Facts

In March 2015, Michael Bernard Potere began working as an associate at Dentons, a large international law firm, in its Los Angeles office. In 2015, he was assigned work on a case with Joel Siegel, a senior partner and managing director at Dentons, and was provided access to Siegel's work email. In 2017, Potere told a partner at Dentons that he was leaving the firm to pursue a graduate degree in political science. Based on his substandard work performance, Dentons refused Potere's request to work until his degree program began in the fall and informed him that his last day of work would be June 1, 2017. On April 15 and May 14, 2017, Potere accessed Siegel's email without authorization and downloaded files and emails pertaining to his performance. On May 16, 2017, he disclosed to his supervisors that he had searched Siegel's email account and claimed that he found evidence of a potential gender discrimination lawsuit against Dentons. He also alleged that he planned on bringing a defamation action against Dentons based on emails exchanges he had accessed. In conversations with Denton's brass, he demanded $210,000 in compensatory damages, life insurance for six years, a piece of art in the firm's hallway depicting a Malibu fire, and health insurance until he started graduate school. Denton's brass warned Potere that his actions were career-ending and would result in professional and criminal liability, but Potere responded that he did not care about his legal career anymore. Denton's brass contacted the FBI. Denton's brass and Potere held a meeting recorded by the FBI on May 18, 2017, during which Potere reiterated his demands and warnings. On June 8, 2017, Potere gave Dentons the flash drive that represented the confidential information and deleted the information from his computer and DropBox. In exchange, he received a check for $213,650.49, before the FBI entered the room and arrested him. On June 20, 2017, the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Central District prosecuted him for extortion and transmitting communications with intent to extort. On October 18, 2017, the USAO filed a superseding information charging him with a misdemeanor violation of unauthorized access to a computer to obtain information. He pled guilty to the federal misdemeanor charge. On January 22, 2018, the district judge sentenced Potere to five months in custody. Potere surrendered to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons and was released on July 25, 2018, and placed on one year of supervised release. Information about Potere's conviction was transmitted to the State Bar Court. On October 28, 2019, after a hearing, the State Bar Court Hearing Department determined that the facts and circumstances surrounding Potere's conviction constituted moral turpitude and recommended disbarment. On appeal, Potere argued that certain State Bar procedural rules violated the ADA and the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses by requiring expert testimony to establish mitigation on the basis of extreme emotional difficulties or physical or mental disabilities. The State Bar Court Review Department affirmed the recommendation of disbarment. The California Supreme Court denied Potere's petition for review and on March 30, 2021, ordered that Potere be disbarred.

Potere brought an action in federal court against multiple State Bar Defendants, alleging as he did in his disciplinary appeals that State Bar procedural rules violated the ADA and the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses. The magistrate judge recommended that the State Bar Defendants' motion to dismiss be granted and that the action be dismissed without leave amend on the bases that (1) Potere lacked standing to seek prospective injunctive and declaratory relief and (2) Potere's claims were precluded because his constitutional challenges were already litigated in State Bar Court and the California Supreme Court. The district judge accepted the recommendation of the magistrate judge and dismissed the action without leave to amend.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff alleged that standard 1.6(d) in Title IV of the California State Bar Rules of Procedure violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act by preventing him from demonstrating his mental disability of depression qualified as a mitigating circumstance for his misconduct at issue in his State Bar disciplinary proceedings. Plaintiff also contended that the magistrate judge failed to properly determine whether the State Bar resolved disputed issues of fact properly which the parties had an adequate opportunity to litigate as required for res judicata.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant alleged that plaintiff lacks standing to pursue his claims because the standard in Title IV of the California State Bar Rules of Procedure does not pose a real and immediate threat to him. Further, defendant contended that plaintiff's claims are barred by res judicata because they were already raised in his state bar proceedings.

Result

Defendant's motion to dismiss was granted finding Potere lacked standing and the claims were barred by res judicata. Plaintiff's first amended complaint was dismissed without leave to amend. The court agreed with, accepted, and adopted the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendations.