Filed: Jul. 11, 1995
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT _ No. 95-20014 Summary Calendar _ WILMER F. TREMBLE, JR., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GENERAL DYNAMICS INC., Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (H-91-CV-2106) _ (July 25, 1995) Before KING, JOLLY and JONES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* Wilmer F. Tremble, Jr., filed a complaint alleging that his employer, General Dynamics, Inc., had terminated his employment based upon his ra
Summary: IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT _ No. 95-20014 Summary Calendar _ WILMER F. TREMBLE, JR., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GENERAL DYNAMICS INC., Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (H-91-CV-2106) _ (July 25, 1995) Before KING, JOLLY and JONES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* Wilmer F. Tremble, Jr., filed a complaint alleging that his employer, General Dynamics, Inc., had terminated his employment based upon his rac..
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
_____________________
No. 95-20014
Summary Calendar
_____________________
WILMER F. TREMBLE, JR.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
GENERAL DYNAMICS INC.,
Defendant-Appellee.
_________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
(H-91-CV-2106)
_________________________________________________________________
(July 25, 1995)
Before KING, JOLLY and JONES, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Wilmer F. Tremble, Jr., filed a complaint alleging that his
employer, General Dynamics, Inc., had terminated his employment
based upon his race in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. The district court dismissed Tremble's case for
want of prosecution pursuant to Rule 4(j) of the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure, but later granted Tremble's motion for
reinstatement. General Dynamics then moved the court to
*
Local Rule 47.5 provides: "The publication of opinions
that have no precedential value and merely decide particular
cases on the basis of well-settled principles of law imposes
needless expense on the public and burdens on the legal
profession." Pursuant to that Rule, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published.
reconsider its order of reinstatement and also moved the court
for summary judgment. The district court granted both of these
motions simultaneously. In his brief on appeal, Tremble
addresses only the court's order reconsidering its order of
reinstatement. We affirm that order.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On January 20, 1992, the district court dismissed Tremble's
complaint sua sponte and without prejudice due to a want of
prosecution pursuant to Rule 4(j) of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure.1 On October 4, 1993 -- over twenty months after the
district court's dismissal under Rule 4(j) -- Tremble filed a
motion asking the district court to reinstate his case.
Specifically, Tremble informed the court via a sworn document
that his case had been dismissed on January 1, 1993 and averred
that his failure to effect service upon the defendant within the
1
Rule 4(j) has since been amended and redesignated as Rule
4(m). The revised rule became effective on December 1, 1993.
Former Rule 4(j) states:
(j) Summons: Time Limit for Service. If a
service of the summons and complaint is not made upon a
defendant within 120 days after the filing of the
complaint and the party on whose behalf such service
was required cannot show good cause why such service
was not made within that period, the action shall be
dismissed as to that defendant without prejudice upon
the court's own initiative with notice to such party or
upon motion. . . . .
FED. R. CIV. P. 4(j) (1992).
2
requisite 120 day period "was not intentional or the result of
conscious indifference but can be explained, in that Plaintiff's
attorney was disbarred and incarcerated." There is no evidence
in the record that General Dynamics was aware of Tremble's motion
to reinstate. On December 12, 1993, the district court granted
Tremble's motion for reinstatement, although it did not cite its
source of authority for doing so.
On June 28, 1994 -- nearly three years after Tremble had
filed his original complaint -- General Dynamics was served with
a summons notifying it of Tremble's suit. On August 19, 1994,
General Dynamics filed a motion asking the district court to
reconsider its order of reinstatement, asserting that
reinstatement was untimely under Rule 60(b)(1) of the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure or alternatively, that Rule 60(b)(6) did
not justify relief.2 In addition, on the same day that it filed
2
Rule 60(b) states in relevant part:
(b) Mistakes; Inadvertence; Excusable Neglect;
Newly Discovered Evidence; Fraud, etc. On motion and
upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a
party or a party's legal representative from a final
judgment, order, or proceeding for the following
reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or
excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence which
by due diligence could not have been discovered in time
to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud
(whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or
extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of
an adverse party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the
judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged,
or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been
reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer
equitable that the judgment should have prospective
application; or (6) any other reason justifying relief
from the operation of the judgment. The motion shall
be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1),
3
its motion for reconsideration, General Dynamics filed a motion
for summary judgment "subject to and without waiving its Motion
for Reconsideration . . . . " Specifically, General Dynamics
argued that it was entitled to summary judgment both on the
merits and because the applicable statute of limitations had
expired. In support of its motion for summary judgment, General
Dynamics proffered several affidavits of employees which stated
that Tremble had been fired in accordance with standard company
procedures because of repeated disciplinary and performance
problems, not because of his race. Tremble never responded to
General Dynamics' motion for summary judgment or its accompanying
affidavit evidence.
On December 14, 1994, the district court granted both the
motion for reconsideration and the motion for summary judgment.
On January 6, 1995, Tremble filed a timely appeal to this court.
II. ANALYSIS
The district court's simultaneous granting of General
Dynamics' motions for reconsideration and for summary judgment is
inherently inconsistent. On the one hand, the grant of the
motion for reconsideration resulted in a reinstatement of the
court's earlier order of dismissal for want of prosecution and
(2), and (3), not more than one year after the
judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken. .
. .
FED. R. CIV. P. 61(b).
4
was without prejudice.3 On the other hand, the grant of the
motion for summary judgment, being an adjudication on the merits,
was with prejudice. As Tremble challenges only the district
court's grant of the motion for reconsideration, we shall proceed
to address this issue, assuming arguendo that granting the
motion to reconsider left the district court without power to
grant a motion for summary judgment.4
A motion to reconsider, when filed more than ten days after
the rendition of a judgment, is construed as a motion for relief
from judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b) and is reviewed under an
abuse of discretion standard. Teal v. Eagle Fleet, Inc.,
933
F.2d 341, 347 (5th Cir. 1991). "The district court enjoys
considerable discretion when determining whether the movant has
satisfied any of the[] Rule 60(b) standards."
Id. In the case
at hand, Tremble's motion for reinstatement, having been filed
more than ten days after the initial dismissal of Tremble's suit,
is likewise construed as a Rule 60(b) motion for relief from
3
We note, however, that because this case involves Title
VII, which imposes a 90-day limitations period upon plaintiffs,
the practical effect of the district court's dismissal for want
of prosecution (and a fortiori its subsequent granting of General
Dynamics' motion to reconsider) was with prejudice.
4
If we assume the opposite-- that the district court
granted the summary judgment motion prior to the motion for
reconsideration-- Tremble fares no better because his brief does
not challenge the grant of summary judgment and therefore any
argument he may have with regard to this issue is waived on
appeal. Cinel v. Connick,
15 F.3d 1338, 1345 (5th Cir.) ("An
appellant abandons all issues not raised and argued in its
initial brief on appeal."), cert. denied,
115 S. Ct. 189 (1994) ;
accord Pan E. Exploration Co. v. Hufo Oils,
855 F.2d 1106, 1124
(5th Cir. 1988).
5
judgment. Pursuant to Rule 60(b), there are only six grounds for
relief from judgment: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise or
excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence which by due
diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a
new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud; (4) the judgment is void;
(5) the judgment has been satisfied, released or discharged, or
an underlying judgment has been reversed or otherwise vacated; or
(6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the
judgment. See FED. R. CIV. P. 60(b). Rule 60(b) explicitly
provides that for reason one, two, or three, the motion "shall be
made . . . not more than one year after the judgment, order, or
proceeding was entered or taken."
Id. If the motion for relief
is based upon reason four, five, or six, however, there is no
requirement that it be made within one year.
Tremble argues that the district court appropriately granted
his motion for reinstatement because his "attorney was solely at
fault for the failure to obtain service on the defendant."
Specifically, Tremble claims that because his attorney was
disbarred, he was unexpectedly unable to effect timely service
upon General Dynamics, and is therefore entitled to relief
pursuant to Rule 60(b).
General Dynamics contends that Tremble was not entitled to
relief under Rule 60(b) because his motion for reinstatement was
filed over one year after the original motion to dismiss for want
of prosecution. Alternatively, General Dynamics argues that if
the one year time limit provided for in Rule 60(b) is not
6
applicable, the district court erred in granting the motion to
reinstate because Tremble's motion to reinstate contained
material misrepresentations. Specifically, Tremble's motion to
reinstate stated that his suit was "dismissed on January 1, 1993,
for want of prosecution," when in fact Tremble's suit was
dismissed much earlier, on January 20, 1992.
It is clear that, although the district court did not cite a
specific source of authority for granting Tremble's motion to
reinstate, it was relying on either Rule 60(b)(1) ("mistake
inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect") or Rule 60(b)(6)
("any other reasons justifying relief from the operation of the
judgment"). The question before us, therefore, is whether the
district court abused its discretion in determining that Tremble
was not entitled to reinstatement under either of these two
provisions.
With regard to Rule 60(b)(1), it is clear that Tremble's
motion to reinstate, which was filed on October 4, 1993, was
untimely. Rule 60(b) explicitly provides that relief from
judgment may be granted under subsection (1) only if the motion
for relief is filed within one year of the judgment. In the case
at hand, the judgment (i.e., the dismissal for want of
prosecution), occurred on January 20, 1992-- over one year and
eight months prior to Tremble's motion for reinstatement. Thus,
the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining
that Tremble was not entitled to relief from judgment under Rule
60(b)(1).
7
With regard to Rule 60(b)(6), we do not think that the
district court abused its discretion in determining that Tremble
was not entitled to relief because, even assuming that his
failure to effect timely service was due to his attorney's
disbarment, Tremble's motion for reinstatement clearly
misrepresented the date upon which his suit was dismissed.
Relief pursuant to subsection (6) is discretionary, and such
discretion is certainly not abused when a court declines to
exercise its discretion in favor of a party who misrepresents
material facts to the court.
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the order of the district court
granting General Dynamics' motion for reconsideration, thereby
reinstating the district court's earlier dismissal of this case,
is AFFIRMED.
8