Filed: Oct. 17, 2000
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: and Boudin, Circuit Judge.Lynne Standifird on brief pro se.summary judgment order is de novo.Maine, Inc., 105 F.3d 12, 14 (1st Cir.that discretion.her case to state court because it raised no federal claims.of any state-law claims without prejudice.judgment is affirmed.
[NOT FOR PUBLICATION–NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT]
United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 00-1386
LYNNE STANDIFIRD,
Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
TOWN OF BOXBOROUGH,
Defendant, Appellee.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
[Hon. William G. Young, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Selya, Circuit Judge,
Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge,
and Boudin, Circuit Judge.
Lynne Standifird on brief pro se.
John J. Davis, John J. Cloherty, III, and Pierce, Davis &
Perritano, LLP on brief for appellee.
October 16, 2000
Per Curiam. Plaintiff Lynne Standifird appeals pro se from
the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of
defendant, Town of Boxborough, on her claim pursuant to 42
U.S.C. § 1983, arising out of a traffic stop by one of
defendant’s police officers. Review of a district court’s
summary judgment order is de novo. Soileau v. Guilford of
Maine, Inc.,
105 F.3d 12, 14 (1st Cir. 1997). Having reviewed
the record in the light most favorable to plaintiff and
resolving all reasonable inferences in her favor, we conclude,
essentially for the reasons stated by the district court, that
there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that
defendant is entitled to summary judgment.
Plaintiff also appeals from the district court’s denial of
her motion for default judgment to be entered against defendant
for untimely filing its notice of removal and answer to the
complaint. Our careful review of the record reveals that the
notice of removal was timely filed, measured pursuant to
Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(a), within thirty days of defendant’s receipt of
the complaint. See 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b). Defendant filed its
request for an enlargement of time to file a responsive pleading
to the complaint seven days after the time for filing a
responsive pleading had expired. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 81(c).
However, the district court has discretion to grant such a
request for enlargement of time “where the failure to act was
the result of excusable neglect.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(b). “The
district court is afforded great leeway in granting or refusing
enlargements and its decisions are reviewable only for abuse of
that discretion.” Maldonado-Denis v. Castillo-Rodriguez,
23 F.3d
576, 584 (1st Cir. 1994)(citations omitted). There was no abuse
of discretion here.
Finally, plaintiff argues on appeal that the district court
erred in failing to address her state-law claims. “As a general
principle, the unfavorable disposition of a plaintiff’s federal
claims at the early stages of a suit, well before the
commencement of trial, will trigger the dismissal without
prejudice of any supplemental state-law claims.” Rodriguez v.
Doral Mortgage Co.,
57 F.3d 1168, 1177 (1st Cir. 1995). Here,
however, the district court’s grant of summary judgment makes no
mention of any state-law claims.
At this stage of the proceedings, plaintiff cannot
profitably argue that the district court ought to have remanded
her case to state court because it raised no federal claims.
Plaintiff has waived any such argument by asserting in her
opposition to summary judgment, her motion for reconsideration,
and her appellate brief that there are genuine issues of fact
precluding summary judgment in defendant’s favor on the Fourth
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Amendment claim.
However, plaintiff may be on stronger ground with respect
to her objection to the court’s failure to address her state-law
claims. Plaintiff, proceeding pro se, consistently maintained
below, as she does on appeal, that she seeks relief pursuant to
state law (although she has not clearly explained what her
state-law claims are). In these circumstances, we think the
district court judgment ought to be without prejudice to any
supplemental state-law claims.
The judgment of the district court granting defendant’s
motion for summary judgment is modified to provide for dismissal
of any state-law claims without prejudice. As modified, the
judgment is affirmed.
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