Hudson v. Heckler

101 F.R.D. 349, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18145, 5 Soc. Serv. Rev. 851
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedMarch 28, 1984
DocketNo. L 83-28
StatusPublished

This text of 101 F.R.D. 349 (Hudson v. Heckler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudson v. Heckler, 101 F.R.D. 349, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18145, 5 Soc. Serv. Rev. 851 (N.D. Ind. 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, Chief Judge.

This court entered an order granting plaintiff summary judgment on September 22, 1983. Defendant did not appeal this judgment within 60 days as required by Rule 4 of Rules of Appellate Procedure. Nor did defendant file a Motion to Amend the judgment pursuant to Rule 59(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Instead, on December 6, 1983, defendant filed a Motion to Modify pursuant to Rule 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Though defendant filed her motion pursuant to Rule 60, she does not state under which subsection she is proceeding.

In addition to oral argument in open court, the issues here presented have been fully briefed. A brief was filed by the plaintiff on March 1, 1984 and by the defendant Secretary on March 20, 1984.

The court held a hearing on defendant’s motion on February 3, 1984. At that time, defendant appeared by counsel and urged that this court should modify its decision because the Secretary believes the court was incorrect in holding that plaintiff’s spinal impairment met or equalled the listing of impairment set forth at Section 1.05(C)(1) and (2) of 20 CFR, Subpart P, Appendix 1.

Defendant did not point out any of the criterion set forth in Rule 60(a) or (b) which [351]*351would support her Motion to Modify. Instead, she attacked this court’s judgment. At oral argument and in her supplemental memorandum filed March 20, 1984, the Secretary devotes much effort to rearguing the merits of her case and stating her disagreements with this court’s decision of September 22, 1983. In fact, 14 pages thereof are devoted to that task while five are devoted to the Rule 60 issues.

A careful review of recent authorities in this circuit is in order.

(1) Planet Corp. v. Sullivan, 702 F.2d 123 (7th Cir.1983).

In Planet, default judgment was entered against defendant. Defendant did not appeal this judgment. Instead, six months later, defendant moved to vacate the default judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b). The district court denied defendant’s motion, and no appeal was taken. Six months later, defendant filed another Rule 60(b) motion asserting the same claims as in the previous motion. The district court denied the second motion. On the thirtieth day following the second denial, defendant filed notice of appeal. The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of defendant’s motions.

Defendant there was an attorney. He failed to appear at several hearings prior to the entry of the default judgment, and ignored suggestions by the court. Defendant Sullivan, like the defendant Secretary here, did not inform the court as to which subsection of Rule 60 was relied on.

The Court of Appeals stated:

This court has held that a motion to vacate judgment under Rule 60(b) is addressed to the sound discretion of the district court, and abuse of such discretion must be shown before a ■ denial of such motion will be overturned on Appeal. [citation omitted.] Rule 60(b) provides for extraordinary relief and may be invoked only upon a showing of exceptional circumstances [citations omitted.] Id. at 125.

The issue of timeliness was raised, and the court considered whether the filing of a Rule 60(b) motion within one year was timely as a matter of law. The court held that Rule “60(b) does not provide that grounds (1), (2), and (3) may be raised at leisure up to one year. The ‘reasonableness’ requirement of Rule 60(b) applied to all grounds, the one year limit on the first three grounds enumerated merely specify an outer boundary.” Id. at 125.

The Court of Appeals reiterated the rule that Rule 60(b) provides for relief only in extraordinary circumstances. That rule is still applicable here. The Secretary has shown no extraordinary circumstances which would entitle her to relief from this court’s judgment.

(2) Parisie v. Greer, 705 F.2d 882 (7th Cir.1983).

Parisie had appealed the denial of his petition for habeas corpus. The Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s decision and ordered that the writ issue. The state petitioned for a rehearing en banc, contending that the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction over Parisie’s appeal. A hearing en banc was ordered on the question of jurisdiction. The en banc court was widely split resulting in seven separate opinions. However, the result of the en banc hearing was the vacating of the panel decision and affirmance of the district court’s order denying Parisie’s petition for writ of habeas corpus.

When Parisie filed his petition for habeas corpus, the state responded with a motion to dismiss or, alternatively, for summary judgment. The district court granted the state summary judgment. Nine days later, Parisie mailed a pleading entitled “Motion for Reconsideration of an Order”. Parisie informed the court that he was proceeding under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 60. The district court did not rule on that motion. Approximately 36 days later, Parisie filed a memorandum of law similarly titled and reiterated that he was proceeding under Rule 60. The district court de[352]*352nied the motion. Parisie filed notice of appeal 25 days later.

Raised on appeal was the question of whether the motion filed by Parisie was and should be treated as a Rule 59(e) motion, even though not so titled, and despite Parisie's assertion that it was pursuant to Rule 60.

Judge Wood stated the rule that Rule 59 motions must be filed within ten days following the decision, and that extensions are precluded by Rule 60(b). Therefore, Pari-sie’s argument that the motion for extension of time, however titled, would not extend the ten days for filing a Rule 59(e) motion.

Judge Eschbach stated that Parisie’s appeal was timely because no entry pursuant to Rule 58 had been entered by the district court. He stated that since time for appeal began when the entry was made, Parisie’s time had not expired since his 30 days would not commence until the district court entered judgment per Rule 58.

Judge Swygert wrote that exceptional circumstances may save an appellant’s appeal from dismissal for lack of timeliness. He argued that exceptional and unique circumstances militated against the court dismissing Parisie’s appeal for not being timely filed. He argued that the lack of an entry pursuant to Rule 58, the rule requiring liberal interpretation and relaxed pleading requirements for pro se litigants, the district court’s granting of several extensions to the state, and the lack of a ruling on Parisie’s motion for extension all combined to create the unique and exceptional circumstances that should excuse Parisie for failing to timely file his appeal.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 F.R.D. 349, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18145, 5 Soc. Serv. Rev. 851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-v-heckler-innd-1984.