# Robert E. Sykes v. State of California (Department of Motor Vehicles)

> Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 1, 1974 · 497 F.2d 197

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9460624

## Case

- **Full name:** Robert E. SYKES, Appellant, v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA (DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES) Et Al., Appellees
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- **Decided:** May 1, 1974
- **Citations:** 497 F.2d 197; 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 8892
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Merrill
- **Judges:** Merrill, Ely, Lindberg
- **Cited by:** 173 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- **Red flag:** Overruled on other grounds by Life Insurance Co. Of North America v. Martha Ellen Reichardt, Etc., Martha Ellen Reichardt v. Wesley J. Kinder, 591 F.2d 499 (1979).
- Negative treatments: 1
- Distinguished by: 0
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9460624

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- noting that private persons cannot be held liable for a § 1983 conspiracy if their co-conspirators are state officials immune from suit
- applying prosecutorial immunity to § 1985 claim

## Opinion text

MERRILL, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I concur in the result. Save for general eonclusory and argumentative allegations of deprivation of equal protection and due process, no basis for a claim of violation of civil rights appears for the complaint on file. Plaintiff was *203 granted one opportunity to amend after which it appeared to the district court that no civil rights violation could successfully be alleged. I agree that suit should be dismissed under these circumstances and appellant relegated to the state courts for his remedies.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9460624. Public record. Not legal advice.