that mandate for any purpose other than executing it.” Hall v. City of Los
Angeles, 697 F.3d 1059, 1067 (9th Cir. 2012). But “mandates require respect for
what the higher court decided, not for what it did not decide.” United States v.
Kellington, 217 F.3d 1084, 1093 (9th Cir. 2000) (quoting Biggins v. Hazen Paper
Co., 111 F.3d 205, 209 (1st Cir. 1997)). For that reason, a lower court on remand
may “decide anything not foreclosed by the mandate.” Hall, 697 F.3d at 1067.
Our prior decision held only that summary judgment should not have been
granted against Jennings because she “put forth evidence that created a genuine
issue of material fact as to her intent by claiming that she did not know what she
was signing and signed forms merely because Mr. Jennings told her to.” Jennings
v. Ramos Properties, L.P. (In re Jennings), 671 F. App’x 495, 496 (9th Cir. 2016).
We expressed no view on the bankruptcy court’s factual determinations that
formed the basis for its grant of summary judgment. Thus, our mandate did not
preclude the bankruptcy court from adhering to its earlier factual findings or from
limiting the trial to a single remaining issue of material fact. See Hall, 697 F.3d at
1067.
AFFIRMED.
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