It wasn't a very good end of the week -- or end of the month -- for appellant's counsel in this case, as they (1) see their appeal get dismissed with a (rare) summary affirmance by the Ninth Circuit, plus (2) receive an order to show cause why they shouldn't be sanctioned for a frivolous appeal. Which, I'll tell you right now, they're almost certainly going to be.
You can't lose much worse than this. Particularly when, as here, all this happens in a published opinion.
There's a lesson here as well. When the Ninth Circuit tells you in a prior appeal that your prior legal maneuvers have already gone "too far," and when the district court subsequently lets you know that your continuing conduct in fighting a prior decision "may be subject to the imposition of sanctions for unreasonably and vexatiously multiplying these proceedings," maybe take that stuff seriously.
Because -- in my experience, anyway -- federal judges rarely bluff.
