United States v. Philip Martin Sadler

480 F.3d 932, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 4655, 2007 WL 610976
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 1, 2007
Docket06-10234
StatusPublished
Cited by137 cases

This text of 480 F.3d 932 (United States v. Philip Martin Sadler) 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
United States v. Philip Martin Sadler, 480 F.3d 932, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 4655, 2007 WL 610976 (9th Cir. 2007).

Opinions

BERZON, Circuit Judge:

The question we address concerns the application of two recent Supreme Court cases, Eberhart v. United States, 546 U.S. 12, 126 S.Ct. 403, 163 L.Ed.2d 14 (2005) (per curiam), and Kontrick v. Ryan, 540 U.S. 443, 124 S.Ct. 906, 157 L.Ed.2d 867 (2004), to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure (“FRAP”) 4(b). We have long assumed that FRAP 4 is, in general, “mandatory and jurisdictional,” and therefore not forfeitable1 or waivable. Kontrick and [934]*934Eberhart, however, clarified that procedural rules formerly referred to as “mandatory and jurisdictional” may be, instead, simply “inflexible claim-processing rule[s],” mandatory if invoked by a party but forfei-table if not invoked. See Eberhart, 126 S.Ct. at 403, 407; Kontrick, 540 U.S. at 456, 124 S.Ct. 906. Looking closely at Kontrick and Eberhart to determine the proper boundary between the two varieties of procedural standards, we conclude that Rule 4(b) is not jurisdictional, but, instead, is forfeited if not invoked. Here, however, the defendant’s arguments to the contrary notwithstanding, the government properly objected to the untimeliness of the appeal. Accordingly, we dismiss.

BACKGROUND

On August 10, 2005, a jury found Philip Martin Sadler guilty of one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for private financial gain, in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(i), 1324(a)(l)(A)(ii), and 1324(a)(l)(B)(i); and two counts of transporting illegal aliens for private financial gain and placing in jeopardy the life of an alien, in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324(a) (1) (A) (ii) and 1324(a)(l)(B)(i). The district court entered judgment against Sadler on December 5, 2005.

On December 1, 2005, Sadler’s trial attorney filed a motion to withdraw as his attorney, indicating in the motion that he had already filed a notice of appeal on behalf of Sadler. The trial court granted the motion on December 16, 2005 and appointed replacement counsel to “represent the Defendant in all further proceeding^], including but not limited to the appeal now pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Sometime thereafter, Sadler’s replacement counsel discovered that Sadler’s trial attorney had never actually filed the notice of appeal. On March 1, 2006, Sadler’s new counsel filed with the district court a motion entitled “Motion to Accept Delayed Notice of Appeal,” as well as a notice of appeal based on an insufficiency of the evidence claim. The district court granted Sadler’s motion “[t]o the extent [the district court] has the ability to do so.”

On May 16, 2006, the Appellate Commissioner of this Court issued an order indicating that Sadler’s notice of appeal was not timely filed under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b) and ordering the parties to brief whether we have jurisdiction to hear the appeal in light of EberhaH. We consider that question next.

DISCUSSION

A. Determining What is “Jurisdictional” after Kontrick and Eberhart

With respect to the timing for filing a notice of appeal, FRAP 4 provides, in relevant part:

Rule 4. Appeal as of Right — When Taken
(a) Appeal in a Civil Case.
(1) Time for Filing a Notice of Appeal.
(A) In a civil case, except as provided in Rules 4(a)(1)(B), 4(a)(4), and 4(c), the notice of appeal required by Rule 3 must be filed with the district clerk within 30 [935]*935days after the judgment or order appealed from is entered.
(b) Appeal in a Criminal Case.
(1) Time for Filing a Notice of Appeal.
(A) In a criminal case, a defendant’s notice of appeal must be filed in the district court within 10 days after the later of:
(i) the entry of either the judgment or the order being appealed; or
(ii) the filing of the government’s notice of appeal....

Fed. R.App. P. 4. Until recently, our case-law was clear that compliance with the provisions of Rule 4 regarding the time for filing a notice of appeal was both mandatory and jurisdictional. See, e.g., United States v. Arevalo, 408 F.3d 1233, 1236 (9th Cir.2005) (describing Rule 4(b)’s time requirement as “mandatory and jurisdictional”); George v. Camacho, 119 F.3d 1393, 1396 (9th Cir.1997) (en banc) (“It is a well-settled principle that this court cannot hear an appeal that was not timely filed, as we have no jurisdiction to do so.”); Smith v. United States, 425 F.2d 173, 174 (9th Cir.1970) (“[I]t is settled that compliance [with Rule 4(b)’s timing requirements] is both mandatory and jurisdictional.”); see also 15A CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT ET AL., FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 3901 (2d ed. 1992) (“The rule is well settled that failure to file a timely notice of appeal defeats the jurisdiction of a court of appeals.”). The Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Kontrick and Eberhart, however, have called that longstanding assumption into question.

In Kontrick, 540 U.S. at 454, 124 S.Ct. 906, the Supreme Court expressed displeasure with the too-prevalent practice of applying the label “jurisdictional” loosely. Specifically, the Court explained that courts have tended to “classify[ ] time prescriptions ... under the heading ‘subject matter jurisdiction,’ ” a practice which “can be confounding.” Id. at 455, 124 S.Ct. 906 (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). Admitting culpability for being “less than meticulous in this regard” itself, the Court went on to declare that

[c]larity would be facilitated if courts and litigants used the label “jurisdictional” not for claim-processing rules, but only for prescriptions delineating the classes of cases (subject-matter jurisdiction) and the persons (personal jurisdiction) falling within a court’s adjudicatory authority.

Id.

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Bluebook (online)
480 F.3d 932, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 4655, 2007 WL 610976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-philip-martin-sadler-ca9-2007.