United States v. Mtaza

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMarch 9, 2021
Docket19-20280
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Mtaza (United States v. Mtaza) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Mtaza, (5th Cir. 2021).

Opinion

Case: 19-20280 Document: 00515772339 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/09/2021

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

FILED March 9, 2021 No. 19-20280 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk

United States of America,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus

Amon Rweyemamu Mtaza,

Defendant—Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:14-CR-130-1

Before Haynes, Higginson, and Oldham, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Amon Rweyemamu Mtaza pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. After his conviction, Mtaza filed a pro se motion seeking return of property the government allegedly seized under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41. The district court granted summary judgment to the

* Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 19-20280 Document: 00515772339 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/09/2021

No. 19-20280

Government on the Rule 41 motion and subsequently denied Mtaza’s motion for reconsideration. Mtaza appealed. We affirm. I. After Mtaza’s convictions became final, he filed a motion under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) for return of property the Government allegedly seized from him. He filed that motion in the district court docket for his criminal proceedings. Under our precedent, a motion filed under Rule 41(g) in a criminal docket once the criminal case is closed commences a new civil proceeding in equity. Bailey v. United States, 508 F.3d 736, 738 (5th Cir. 2007); Clymore v. United States, 217 F.3d 370, 373 (5th Cir. 2000). Mtaza attached an affidavit listing the contested property—it included three vehicles, two boat titles, $6600 in cash, a wallet, jewelry, various electronics, a receipt, and a set of keys. The Government moved for summary judgment. It submitted the affidavit of Agent Matthew S. Boyden of the United States Postal Inspection Service. Boyden averred the Government lawfully forfeited two of the vehicles; returned another vehicle to Mtaza’s defense counsel; destroyed electronics containing contraband personal identifying information; and had never seized any of the other listed property. Mtaza opposed summary judgment and argued Boyden’s testimony was not credible. On October 18, 2018, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Government. On April 1, 2019, Mtaza moved for reconsideration. On April 8, 2019, the district court denied Mtaza’s motion for reconsideration. On April 19, 2019, Mtaza filed a notice of appeal. II. There are four issues in this appeal: First, whether we have jurisdiction over the district court’s summary judgment order. Second,

2 Case: 19-20280 Document: 00515772339 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/09/2021

whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment to the Government on Mtaza’s Rule 41(g) motion. Third, whether the district court ought to have granted Mtaza leave to amend his complaint to add a Bivens claim. And fourth, whether it was an abuse of discretion for the district court to deny reconsideration. We consider each in turn. A. The Government argues that Mtaza untimely appealed the district court’s summary judgment order. Time-to-appeal limitations are jurisdictional, see Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007), so we first assure ourselves that Mtaza was timely. He was. 1. We start with the relevant rules. In civil cases where the United States is a party, a litigant must notice his appeal “within 60 days after entry of judgment.” Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(B); accord 28 U.S.C. § 2107(b). Generally, that clock begins to run when the court enters its judgment in the docket and the earlier of two events occurs: (A) the judgment is set forth in a separate document; or (B) 150 days pass. Fed. R. Civ. P. 58(c)(2). Where a party files a timely motion asking the court to reconsider its decision, the appeal clock doesn’t start until the court decides the motion. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(4)(A) (“If a party files in the district court [any of the enumerated motions]—and does so within the time allowed by those rules— the time to file an appeal runs for all parties from the entry of the order disposing of the last such remaining motion.”). Here, the district court granted summary judgment and dismissed Mtaza’s Rule 41(g) motion on October 18, 2018. The court never set forth its judgment in a separate document, so judgment was “entered” on March 18, 2019—150 days from the order’s entry in the docket. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 58(c)(2)(B) (the 150-day rule); Freudensprung v. Offshore Tech. Servs., Inc.,

3 Case: 19-20280 Document: 00515772339 Page: 4 Date Filed: 03/09/2021

379 F.3d 327, 336 (5th Cir. 2004) (“That the . . . order was final and otherwise appealable does not in itself excuse the district court from Rule 58’s separate document requirement.”). Mtaza filed a motion for reconsideration 14 days later on April 1, 2019. That motion was timely because Mtaza had 28 days from the entry of judgment to move under Rule 59(e). Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(b) (Rule 59 motion must be filed “no later than 28 days after the entry of judgment”); Demahy v. Schwartz Pharma Inc., 702 F.3d 177, 182 n.2 (5th Cir. 2012) (per curiam) (where filed within 28-day period, motion for reconsideration treated as Rule 59 motion to alter or amend judgment); cf. id. (where filed outside the 28-day period, motion for reconsideration treated as Rule 60(b) motion for relief from judgment). And because that filing was timely, it reset the limitation period for noticing an appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(4)(A)(iv) (time to appeal runs from resolution of properly filed Rule 59 motion). The district court denied the motion for reconsideration on April 8, 2019, thus starting the 60-day clock for noticing an appeal. Mtaza noticed his appeal eleven days later, on April 19, 2019—well within the allotted time. Because Mtaza’s notice of appeal was timely, we have jurisdiction to consider the merits of the district court’s grant of summary judgment. 2. In the dissent’s view, the district court’s order granting summary judgment was sufficiently “self-contained” and succinct to satisfy Rule 58’s separate-document requirement. Post, at 13–14 (Haynes, J., dissenting). Accordingly, the dissent argues, Mtaza’s notice of appeal was untimely and we may review only the district court’s denial of the motion for reconsideration.

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United States v. Mtaza, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mtaza-ca5-2021.