Joshua Scott v. MCI Communications Services, Inc.

FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAY 13 2024 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JOSHUA M. SCOTT, Trustee of the No. 22-35400 Winona Road Trust u/t/d July 24, 2020, D.C. No. 1:20-cv-01626-CL Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MEMORANDUM* MCI COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES, INC., DBA Verizon Business Services, a Delaware corporation, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Michael J. McShane, District Judge, Presiding Submitted May 13, 2024** San Francisco, California Before: O’SCANNLAIN, FERNANDEZ, and SILVERMAN, Circuit Judges. Joshua Scott, as trustee of the Winona Road Trust (the “Trust”), appeals pro se from the district court’s grant of summary judgment to MCI Communications * 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). Services, dba Verizon Business Services (“Verizon”), on the Trust’s claims and Verizon’s counterclaims. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we dismiss the appeal. A non-attorney trustee may not represent a trust pro se in an Article III court. See C.E. Pope Equity Tr. v. United States, 818 F.2d 696, 697–98 (9th Cir. 1987). Even though Scott is the sole trustee and alleged sole beneficiary of the Trust, the appeal is not “his ‘own case personally,’”1 because the record shows that the settlors retain full control of the revocable Trust.2 DISMISSED. 1 Id. at 697. 2 See id.; see also Tseng v. Tseng, 352 P.3d 74, 75–76 (Or. Ct. App. 2015). 2 22-35400