Rice v. Runyon

90 F. App'x 819
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 27, 2004
DocketNo. 02-3477
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 90 F. App'x 819 (Rice v. Runyon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rice v. Runyon, 90 F. App'x 819 (6th Cir. 2004).

Opinions

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff, Sandra Rice, appeals the district court’s order denying her request for relief from judgment pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 60(b)(6). For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the district court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff was employed by Defendant, the United States Postal Service (“USPS”), until her March 15, 1997 termination, on the stated grounds of performance deficiencies. Plaintiff contacted the USPS’ Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) counselors five times from 1992 to 1997, to discuss work-related grievances. The incidents that give rise to this case occurred in 1997. On May 3, 1997, Plaintiff contacted an EEO counselor regarding workplace issues that had arisen in January of 1997. (J.A. at 130.) On July 11, 1997, Plaintiffs counsel received a letter from EEO officer Rebecca S. Pagan, [821]*821dated July 10, 1997, advising Plaintiff that she could file a formal complaint by returning an “enclosed PS Form 2565, EEO Complaint of Discrimination in the Postal Service,” within fifteen days of receipt. Pagan’s letter also made reference to an “enclosed PS Form 2579-A (Notice of Final Interview).” (J.A. at 150.) In a handwritten letter dated July 22, 1997, Plaintiff informed Pagan that on July 15, 1997 Plaintiff had received her letter but that neither of the two forms referenced as “enclosed” had in fact been enclosed. Nor does it appear that the forms were sent to Rice through her counsel.1 Plaintiffs letter requested that those forms be sent to her. (J.A. at 154.) Pagan received Plaintiffs letter on July 28, 1997. (J.A. at 155.) Plaintiff later received the required forms. On August 13, 1997, Plaintiff mailed the complaint form, which was filed on August 18, 1997. (J.A. at 118-20.) On the complaint form, Plaintiff stated that she had received the forms on August 5, 1997. (J.A. at 118.) On September 8, 1997, the USPS dismissed the complaint as untimely filed, stating that a complaint must be filed within fifteen days of receipt of notice of the right to file a complaint (citing 29 C.F.R. § 1614.106) and that Plaintiffs complaint had been filed thirty-three days after the receipt of such notice. (J.A. at 121.)

In February of 1998, Plaintiff filed in federal court a Complaint alleging violations of the Rehabilitation Act. 29 U.S.C. §§ 791-97, the Americans With Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000(e)-2000h-6. The district court referred the case to a magistrate judge, who granted Defendant’s motion for summary judgment, on the grounds that Plaintiff had failed to exhaust administrative remedies. Plaintiff filed a timely notice of appeal. On October 15, 2001, this Court affirmed the district’s court dismissal in an unpublished per curiam order. See Rice v. Runyon, No. 99-4255, 2001 WL 1320748 (6th Cir. Oct.15, 2001) (unpublished) (per curiam). On February 4, 2002, through counsel, Plaintiff filed a motion for relief from judgment, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(6). The district court denied the mo[822]*822tion on March 26, 2002. Plaintiff filed a timely notice of appeal.

DISCUSSION

The district court denied Plaintiffs request for relief from judgment, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(6). We review a district court’s denial of a Rule 60(b) request for relief from judgment for an abuse of discretion. Jinks v. AlliedSignal, Inc., 250 F.3d 381, 385 (6th Cir.2001). An abuse of discretion is found only where there is a “definite and firm conviction that the trial court committed a clear error of judgment.” Id. (citation and quotation marks omitted).

The authority under which Plaintiff sought for relief from judgment. Fed. R.Civ.P. 60(b)(6). states:

On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or a party’s legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: ... (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment.

The residual clause contained in Rule 60(b)(6) may afford relief only in exceptional circumstances not otherwise addressed by the Rule 60(b)’s first five numbered clauses. Lewis v. Alexander, 987 F.2d 392, 395 (6th Cir.1993); Olle v. Henry & Wright Corp., 910 F.2d 357, 365-66 (6th Cir.1990). A party may only invoke subsection (b)(6) in “unusual and extreme circumstances where principles of equity mandate relief.” Olle, 910 F.2d at 365.

Plaintiff sets forth two arguments, the first asking for equitable tolling of the filing deadline on account of Defendant’s mistakenly not enclosing the forms in its initial letter to her, the second attempting to estop Defendant from asserting a statute of limitations due to Defendant’s allegedly erroneous determination that a “final interview” had occurred. We take these arguments in order.

I.

First, Plaintiff points to the USPS’ failure to include the forms in its letter, dated July 10, 1997, advising her of her right to file a formal complaint within fifteen days. Plaintiff argues that she filed her complaint within fifteen days of receiving the required form. The handwritten letter from Plaintiff, advising Pagan that the forms had not been enclosed, was not a “complaint.” The applicable regulation states, in part:

A complaint must contain a signed statement from the person claiming to be aggrieved or that person’s attorney. This statement must be sufficiently precise to identify the aggrieved individual and the agency and to describe generally the action(s) or practice(s) that form the basis of the complaint.

29 C.F.R. § 1614.106(c). Plaintiff’s letter did not describe any of the facts that aggrieved her but simply requested the forms referenced by Pagan. (J.A. at 154.) Thus, Plaintiff failed to file a complaint by the deadline, which requires that filing occur within fifteen days of receipt of notice of the right to file a complaint. 29 C.F.R. §§ 1614.105(d), 1614.106(b).

Plaintiff argues that Defendant’s mistake in failing to enclose the forms should serve as the basis for equitable tolling.

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90 F. App'x 819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rice-v-runyon-ca6-2004.