Ralph James Coppola v. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; ROBERT WILKIE, Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
RALPH JAMES COPPOLA,
Petitioner,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS; ROBERT WILKIE, Secretary,
Department of Veterans Affairs,
Respondents,
______________________________
MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION
BOARD,
Intervenor.
No. 20-70361
MEMORANDUM*
On Petition for Review of an Order of the Merit Systems Protection Board,
MSPB No. SF-1221-17-0027-M-1
Submitted April 19, 2022**
Las Vegas, Nevada
FILED
APR 19 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* 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).

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Before: KLEINFELD, D.M. FISHER,*** and BENNETT, Circuit Judges.
We dismiss the petition for review because it is moot. Petitioner argues that
the administrative judge in his case was defectively appointed under Lucia v.
Securities Exchange Commission, 138 S. Ct. 2044 (2018). He also moves for
injunctive relief. We dismiss the petition as moot and deny the motion for
injunctive relief for lack of jurisdiction.
Though the MSPB lacked a quorum from January 6, 2017 to March 4, 2022,
it now has a quorum, and has duly appointed a new administrative judge in
Coppola’s case, who undertakes to adjudicate the case anew, without reliance on
any rulings or decisions made by the putatively defectively appointed judge.
Accordingly, Coppola’s challenge to the appointment of the administrative judge
previously assigned is now moot. Likewise, the previous judge’s dismissal without
prejudice subject to automatic reinstatement, if it was subject to review, no longer
is, because Coppola’s case has been reinstated.
The petition for review is DISMISSED.
*** The Honorable D. Michael Fisher, United States Circuit Judge for the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting by designation.
2

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