Harry Franklin v. State of Oregon, State Welfare Division

662 F.2d 1337, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 31, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 15459
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 7, 1981
Docket80-3306 to 80-3338
StatusPublished
Cited by601 cases

This text of 662 F.2d 1337 (Harry Franklin v. State of Oregon, State Welfare Division) 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
Harry Franklin v. State of Oregon, State Welfare Division, 662 F.2d 1337, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 31, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 15459 (9th Cir. 1981).

Opinions

BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge:

This appeal confronts us with a trial court’s efforts to expedite the disposition of numerous complaints filed by a prisoner, pro se. We must determine whether the district court erred in dismissing on its own motion before issuance of summonses thirty-three of Franklin’s pro se complaints for which Franklin paid the filing fees.1 We hold that the dismissal of actions on the court’s own motion before issuance of summonses is proper only when it is clear that the court lacks jurisdiction. We, therefore, reverse the dismissal of eleven of Franklin’s actions over which the court did not clearly lack jurisdiction. We reach this conclusion even though, after issuance of summonses and upon proper motion, the trial court might dismiss these actions for failure to state a claim.

FACTS

Franklin, an Oregon state prisoner representing himself, filed these thirty-three actions from July 1979 to March 1980.2 After the district court denied Franklin in forma pauperis status, Franklin paid the filing fees for all his complaints. The magistrate reviewed twenty-nine of Franklin’s complaints and made findings and recommendations. Franklin was given an opportunity to amend twenty-seven complaints, which he did. The magistrate made further findings and recommendations in six cases, and Franklin made further amendments in five of these cases.

The district court, on its own motion and before a summons was issued to any of the defendants, dismissed all thirty-three actions on various grounds, apparently because it believed that they were all frivolous:

For the reasons given, each of these actions should be dismissed. Mr. Franklin may have nothing better to do than to pepper this court with frivolous claims and paper work. This court, however, has better things to do than to canvass all of his complaints [footnote omitted].
While Potter v. McCall, 433 F.2d 1087 (9th Cir. 1970), requires that we be solicitous of pro se pleaders, nothing in Potter requires us to put up with this sort of nonsense, at taxpayers’ expense and at the expense of others with claims or defenses of more apparent merit.

I

Spa Sponte Dismissal for Failure to State a Claim

A district court may dismiss an action on its own motion for failure to state a [1341]*1341claim, but only after the court takes the proper procedural steps. Dodd v. Spokane County, 393 F.2d 330, 334 (9th Cir. 1968). The court must permit issuance and service of process as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(a) and the court must notify the plaintiff of the proposed action and afford him an opportunity to submit written argument in opposition. Id. at 334. In addition, the court must give a statement of the reasons for dismissal, and an opportunity to amend unless the complaint is clearly deficient. Potter v. McCall, 433 F.2d 1087, 1088 (9th Cir. 1970); Worley v. California Dept. of Corrections, 432 F.2d 769 (9th Cir. 1970). In this case, the court followed all the procedural steps except issuance and service of process under Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(a).

A literal reading of Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(a) supports the proposition that a summons must be issued before a dismissal for failure to state a claim:

Upon the filing of the complaint the clerk shall forthwith issue a summons and deliver it for service to the marshal or to a person specially appointed to serve it.

The only circuit that has specifically addressed the meaning of this sentence in the context of sua sponte dismissals of complaints has held that Rule 4(a) requires “the clerk to immediately issue a summons and deliver it to the marshal for service” without exception. Nichols v. Schubert, 499 F.2d 946, 947 (7th Cir. 1974); Vina v. Hub Electric Co., 480 F.2d 1139, 1140 (7th Cir. 1973).

The Second Circuit has reversed several sua sponte dismissals of pro se complaints because a summons was not issued cautioning the district judges “to avoid an inquisitorial role, and not search out issues more appropriately left to a motion by the oppos-

ing party.” Lewis v. New York, 547 F.2d 4, 5 (2d Cir. 1976). See also Mawhinney v. Henderson, 542 F.2d 1 (2d Cir. 1976). The Second Circuit reasoned:

Untimely dismissal may prove wasteful of the court’s limited resources rather than expeditious, for it often leads to a shuttling of the lawsuit between the district and appellate courts. . . . We are confronted [in this case] with a controversy where the defendants refuse to participate because they are not parties and to resolve it at this stage and under these circumstances would be unnecessary and wasteful.

Lewis, 547 F.2d at 6.

We agree that before a summons is issued a district court may not dismiss, sua sponte, for failure to state a claim an action over which it has subject matter jurisdiction. When the district court dismisses an action before issuing a summons, the defendants are not required to respond on appeal because they were not parties to the action below. If we were to ratify the procedure used here, we would have to decide such cases on appeal in a nonadversarial context. In this situation, the magistrate’s “Findings and Recommendation” would substitute for the briefs of the defendants. Thus the district court and the magistrate would in effect take the place of the defendants named by the plaintiff. Moreover, although it might be efficient, without considering the effect of possible appeals, for the district court and an expert magistrate to handle prisoner civil rights complaints sua sponte, we question whether the judiciary should expend its resources to decide the merits of these actions without assistance from the defendants.3

In summary, we disapprove of sua sponte dispositions of cases over which the court [1342]*1342has jurisdiction because the procedure (1) eliminates the traditional adversarial relationship; (2) causes inefficiencies in the judicial process as a whole; and (3) may give the appearance that the judiciary is a proponent rather than an independent entity.4

II

Dismissal for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

A judge, however, may dismiss an action sua sponte for lack of jurisdiction. California Diversified Promotions, Inc. v. Musick, 505 F.2d 278, 280 (9th Cir. 1974). In contrast to dismissals for failure to state a claim, if the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, it is not required to issue a summons or follow the other procedural requirements. Loux v. Rhay, 375 F.2d 55, 58 (9th Cir. 1967). In addition, “a suit may sometimes be dismissed for want of jurisdiction where the alleged claim under the Constitution or federal statutes clearly appears to be immaterial and made solely for the purpose of obtaining jurisdiction or where such claim is wholly insubstantial and frivolous.” Bell v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
662 F.2d 1337, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 31, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 15459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harry-franklin-v-state-of-oregon-state-welfare-division-ca9-1981.