White Mountain Apache Tribe v. United States

5 Cl. Ct. 288, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1420
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMay 7, 1984
DocketNo. 22-H
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 5 Cl. Ct. 288 (White Mountain Apache Tribe v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White Mountain Apache Tribe v. United States, 5 Cl. Ct. 288, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1420 (cc 1984).

Opinion

[289]*289ORDER

NETTESHEIM, Judge.

The vital issue precipitating this order is whether a trial court has authority to enter orders binding on the parties. The problem of compliance with court orders is central to the effective administration of justice and has been brought into sharp focus by the repeated failure of plaintiff White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona (“plaintiff”) to comply with orders of the court.

FACTS

On November 7, 1983, the court entered an order, paragraphs 4 and 5 of which provided, pursuant to RUSCC 26(b)(3)(A) and Fed.R.Evid. 611(a), that expert testimony was to be presented by way of written reports and oral testimony and that plaintiff was to serve on January 30, 1984, its expert witness reports and exhibits relating to water resource and grazing land (range) mismanagement.

On January 12, 1984, over 60 days after entry of the November 7,1983 order, plaintiff filed its “Motion To Vacate on Jurisdictional Grounds Paragraphs 4 and 5 of the November 7, 1983 Order.” No motion was made on behalf of plaintiff pursuant to RUSCC 6(b) to extend the time limitations established by paragraph 5 of the November 7 order. Plaintiff thereafter did not comply with paragraph 5 by submitting the expert reports and exhibits that were ordered to be served on January 30,1984. In subsequent pleadings plaintiff took the position that the pendency of its motion to vacate relieved it from the obligation of complying with paragraph 5 of the November 7 order.

On February 7, 1984, the court issued a lengthy order denying plaintiff's motion. White Mountain Apache Tribe v. United States, 4 Cl.Ct. 575 (1984) (order denying motion to vacate) (further citation refers to this op.). Paragraphs 3 and 6 of the February 7 order directed plaintiff to serve on April 9, 1984, its expert witness reports and accompanying exhibits relating to water resource and grazing land (range) mismanagement and to file one copy of each expert report with the Clerk of the Court, accompanied by a Notice of Filing.

On April 6, 1984, plaintiff filed its “Motion by Plaintiff White Mountain Apache Tribe Supported by Affidavit of Ronnie Lupe, Chairman To Have Disqualified for Bias, Prejudice, and Lack of Impartiality Judge Christine Cook Nettesheim and Certificate of Good Faith of Counsel of Record.” This motion was amended on April 9, 1984, and supplemented by motion and affidavit filed on April 11, 1984. On April 30, 1984, both motions were denied.

Plaintiff did not serve the expert witness reports called for by paragraph 3 of the February 7, 1984 order on April 9, 1984, nor did plaintiff file such reports with the Clerk of the court, accompanied by a Notice of Filing, as required by paragraph 6 of that order. Once again, it appears the plaintiff viewed the pendency of a motion— this time its motion to disqualify — as suspending its obligations to comply with the provisions of the February 7 order.1

In summary, plaintiff was ordered on November 7, 1983, to file specified expert reports and accompanying exhibits over 80 days later on January 30, 1984. Plaintiff did not comply with that order. On February 7, 1984, plaintiff was ordered to make the same filing 60 days later on April 9, 1984. Plaintiff did not comply with that order. To this date, plaintiff has not made [290]*290the filings ordered by the court in its November 7, 1983 and February 7, 1984 orders.

DISCUSSION

Plaintiff has advanced its view in several pleadings that it did not comply with the court’s orders regarding submission of expert reports and accompanying exhibits because, according to plaintiff, the court lacked jurisdiction to order preparation and pretrial exchange of and trial based on expert written reports, as well as on oral testimony. But see White Mountain Apache Tribe, 4 Cl.Ct. at 581-84; Richey, A Modern Management Technique for Trial Courts To Improve the Quality of Justice: Requiring Direct Testimony To Be Submitted in Written Form Prior to Trial, 72 Geo.L.J. 73 (1983) (citing Fed.R.Evid. 611(a)). That plaintiff disagrees with this court’s rulings — a disagreement which is preserved for resolution on any appeal — however, does not affect plaintiff’s obligation to comply with the court’s orders.

The time limits set by order under RUSCC 6(a) can only be enlarged or shortened by order entered in the court’s discretion under RUSCC 6(b), which requires a showing of good cause with respect to a motion filed before an act is required to be done. See, e.g., In re Buckingham Super Markets, Inc., 534 F.2d 976, 977 (D.C.Cir.1976) (discretion to deny motion for extension of time); United States v. Fitch, 472 F.2d 548, 549 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 412 U.S. 954, 93 S.Ct. 3003, 37 L.Ed.2d 1007 (1973) (discretion to shorten time for hearing). See generally Whorton v. United States, 1 Cl.Ct. 41 (1982). See also Degenaars v. United States, 1 Cl.Ct. 129 (1983). As Chief Judge Kozinski advised in Whorton, when an adequate request for an enlargement is filed timely, the court will not be unreasonable. 1 Cl.Ct. at 43 & n. 3. In the case at bar, the court was not asked to exercise its discretion either to enlarge the time for compliance with its orders or to suspend the time limits set by those orders while considering plaintiff’s jurisdictional motion and later motion to disqualify.2 Thus, the consequences must be assessed for failures to comply with orders of court when a party has not sought and obtained relief from compliance.

Rules of the Claims Court

The problem of compliance with court orders must be examined in the context of several recent developments impacting this court. The Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982, 28 U.S.C. §§ 171-77 (1982), created the United States Claims Court, which came into existence on October 1, 1982. The Claims Court is empowered, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2503(b), to promulgate its own rules.

The rules of the United States Claims Court which also became effective on October 1, 1982, largely replicated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to the extent the Federal Rules complement this court’s jurisdiction. RUSCC 1(a)(2) provides: “These rules shall be construed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.” RUSCC 77.1(a) provides in pertinent part: “Case management is the responsibility of the judge to whom a case is assigned____ Each judge shall manage assigned cases so as to provide for the prompt dispatch of business____”

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure underwent significant amendment as of August 1, 1983. See 97 F.R.D. 165 (1983).

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5 Cl. Ct. 288, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-mountain-apache-tribe-v-united-states-cc-1984.