Cade Roney v. Indianapolis Power & Light Co.
Cade Roney v. Indianapolis Power & Light Co.
Opinion of the Court
ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT
This cause is before the Court on Plaintiff Beverly Cade Roney’s Motion for Relief Judgment and Order and Request to Amend Complaint [Docket No. 40] pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), filed on September 25, 2015. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is DENIED.
Factual and Procedural Background
Roney worked for Defendant Indianapolis Power and Light Company (“IPL”) until October 12, 2012, when her employment was terminated. She concedes that her termination was classified as a retirement, but she has alleged that IPL forced her to retire due to favoritism and racial discrimination. During the relevant period of Roney’s employment, there was a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) between IPL and co-defendant, Local Union 1395 of the Interna
Twenty months thereafter, on October 8, 2014, Roney brought an action in this Court against IPL and the Union pursuant to Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act “(LMRA”), alleging that IPL breached the CBA by unlawfully terminating her and was liable for breach of contract, wrongful discharge, and constructive discharge [Docket No. 1 (Complaint) ]. In her complaint, she also alleged that the Union breached its duty of fam representation in the manner in which it had handled her grievances [id].
On December 4, 2014, the Union filed a Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim under Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(b)(6) [Docket No. 16]. IPL filed a separate Motion to Dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(c) on December 31, 2014, seeking judgment on the pleadings based on the allegations and the referenced documents in the Complaint central to Roney’s claims [Docket No. 19].
Roney’s response to the Union’s and to IPL’s separate motions to dismiss were due on December 22, 2014, and January 2, 2016, respectively. She did not file a response on the earlier date and, on December 31, 2015, requested an extension of time until March 1, 2015, to respond to Defendants’ motions. As of March 1, 2015, the Court had not yet ruled on Roney’s motion but she did not file a response by that date. On March 4, 2015, IPL filed a Motion for Summary Ruling, citing the fact that Roney did not responded to its request for dismissal [Docket No. 26], That same day, Roney sought another extension of time until April 15, 2015, to respond, stating that her counsel did not file a response because the extension motion had not been adjudicated. But Roney, through counsel, again did not respond by April 15, 2015. Finally, on August 31, 2015, we ordered Roney to file a response “forthwith” (this word was chosen in lieu of setting a specific date, given the history of the litigation). Following her counsel’s request for another, short extension to respond to Defendants’ motions to dismiss, on September 3, 2015, we ordered Roney to file a response immediately. The next day, Roney filed only a partial response — characterized as such because three days later, she filed a declaration in support of her response which, apparently, was intended to complete her response. This prompted Defendants to file a joint motion to strike Roney’s response as non-compliant with the Court’s September 3rd order [Docket No. 35].
On September 21, 2015 [Docket No. 38], we issued a ruling on the pending motions. Noting that “we certainly [did] not condone Plaintiffs counsel’s dilatoriness and lack of diligence in representing this client,” we nonetheless considered Roney’s response in ruling on Defendants’ motions [Docket No. 38, fn 1], We denied Defendant IPL’s Motion for Summary Ruling [Docket No. 26] and Defendants’ Joint Motion to Strike Roney’s Declaration and Response [Docket No. 35], but granted Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss Roney’s Complaint [Docket Nos. 16 and 19] with prejudice. In so ruling, we held that Roney’s claims relating to her discharge were filed long after the applicable six-month statute of limitations had expired [Docket
Alternatively, we held that, even assuming that Roney had filed her Complaint within the six-month statute of limitations period applicable to hybrid § 301 claims, she failed to address the IPL’s and the Union’s arguments regarding her breach of the fair duty of representation; accordingly, this claim— and her hybrid section 301 in its entirely— necessarily failed [Docket No. 38 at pp. 10-11]. More specifically, Roney did not address Defendants’ arguments that her Complaint failed to properly allege that the Union’s actions in handling her grievances were “arbitrary, discriminatory, or taken in bad faith,” Truhlar v. U.S. Postal Serv., 600 F.3d 888, 892 (7th Cir. 2010), an element necessary to state a claim for breach of the duty of fair representation [Docket No. 38 at pp. 10-11] (citing, inter alia, Goodpaster v. City of Indianapolis, 736 F.3d 1060, 1075 (7th Cir. 2013)).
Similarly, and finally, we held that, by failing to respond in any fashion to IPL’s argument that Roney’s state law claims, including breach of contract, wrongful discharge, and constructive discharge, must be dismissed because they are all preempted by federal law, she had waived these state law claims [Docket No. 38 at p. 12] (citing, e.g., Goodpaster, 736 F.3d at 1075). Accordingly, final judgment issued, from which Roney apparently elected to appeal. Instead, as discussed below, Roney seeks post-judgment relief through this litigation.
Roney’s Request for Post-Judgment Relief
On September 25, 2015, four days following the issuance of the final judgment in this case, Roney, through counsel, filed a Motion for Relief from Judgment and Order and Request to Amend Complaint [Docket No. 40], which is the subject of this order.
The Union opposes this request [Docket No. 43]. Requesting to join in the Union’s response, IPL has filed its own opposition, adopting the arguments set forth in the Union’s response [Docket No. 44],
Analysis
I. Legal Framework and Standard of Review
Rule 60(b) provides, in pertinent part: that “the court may relieve a party.. .from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic, or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment.
Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 60(b). Relief under Rule 60(b) “is an extraordinary remedy.” Harrington v. City of Chi, 433 F.3d 542, 546 (7th Cir. 2006) (internal citation omitted). Motions under Rule 60(b) must be based on at least one of the grounds for relief set forth in the Rule’s subsections. See United States v. Deutsch, 981 F.2d 299, 301 (7th Cir. 1992). No such reference to any specific grounds has been provided by Plaintiff Roney.
In addition to a particular ground for relief under Rule 60(b), a movant must demonstrate a meritorious claim or defense. See Breuer Electric Mfg. Co. Toronado Systems of America, Inc., 687 F.2d 182, 185 (7th Cir. 1982). This is so because Courts considering motions for relief from judgment must be cognizant of the necessity of balancing the judicial system’s interest in reaching substantively correct results against its interest in upholding the validity and finality of judgments. See Dickman v. Kramer, 980 F.2d 733 (7th Cir. 1992).
“The decision to grant relief under Rule 60(b) is left to the sound discretion of the trial court ..,” C.K.S. Engineers, Inc. v. White Mountain Gypsum Co., 726 F.2d 1202, 1204-1205 (7th Cir. 1984); Talano v. Northwestern Med. Faculty Found., Inc, 273 F.3d 757, 762 (7th Cir. 2001). A decision “constitutes an abuse of discretion when it is not just clearly incorrect but downright unreasonable.” Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. Flanders Elec. Motor Serv, Inc., 131 F.3d 625, 630 (7th Cir. 1997).
II. Discussion
As Defendants observe, Roney does not clearly situate her claim for relief under any of the available grounds [Docket No. 43 at pp. 2-7 and Docket No. 44 at pp. 2-8]. We need not go to great lengths in an attempt to glean an intended ground for relief; as the Seventh Circuit points out, the district court should not “agoniz[e] over whether a motion asserts grounds for relief included in Rule 60(b); it is the movant’s task to make its contentions clear.” Deutsch, 981 F.2d at 302. Accordingly, Roney’s rule 60(b) motion clearly fails on this basis alone. See Talano, 273 F.3d at 762 (holding that the district court does not abuse its discretion by denying a Rule 60(b) motion that is not based on one of the specified grounds for relief).
Despite the absence of any specified ground for relief, Roney’s motion appears to advance two arguments: first, counsel suggests that his failure to file a response to Defendant IPL’s Motion for Summary Ruling [Docket No. 26] and Defendants’ Joint Motion to Strike Roney’s Declaration and Response [Docket No. 35] was the result of his excusable neglect; and second, the motion appears to suggest that the Court committed errors of law in dismissing Roney’s hybrid
To the extent Roney’s request for relief is based on her counsel’s claims that in 2015 his medical problems prevented him from filing certain responses in a timely manner, and that this issue impacted the ultimate resolution of Roney’s case, this assertion is factually incorrect.
To the extent Roney is relying on other arguments, such as the one asserted as a possibility by the Union — that counsel’s 2015 illness prevented the amendment of Roney’s complaint to include the allegations later made in her declaration [see Docket No. 43 at p. 4] — nowhere is this clearly articulated or otherwise asserted in her request for post-judgment relief. Thus, we discuss no further this aspect of Roney’s motion.
Defendants observe that Roney’s post-judgment request does not appear to invoke subsections (2) through (5) of Rule 60(b), which address newly discovered evidence, misconduct of an opposing party, or void, satisfied, or released judgments [Docket No. 43 at p. 5; Docket No. 44 at pp. 2-6]. We agree and therefore will limit our analysis to Roney’s potential remaining arguments under the “catch-all” provision of Rule 60(b)(6).
“To balance the availability of post-judgment relief with finality interests, the availability of Rule 60(b) relief is limited in several ways.” Mendez v. Republic Bank, 725 F.3d 651, 657-660 (7th Cir. 2013). Thus, a Rule 60(b) motion may be used to correct any error that might also be corrected on direct appeal only where a party is not attempting to use a post-judgment relief motion to circumvent the time limit for filing a direct appeal of an underlying judgment. Id. at 657-660 (affirming the district court’s grant of a 60(b) motion where the judge realized her judgment was erroneous and invited the losing party to seek post-judgment relief; that party had already sought appeal). Here, Roney filed her Rule 60(b) motion four days after the judgment had issued but ultimately forfeited her opportunity to appeal.
As a final matter, Roney’s request to amend her complaint at this juncture is either too late or too early, but in any case untimely. Absent certain limitations, a plaintiff may amend her complaint once as a matter of right, or with leave of the court. Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 15(a). Defendant IPL points out that after a final judgment is issued in a case, as it was here, the plaintiff loses the right to amend an original complaint, and the plaintiff must appeal the dismissal or request that the case be reopened to seek the ability to amend the complaint. See Camp v. Gregory, 67 F.3d 1286, 1289 (7th Cir. 1995). Because Roney’s arguments are inadequate to set aside our September 21, 2015, judgment, the request to amend the complaint also must be denied.
III. Conclusion
Plaintiff Roney has failed to demonstrate any entitlement to relief under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). Accordingly, her motion to set aside our September 21, 2015, judgment and request to amend her complaint are DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
. At the outset, we addressed on procedural grounds the documents that Roney submitted for tire first time of our ruling in conjunction with her response in opposition to Defendants’ motions, to wit: a November 24, 2014 letter from the Union informing Roney that IPL had denied her pre-discharge grievances at the third step of the grievance process; a December 3, 2014 letter from the Union stating that the Union would not pursue her pre-discharge grievances to arbitration; and a September 7, 2015 declaration by Roney addressing the November and December 2014 correspondence [Docket No. 38 at pp. 6-7]. Because Roney never sought to amend her complaint during the nine months after she received these communications from the Union and because all of these filings post-date her October 8, 2014 complaint (and are therefore neither discussed in nor attached to her complaint), we ruled that they could not properly be considered in connection with her motion to dismiss [Docket No. 38 at p. 7 (citing Albany Bank & Trust Co. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 310 F.3d 969, 971 (7th Cir. 2002))].
. None of the parties regard this motion as having been made pursuant to Rule 59(e).
. And, in any event "[a] lawyer who inexcusably neglects his client’s obligations does not present exceptional circumstances." Choice Hotels Intern., Inc. v. Grover, 792 F.3d 753, 754 (7th Cir. 2015).
. As set forth supra at p. 4, fn 1, we note that we did not consider documents filed outside tire pleadings, including Roney's belatedly filed declaration, because such documents are not properly to be considered on a motion to dismiss.
. A post-judgment motion under Rule 59(e), but not a motion made under 60(b), tolls the time for filing a Notice of Appeal from an underlying judgment
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Beverly A. CADE RONEY v. INDIANAPOLIS POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY, Local Union 1395 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published