Cel-A-Pak v. California Agricultural Labor Relations Board

680 F.2d 664, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 687
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJuly 2, 1982
DocketNo. 79-4743
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 680 F.2d 664 (Cel-A-Pak v. California Agricultural Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cel-A-Pak v. California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, 680 F.2d 664, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 687 (9th Cir. 1982).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Cel-A-Pak, which harvests and packs cauliflower for independent growers, brought this action against the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (“ALRB”) and the United Farm Workers of America (“UFW”) to prevent assertion by the ALRB of jurisdiction over Cel-A-Pak’s employees and to recover damages from UFW for injuries allegedly caused by secondary boycotts. On motion for summary judgment, the district court dismissed the claim against ALRB on the ground no justiciable controversy presently existed because appellant was not subject to threatened or actual injury by the potential exercise of jurisdiction by the ALRB, and dismissed the claim against UFW as barred by res judica-ta.

Judgment was entered on September 4, 1979. On September 18, appellant moved for rehearing and an injunction pending appeal. On October 26, appellant filed a notice of appeal from the September 4 judgment. On October 30, the district court filed an order denying the September 18 post-trial motions.

The notice of appeal was filed more than 30 days after entry of judgment and was therefore untimely under Fed.R.App.P. 4(a). Compliance with these time limitations is both mandatory and jurisdictional. Browder v. Director, Dept, of Corrections, 434 U.S. 257, 264, 98 S.Ct. 556, 560, 54 L.Ed.2d 521 (1978); Wallace v. Chappell, 637 F.2d 1345,1346 (9th Cir. 1981) (en banc).

Since the post-trial motion was filed more than 10 days after entry of judgment it did not toll the Rule 4(a) limitation period. Browder, supra, 434 U.S. at 264-65, 98 S.Ct. at 560-61; see Fassler v. Moran, 576 F.2d 1372, 1373 (9th Cir. 1978).

Appellant did not move to extend the time for appeal under Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(5). Mere acceptance of the untimely notice of appeal will not be construed as a grant of such an extension by the district court. United States v. Stolarz, 547 F.2d 108, 111 (9th Cir. 1976).

Appeal from the underlying judgment of dismissal is timely only if appellant’s petition for rehearing and motion for injunction pending appeal (contained in one document) may be treated as a notice of [667]*667appeal. Fed.R.App.P. 3(c) mandates liberality in determining compliance (“[a]n appeal shall not be dismissed for informality of form or title of the notice of appeal”); “courts of appeals have discretion, when the interests of substantive justice require it, to disregard irregularities in the form or procedure for filing a notice of appeal.” Rabin v. Cohen, 570 F.2d 864, 866 (9th Cir. 1978), quoting Cobb v. Lewis, 488 F.2d 41, 44 (5th Cir. 1974). Documents not so denominated have been treated as notices of appeal so long as they “clearly evince the party’s intent to appeal” and provide notice to both the opposing party and the court. Cobb, supra, 488 F.2d at 45. See Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 181, 83 S.Ct. 227, 229, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962); Blunt v. United States, 244 F.2d 355, 359 (D.C.Cir.1957). See e.g. Noa v. Key Futures, Inc., 638 F.2d 77, 78 (9th Cir. 1980) (stipulation of parties that new judgment be entered so as to allow proper appeal); Davis v. Dept, of Corrections, 446 F.2d 644, 645 (9th Cir. 1971) (defective motion for certificate of probable cause); Curtis Gallery & Library, Inc. v. United States, 388 F.2d 358, 360 (9th Cir. 1967) (designation of contents of record on appeal and statement of points on appeal); Burdix v. United States, 231 F.2d 893, 894, 16 Alaska 170 (9th Cir. 1956) (leave to appeal in forma pauperis). But not every document challenging the judgment or relating to a possible appeal suffices. See Selph v. Council of City of Los Angeles, 593 F.2d 881, 883 (9th Cir. 1979) (motion to extend the time for appeal not to be treated as a notice of appeal under the circumstances of the case).

Appellant’s Rule 60(b) motion for rehearing clearly cannot be treated as a notice of appeal. It does not “clearly evince” an intent to appeal. To hold otherwise would circumvent the established rule that such a motion does not toll the appeal limitations period. See Saunders v. Cabinet Makers & Millmen, Local 720, 549 F.2d 1216, 1217 (9th Cir. 1977).

The motion for injunction pending appeal presents a closer question since it indicates appellant contemplated taking an appeal. In a somewhat similar case, Cutting v. Bullerdick, 178 F.2d 774, 776-77, 12 Alaska 528 (9th Cir. 1949), we held that Fed.R.Civ.P. 73(b), the predecessor to Fed. R.App.P. 3, could be satisfied by a notice of motion to stay execution so appellant could post a supersedeas bond and perfect an appeal. Nonetheless, we conclude that Cutting is not dispositive and decline to exercise our discretion to disregard the irregularity in the present case.

Since appellant is represented by counsel and neither life nor liberty is at stake, solicitude for unwary pro se and criminal litigants, a factor which often warrants exercise of the court’s discretion to tolerate informalities (see Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 595, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972); Alley v. Dodge Hotel, 501 F.2d 880, 883 (D.C.Cir.1974)), is not applicable to this case.

The motion seeking an injunction pending appeal has collateral consequences that could conceivably benefit the appellant even if no appeal were perfected. This distinguishes it from motions that constitute an integral and necessary part of the process of taking an appeal. Such motions offer clearer evidence of an intent to appeal, since they have no independent significance distinct from the appeals process.

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680 F.2d 664, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cel-a-pak-v-california-agricultural-labor-relations-board-ca9-1982.