Summers v. Salt Lake County
Summers v. Salt Lake County
Opinion of the Court
This matter is before the court on plaintiff's Objection to a Report and Recommendation of the U.S. Magistrate. The court has reviewed the entire file in this matter as well as the Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate, and plaintiff’s Objections thereto, and has determined that oral argument would not be of material assistance and therefore will decide the matter on the basis of the record before the court.
This is an action brought by plaintiff under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the alleged denial of his rights to “access to the courts in a manner insuring privacy....”
On November 9, 1988, after a de novo review of the entire file, this court issued an Order adopting the U.S. Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation. The Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation provided:
If [an amended] complaint is filed within ten days of any order accepting this report and recommendation service of process should be allowed on defendant Dil-lenbeck.
Report and Recommendation of September 7, 1988, at 3. Manifestly, plaintiff Summers was made aware of the necessity to amend his complaint to name only defendant Dillenbeck within ten days of the entry of this court’s Order of November 9, 1988. Plaintiff Summers did not, and to date has not, filed such an amended complaint. Instead, plaintiff filed a pleading entitled “Motion to Vacate Judgment” on November 23, 1988.
Plaintiff Summers objected to the Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate. The objection takes exception to the Magistrate’s characterization of plaintiff’s motion as a motion under Rule 60(b). No other substantive objection has been made to the Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation.
ANALYSIS
Plaintiff’s Motion to Vacate was brought under Rule 59(e). The Magistrate concluded that because this court’s Order was entered on November 9, 1988, and plaintiff completed service of this motion by mail on November 21, 1988, the ten days provided for in Rule 59(e) had expired. Plaintiff objected to this characterization. In fact, it appears to the court that plaintiff had until November 23, 1988 to complete service under Rule 6(a), which excludes weekends in the computation of time periods of less than 11 days.
Motions to alter or amend the judgment are those which call into question the correctness of a judgment on some material point of fact or law, and may properly be cast in the form of a motion to reconsider, to vacate, to set aside, for reargument, or for rehearing. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. v. Continental Cas., 684 F.2d 691 (10th Cir. 1982). Although there is “no requirement that a motion need raise new issues, facts or law to fall within Rule 59,” Gilmore v. Salt Lake Community Action Program, 710 F.2d 632, 633 n. 3 (10th Cir. 1983), plaintiff’s Motion to Vacate simply realleges the facts and theories set forth in plaintiff’s Complaint.
As to defendant Dillenbeck, the Magistrate’s September 7, 1988 Report and Recommendation (which was adopted by this court’s November 9, 1988 Order) allowed plaintiff Summers ten days from the entry of the November 9 Order to amend his complaint to name only D. Dillenbeck as a defendant:
The plaintiff’s complaint is not in proper form for service and should be amended to name only D. Dillenbeck as defendant. If such a complaint is filed within ten days of any order accepting this report and recommendation service of process should be allowed on defendant Dillen-beck.
Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation of September 7,1988, at 3. However, rather than amending his complaint, plaintiff disregarded this court’s direction and filed a Motion to Vacate this court’s November 9, 1988 Order. Thus, in accordance with the terms of this court’s November 9, 1988 Order, service of plaintiff’s complaint will not be allowed on defendant D. Dillenbeck.
Based on plaintiff’s failure to comply with this court’s Order of November 9, 1988, and in light of plaintiff Summers’ dilatory methods (in this and other cases) and his propensity for filing spurious actions, plaintiff’s complaint is hereby dismissed as against all parties defendant.
Plaintiff Summers is directed to pay the Clerk of this court all costs associated with the filing of this action.
As further sanction, plaintiff Summers may file no further in forma pauperis actions in this court unless the judge to whom the case is assigned certifies that such action is in good faith or until plaintiff Summers has paid the costs taxed herein. See Lay, 837 F.2d at 232. Plaintiff Summers is also ORDERED to attach a copy of this Order to any future complaints filed in this District, and the Clerk of this Court is directed to refuse to file any complaint to which a copy of this Order is not attached.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
. Plaintiffs Complaint, at 2.
. Plaintiff also filed a pleading entitled “Motion for Judgment on Pleadings” on February 24, 1989, which basically asked for a ruling on plaintiffs Motion to Vacate Judgment.
. Report and Recommendation, at 4.
. See Plaintiffs Exception to Report and Recommendation, dated May 2,1989. In his objection, after a lengthy discussion about the Rule under which his motion should have been considered, plaintiff "move[d] this court to conduct a de novo adjudication of the matters contained in the instant case, and to specifically rule on the issues brought for adjudication in this Exception to the Report and Recommendation ..."Id. at 4-5.
. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1).
. For purposes of this analysis only, the court will assume that its Order of November 9 constituted "entry of judgment” for purposes of Rule 59(e).
. The only exception is “Point Five” in plaintiff’s "Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Vacate Judgment," which alleges improper training of defendant Dillenbeck by supervisory officials. However, as the magistrate points out, supervisory liability for failure to train exists only where the failure to train amounts to deliberate indifference to the rights of those with whom the trainees will be in contact. See City of Canton v. Harris, — U.S.-, 109 S.Ct. 1197, 1204-05, 103 L.Ed.2d 412 (1989). Plaintiff Summers has plead no facts which could give rise to such an inference of deliberate indifference on the part of the County defendants.
. All of plaintiff Summers’ available income and liquid assets are to be transferred by the appropriate prison officials to the Clerk of the Court until all costs are paid. See Lay v. Anderson, 837 F.2d 231, 233 n. 1 (5th Cir. 1988).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Steven V. SUMMERS v. SALT LAKE COUNTY
- Status
- Published