Marwood v. Elizabeth Forward School District
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I agree with the jurisdictional framework applied by the majority, but I would resolve the question of our appellate jurisdiction differently. Finding jurisdiction, I would reach the merits and vacate the District Court’s order. I view the “clarification order” at issue not as mere interpretation but as a substantive modification of the earlier settlement order, and thus locate our appellate jurisdiction in 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). Because the District
On the question whether the clarification order was a modification, I agree with the majority’s analysis with respect to the scope of the in-classroom Learnball ban. But the clarification order also addresses out-of-classroom activities, and it is here that we part company. The majority fails to reconcile ¶ D of the settlement order with ¶ 3 of the clarification order. Paragraph D reads:
The Elizabeth Forward School District will permit Marwood to lead a nonschool sponsored Learnball League Club. It will be made clear the Elizabeth Forward School District is not a club sponsor. The Learnball League club will operate pursuant to the same guidelines, as from time to time adopted, as other nonschool sponsored groups that have permission to use school facilities during after-school hours. The Learnball League Club has permission to post informational circulars on school bulletin boards and to distribute such circulars to students and others in the same manner as other nonprofit, nonschool sponsored groups. The parties acknowledge the major purpose of the after-school Learnball Club is to hold a Learnball tournament.
In contrast, ¶ 3 reads:
[T]he use of the Learnball program by Plaintiff is limited to the extracurricular activity described in Paragraph “D” of the Settlement Order.
The modification I see is that H D, which in the settlement order set out a nonexclusive description of Harwood’s right to engage in Learnball-related extracurricular activity, is transmogrified by ¶ 3 of the clarification order into an extracurricular right that is exclusive. Indeed, the literal terms of ¶ 3 so constrict Harwood’s opportunities to use Learnball outside the classroom that one wonders if it is even consistent with the First Amendment, let alone fairly within the scope of the earlier settlement order. Does ¶ 3 mean that Harwood may not demonstrate Learnball in a private seminar on the weekends, or that she may not use it when teaching summer school in another school district?
The result is that since the clarification order is actually a modification of the settlement order, and so we have jurisdiction under § 1292(a)(1). Horeover, if the clarification order is a modification under the injunction-related provision of § 1292(a)(1), then it follows that it is also a modification for the purposes of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Accordingly, I would look to Fed.R.Civ.P. 65 to supply the requirements for entering the order. Rule 65(d) provides that “[e]very order granting an injunction ... shall set forth the reasons for its issuance.” This would appear to apply with equal force to orders modifying injunctions and consent decrees. The bare order entered by the District Court does not explain the reasons for the modification worked by ¶ 3, and hence does not comply with Rule 65. Thus I would vacate the clarification order and remand to the District Court to reconsider the clarification order and explain the reasons behind the modification.
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT
I.
As we write for the parties only, we do not extensively set out the background of this case. Lindy Marwood is a teacher in the Elizabeth Forward School District (hereinafter “EFSD”). Marwood is a proponent of “Learnball,” a classroom motivational system. As described by Marwood, Learnball consists of a package of techniques, some of which, such as dividing students into teams, are not uncommon even in classrooms where Learnball is not used. In April 1992, EFSD banned the use of Learnball in the classroom, and Marwood brought suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. After the inception of the lawsuit, EFSD promulgated a new set of rules entitled, “Classroom Management Techniques,” which more specifically codified EFSD’s prohibitions on Learnball. The first Marwood case was terminated when Marwood and EFSD entered into a settlement agreement (hereinafter “the Settlement Agreement”) in 1996. The Settlement Agreement, which was set out in the District Court’s Settlement Order, among other things, eliminated all mention of Learnball in the Classroom Management Techniques,
II.
A.
Before reaching the question of appellate jurisdiction, however, we first consider another jurisdictional question. Marwood argues that the District Court did not retain jurisdiction over the enforcement of the Settlement Order. This argument fails. Though we have stated that the “phrase ‘pursuant to the terms of the Settlement’ in the dismissal order [is] insufficient to incorporate the terms of the settlement agreement and therefore [does] not confer subject matter jurisdiction over settlement enforcement,” Shaffer v. GTE North, Inc., 284 F.3d 500, 503 (3d Cir. 2002), we have also held that a District Court retainech jurisdiction where the District Court incorporated a settlement agreement into its final order. See Halderman v. Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp., 901 F.2d 311, 317 (3d Cir. 1990) (stating that where the District Court not only approved but incorporated the final settlement agreement into its order that it had “retained jurisdiction over the case sub judice”). Here, the Settlement Order clearly incorporated the Settlement Agreement by specifically and explicitly setting out the terms of the agreement within the order itself. Therefore, under our case law, the District Court clearly retained jurisdiction over the continued enforcement and interpretation of the Settlement Order. The fact that the District Court retained jurisdiction over the continued enforcement of the Settlement Order also suffices to answer Marwood’s claim that there was no ripe case or controversy over which the District Court could exercise jurisdiction. See Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, 511 U.S. 375, 381, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994) (stating that ancillary jurisdiction to enforce an agreement would exist where the parties have an obligation to comply with the settlement order because the “terms of the settlement agreement” were incorporated into the order).
B.
Turning to the issue of appellate jurisdiction, we hold that the District Court merely interpreted the Settlement Order. A settlement order is to be “construed consistently with fundamental precepts of contract construction.” Washington Hospital v. White, 889 F.2d 1294, 1300
Applying these principles to the Settlement Order, it is clear that the Order is not ambiguous and that Harwood has not provided the Court with a reading that is reasonable. If the Settlement Order had been intended to rescind the entire Learn-ball ban and to allow the use of the technique in the classroom, one would think that it would say so, but it clearly does not. Rather, the Settlement Order merely removes a reference to Learnball in the text,
III.
We have reviewed all of Harwood’s arguments, but we conclude that the appeal must be dismissed.
. The original Classroom Management Techniques made only one mention of Learnball in a provision prohibiting advertisement for "Learnball Superbowl Activities.” App. at 40a.
. It is important to note that this reference was merely to solicitation on behalf of the Learnball tournament.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Lindy MARWOOD, v. ELIZABETH FORWARD SCHOOL DISTRICT; Donna Shultz, Director of the Elementary Education of the Elizabeth Forward School District; Herbert Morgan, Superintendent of the Elizabeth Forward School District (Western District of PA, D.C. 92-Cv-01089); Lindy Marwood, v. Herbert Morgan, Individually and in His Capacity as Superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District; Elizabeth Forward School District (Western District of PA, D.C. 93-Cv-02041) Lindy Marwood, Appellant
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Unpublished