Thompson v. County of Franklin

180 F.R.D. 216, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11782, 1998 WL 436942
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedJuly 30, 1998
DocketNo. 92-CV-1258(NPM)(DNH)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 180 F.R.D. 216 (Thompson v. County of Franklin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thompson v. County of Franklin, 180 F.R.D. 216, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11782, 1998 WL 436942 (N.D.N.Y. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM-DECISION and ORDER

McCURN, Senior District Judge.

Introduction

The court assumes familiarity with the protracted history of this litigation. Most recently, on December 5, 1998, the court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Dana Leigh Thompson, “finding that her property is located within Indian country, ..., and, as such, is immune from the defendant County’s ad valorem tax.” Thompson v. County of Franklin, 987 F.Supp. 111, 127 (N.D.N.Y.1997) (“Thompson III ”); see also Affidavit of Dwight A. Healey (April 27,1998), exh. 11 thereto. Conversely, the court denied the defendants’ cross-motion for summary judgment. A judgment reflecting the foregoing was filed on December 8, 1997. Healey Aff., exh. 14 thereto. The defendants timely filed with the Second Circuit a notice of appeal from, among other things, that judgment. Id., exh. 15 thereto. By stipulation and order, in March, 1998, the parties agreed to “withdrawn [that appeal] from active consideration^]”. Id., exh. 16 thereto. Pursuant to the parties’ agreement, “such withdrawal [was] without prejudice to reinstatement ... within 30 days of issuance of a decision by the United States Supreme Court in Cass County, Minnesota, et al. v. Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians ...” Id. That stipulation further provided that “[i]n the event that the ... appeal is not reinstated in accordance with the terms of this stipulation, the appeal shall be deemed withdrawn with prejudice.” Id. (emphasis added).

After learning that Ms. Thompson had submitted a letter to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe (“the Tribe”) “retract[ing]” her Tribal membership, and after withdrawing their appeal, on April 29, 1998, the defendants, the County of Franklin, and William Hughes, County Treasurer1 filed the present motion seeking relief under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(2). That subsection of Rule 60 permits a court to relieve a party from a final judgment based upon the existence of “newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b)[.]” Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(2). The County is not seeking to be entirely relieved from the court’s December 8,1997, judgment. Rather, it is merely seeking to modify that judgment to declare that plaintiff Thompson is not immune from its ad valorem tax “effective as of the date of her resignation from the St. Regis Tribe.” Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendants’ Motion for Relief from Judgment (“DefiMemo.”) at 2.

Discussion

I. Jurisdiction to Entertain County’s Motion for Post-Judyment Relief

On June 8, 1998, while the County’s Rule 60(b)(2) motion was pending, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Cass County, Minnesota v. Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, — U.S.-, 118 S.Ct. 1904, 141 L.Ed.2d 90 (1998). Consequently, on July 13, 1998, in anticipation of oral argument on the County’s motion scheduled for July 29, 1998,2 this court inquired of defense counsel [219]*219as to whether or not the County had reinstated its appeal. The County did file with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals a notice of reinstatement of appeal (“the notice”) on July 6, 1998. See Docket # 88. In that notice it specifically states that the County is reinstating its appeal pursuant to the March 6, 1998, stipulation and order entered with the Second Circuit. Id. The threshold question, then, is what effect, if any, does the County’s reinstatement of its appeal have on this court’s jurisdiction to entertain the pending Rule 60(b) motion.

Although the parties addressed the issue of the court’s jurisdiction to entertain this motion for post-judgment relief, they focused on whether this court has jurisdiction to entertain such a motion once an appeal has been withdrawn, as was the situation when the County filed its motion in April, 1998, and the plaintiff filed her opposition in May, 1998. Because those motion papers were filed prior to the County’s recent filing of its notice with the Second Circuit, understandably, the parties did not address the issue of whether the court has jurisdiction to consider a Rule 60 motion after reinstatement of an appeal. Given this change in circumstances, the court will, and indeed must, consider the jurisdictional issue in light of the current procedural posture of this ease. See Mayer v. Cornell University, Inc., 909 F.Supp. 81, 86 (N.D.N.Y.1995), aff'd without written decision, 107 F.3d 3 (2d Cir.1997), cert. denied, — U.S. --, 118 S.Ct. 68, — L.Ed.2d-(1997) (“The court has an independent obligation to examine the basis for its jurisdiction, see Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., 69 F.3d 650, 659 (2d Cir.1995), and may do so at any point in the litigation.”).

““[Tjhis circuit has repeatedly held that the docketing of a notice of appeal ‘ousts the district court of jurisdiction except insofar as it is reserved to it explicitly by statute or rule.’ ” ” RPT Metro Equities Limited Partnership v. Petcas Management, Ltd., 91 CV 3360, 1995 WL 769020, at *1 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 1995) (quoting Toliver v. County of Sullivan, 957 F.2d 47, 49 (2d Cir.1992)) (quoting in turn Ryan v. United States Lines Co., 303 F.2d 430, 434 (2d Cir.1962)); see also Contemporary Mission Inc. v. United States Postal Service, 648 F.2d 97, 107 (2d Cir.1981) (citation omitted) (district court properly denied plaintiffs Rule 60(b) post-judgment motion where prior to filing that motion plaintiff had filed a notice of appeal, reasoning that “[t]he filing of the notice of appeal divested. the district court of jurisdiction to entertain the motion[ ]”).

As the Second Circuit made clear in Toliver, however, a district court may entertain and deny a Rule 60(b) motion, even after an appeal is taken. Toliver, 957 F.2d at 49 (citation omitted); see also RPT Metro, 1995 WL 769020, at *1 (same). “This rule applies with equal force whether the motion was filed prior or subsequent to the notice of appeal.” Pagovich v. Moskowitz, 93 CIV. 3195, 1994 WL 642886, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 15, 1994) (citation omitted). On the other hand, a district court may not grant a Rule 60(b) motion after an appeal has been taken unless the Circuit Court “first give[s] its consent so it can remand the case, thereby returning jurisdiction over the case to the district court.” Toliver, 957 F.2d at 49. In this regard, the Second Circuit has emphasized that “ ‘if [the district court] decides in favor of [the Rule 60(b) motion], then and then only is the necessary remand by the court of appeals to be sought. ’ ” Id. (quoting Ryan, 303 F.2d at 434) (emphasis added). In Toliver,

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Bluebook (online)
180 F.R.D. 216, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11782, 1998 WL 436942, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-county-of-franklin-nynd-1998.