Dudo v. Schaffer

93 F.R.D. 524, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 325, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10811
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 12, 1982
DocketCiv. A. No. 78-467
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 93 F.R.D. 524 (Dudo v. Schaffer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dudo v. Schaffer, 93 F.R.D. 524, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 325, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10811 (E.D. Pa. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

LUONGO, District Judge.

This is an action brought under § 302(c)(5) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(5). Plaintiff, Walter Dudo, is a former member of the Highway Truck Drivers and Helpers Union, Local 107 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Local 107). He was denied pension benefits from the Teamsters Pension Trust Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity on the ground that he had a break in service with employers participating in the union pension plan. On August 10, 1981, I entered an order granting defendant Local 107’s motion for summary judgment and denying plaintiff’s joint amended and further motion for class action certification and for further discovery (hereinafter referred to as “resubmitted motion for class certification”).

On August 20, 1981, plaintiff filed motions (a) to certify for immediate appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) the August 10, 1981 order granting Local 107’s motion for summary judgment, and (b) to certify the order denying its resubmitted motion for class certification (document No. 87). On October 1, 1981, plaintiff filed a motion, purportedly under Rule 54(b), requesting that I reconsider and vacate the August 10, 1981 order denying his resubmitted motion for class-certification and his request for leave to conduct additional discovery (document No. 93). In addition, in the October 1, 1981 motion, plaintiff requested that I re[527]*527consider and vacate a protective order entered during the course of discovery on the class certification motion, plaintiff contending that the protective order prevented him from obtaining class certification.1

I. Motions for Certification for Immediate Appeal

A. Order Granting Local 107’s Motion for Summary Judgment

Dudo requests that the order granting Local 107’s motion for summary judgment be certified for immediate appeal pursuant to § 1292(b), which provides:

(b) When a district judge, in making in a civil action an order not otherwise appealable under this section, shall be of the opinion that such order involves a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion and that an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation, he shall so state in writing in such order. The Court of Appeals may thereupon, in its discretion, permit an appeal to be taken from such order, if application is made to it within ten days after the entry of the order: Provided, however, That application for an appeal hereunder shall not stay proceedings in the district court unless the district judge or the Court of Appeals or a judge thereof shall so order.

As is clear from the words of § 1292(b), there are three requirements for the issuance of a certification. First, the order from which appeal is sought must involve a controlling question of law. Second, there must be substantial ground for difference of opinion on the resolution of that question of law and, third, it must appear that an immediate appeal may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.

Dudo’s claims against Local 107 are set forth in greater detail in the two earlier opinions in this case. Dudo v. Schaffer, 82 F.R.D. 695 (E.D.Pa.1979) (Dudo I); Dudo v. Schaffer, 91 F.R.D. 128 (E.D.Pa.1981) (Dudo II). Briefly stated, Dudo essentially claims that Local 107’s president, Raymond Cohen, failed to warn him of the effect that accepting a non-covered job would have on his pension rights, and that “Cohen erroneously advised him to accépt a job which had been offered to him advising that it would enable him to accumulate pension benefits, when in fact acceptance of that job, which was non-covered employment, resulted in Dudo’s disqualification from pension benefits.” Dudo II at 130.

In granting the motion for summary judgment I concluded “that Dudo [did not] present a material issue of fact as to whether he was induced by any official of Local 107 to take a non-covered job....” Dudo at 134. I also concluded that Dudo failed to establish the existence of a material issue of fact “regarding the union’s purported fiduciary duty to advise him about his rights under the pension plan.” Id.

Dudo advances as the alleged controlling questions of law (1) whether it was proper for me to exclude Dudo’s affidavit in determining that there was no material issue of fact as to whether he was induced to break his service, and (2) whether I erred in determining that Local 107 was not under a duty to • warn Dudo of the effect of service breaks.

I agree that exclusion of Dudo’s affidavit could be viewed as a controlling question of law since it resulted in the grant of Local 107’s motion for summary judgment, but I do not agree that there is substantial ground for difference of opinion on that issue. The reasons I refused to consider Dudo’s affidavit (which directly contradicted Dudo’s signed deposition testimony stating that he never discussed his pension rights with Cohen) are set forth in detail in Dudo II and will not be restated [528]*528here. Essential to my determination was the fact that Dudo submitted his affidavit after I had pointed out during oral argument on the motion for summary judgment that there was nothing in the record tending to support his claim that he was advised or induced to accept non-eovered employment.

It is well established that the court need not consider affidavits submitted on the day of, or after, hearing, F.R.Civ.P. 56(c); DeLong Corporation v. Raymond International, Inc., 622 F.2d 1135, 1140 (3d Cir. 1980), overruled in part on other grounds Croker v. Boeing Co., 662 F.2d 975 (3d Cir. 1981); Jones v. Menard, 559 F.2d 1282, 1285 n.4 (5th Cir. 1977); Blackburn v. Prudential Lines, Inc., 454 F.Supp. 1302, 1306 (E.D.Pa. 1978). As Chief Judge Lord noted in Black-bum, whether the affidavit should be admitted is solely within the court’s discretion. Id. The fact that the late submitted affidavit was in conflict with Dudo’s pre-argument deposition testimony was simply one circumstance leading me to exercise my discretion not to consider the affidavit. Thus, insofar as the instant motion for appellate certification is concerned, the fact that Dudo submitted the affidavit after the argument on the motion is crucial. Although plaintiff correctly notes that there is a split of authority on the question whether a timely submitted affidavit which contradicts the defendant’s prior deposition testimony is entitled to consideration on a motion for summary judgment, compare Perma Research and Development Co. v. Singer Co., 410 F.2d 572 (2d Cir. 1969), with Guarantee Insurance Agency Co. v. Mid-Continental Realty Corporation, 57 F.R.D. 555 (N.D.Ill.1972), he has cited no authority for the proposition that the court may not, in determining whether to exercise its discretion to admit an untimely

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Bluebook (online)
93 F.R.D. 524, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 325, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10811, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dudo-v-schaffer-paed-1982.