Griffin v. Riveland

148 F.R.D. 266, 1993 WL 112093
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedApril 8, 1993
DocketNo. CS-91-0441-JBH
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 148 F.R.D. 266 (Griffin v. Riveland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Griffin v. Riveland, 148 F.R.D. 266, 1993 WL 112093 (E.D. Wash. 1993).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION, IN PART, INTER ALIA

HOVIS, United States Magistrate Judge.

BEFORE THE COURT is the plaintiffs motion for reconsideration (Ct.Rec. 52), motion for interlocutory order (Ct.Rec. 51) and motion for extension of discovery deadline (Ct.Rec. 58).

RECONSIDERATION

Motions for reconsideration serve a limited function. “ ‘[T]he major grounds that justify reconsideration involve an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.’ ” Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe v. Hodel, 882 F.2d 364, 369 n. 5 (9th Cir.1989) (quoting 18 C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 4478, at 790); see Frederick S. Wyle P.C. v. Texaco, Inc., 764 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir.1985); see also Keene Corp. v. International Fidelity Ins. Co., 561 F.Supp. 656, 665 (N.D.Ill.1982) (reconsideration available “to correct manifest errors of law or fact or to present newly discovered evidence.”). Such motions are not the proper vehicle for offering evidence or theories of law that were available to the party at the time of the initial ruling. Fay Corp. v. Bat Holdings I, Inc., 651 F.Supp. 307, 309 (W.D.Wash.1987); see Keene Corp. 561 F.Supp. at 565-66.

Plaintiff asks the court to reconsider certain portions of its order directing service of amended complaint (Ct.Rec. 48), notably: 1) the dismissal of plaintiffs federal law claim premised on alleged violations of the Western Interstate Corrections Compact; and 2) dismissal of plaintiffs federal law claim alleging negligent supervision and training of personnel.

Plaintiff alleges the court erred in its reliance on Stewart v. McManus, 924 F.2d 138 (8th Cir.1991). -Plaintiff urges the court to adopt the reasoning set forth in Cameron v. Mills, 645 F.Supp. 1119 (S.D. Iowa 1986) and Opinion of the Justices to the Senate, 344 Mass. 770, 184 N.E.2d 353 (1962). Cameron held that the Iowa Interstate Corrections Compact had been transformed into federal law because of “advance” congressional consent via 4 U.S.C. § 112 (Crime Control Consent Act of 1934). Opinion of the Justices made the same holding with respect to the New England Interstate Corrections Compact. Each of these compacts provides for the exchange of inmates between states, similar to the Western Interstate Corrections Compact at issue in the instant case.

Both Cameron and Opinion of the Justices focus on language from the Crime Control Consent Act which is as follows:

The consent of Congress is hereby given to any two or more States to enter into agreements or compacts for cooperative effort and mutual assistance in the prevention of crime and in the enforcement of their respective criminal laws and policies, and to establish such agencies, joint or otherwise, as they may deem desirable for making effective such agreements in compacts.

645 F.Supp. at 1127; 184 N.E.2d at 356.

Both courts emphasized the legislative history accompanying the Act. In 1961, the Act was amended to include Guam in the list of states and territories covered by the Act. The courts concluded that Congress intended its consent to extend to a broad range of compacts as evidenced by the following language from H.Rep. 434, 87th Cong. 1st Sess., [269]*269May 25, 1961, P.L. 406, U.S.Code, Cong. & Adm.News, p. 1487:

[TJhere have been several interstate corrections compacts to which various states have adhered. Among other things, officials of correctional institutions in the United States have long recognized the desirability of providing specialized facilities and programs for particular categories of inmates held in prisons and correctional institutions. In many states the number of persons in such special categories usually is so small that separate programs and facilities and programs prove too costly. It is therefore considered desirable for the states and federal possessions to share facilities and/or facility costs.

Plaintiff particularly emphasizes that one of the purposes of the 1961 amendment was to permit Guam to enter into the Western Interstate Corrections Compact (WICC). Cameron, 645 F.Supp. at 1127.

Despite the language from the House Report cited above, the undersigned still believes that the Western Interstate Corrections Compact does not confer federal rights on inmates which are enforceable via section 1983. First of all, the fact is that not one federal circuit has found an interstate corrections compact to be federal law.

Opinion of the Justices is a decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Cameron is a federal district court decision out of the Eighth Circuit which preceded a decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Stewart finding that the Iowa Interstate Corrections Compact had not become federal law. Although Stewart did not explicitly overrule Cameron, the implication is obvious. Cameron and Opinion of the Justices are not persuasive authority.

Secondly, the undersigned does not find the 1961 amendment to the Crime Control Consent Act persuasive evidence that Congress specifically consented and approved of interstate corrections compacts. Congress was simply observing that these compacts had been entered into by various states. It is stretching it a bit to suggest that the transfer of convicted inmates between the correctional institutions of different states is related to the “prevention of crime” and the “enforcement of ... criminal laws and policies.” 1 In addition, the court believes that the only reason Congress mentioned the Western Interstate Corrections Compact was because of the unique status of Guam as a U.S. Territory. Congress needed to approve Guam’s participation in the compact. The fact that Guam was added to the list does not mean that Congress needed or intended to approve of the WICC.

Even if Congress did in some manner implicitly approve of interstate corrections compacts (and specifically, the Western Interstate Corrections Compact), the undersigned would still find that the WICC has not been transformed into federal law. Consent is only one part of the test. The second part of the test is that the subject matter of the agreement must be an appropriate subject for congressional legislation. Cuyler, 449 U.S. at 440, 101 S.Ct. at 708. The undersigned agrees with the conclusion of the Stewart court that “no federal interest exists in the state’s transfer of inmates so long as the states satisfy the constitutional requirements in .the treatment of prisoners.” 924 F.2d at 142.2

[270]*270Plaintiffs concern about his claims against defendants Riveland, Kincheloe, Spalding, Blodgett and Morgan for improper screening, training, supervision and retention of personnel can be easily clarified.

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