Acevedo-Garcia v. Vera-Monroig , 351 F.3d 547 ( 2003 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
Nos. 02-1139, 02-1340, 02-1465
LUIS A. ACEVEDO-GARCIA, et al.,
Plaintiffs, Appellees/Cross-Appellants,
v.
ROBERTO VERA MONROIG, Individually and as Mayor of Adjuntas;
MUNICIPALITY OF ADJUNTAS; IRMA M. GONZALEZ DELGADO, Individually
and as Personnel Director of Adjuntas,
Defendants, Appellants/Cross-Appellees.
APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Jaime Pieras, Jr., U.S. Senior District Judge]
Before
Boudin, Chief Judge,
Bownes,* Senior Circuit Judge,
and Lipez, Circuit Judge.
ORDER OF COURT
December 5, 2003
*
Senior Judge Hugh H. Bownes participated in the original
hearing and disposition of the this case but retired on September
1, 2003, prior to the filing of the petition for rehearing, and
passed away on November 5, 2003. The remaining members of the
panel comprise a quorum for the issuance of this order. See 28
U.S.C. § 46(d).
On September 9, 2003 the defendant-appellants filed a Petition
for Rehearing in their individual capacity and a Petition for
Rehearing and/or Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc in their official
capacity. As is explained herein, we grant the petition for a
panel rehearing, which moots the suggestion for rehearing en banc.
In our opinion of August 21, we stated that our review of the
legal issues in the case was handicapped by the defendants' failure
to produce transcripts of the defense portion of the trial.
Specifically, we were unable to review fully the challenged
evidentiary rulings, claims of inappropriate participation of the
trial court, and the sufficiency of the evidence challenge.
In their petition for rehearing, defendants explained that
they ordered the transcripts from the court reporter, paid for the
transcripts, and later received a full set of transcripts.
Furthermore, both parties referred to the full set of transcripts
in their briefs. Upon further investigation, we determined that
the transcripts were never properly filed with us through a
combination of miscues by the defendants, the court reporter, and
the circuit court clerk's office. Without assigning responsibility
to any one party for the absence of the transcripts, we decided
that we would review the now available transcripts in deciding the
issues to which they relate.
Having done so, we find nothing in the full record that
requires us to alter the ruling in our opinion filed on August 21.
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By this order, we grant the petition for rehearing, withdraw our
opinion filed August 21, and file a revised opinion.
By the Court,
______________________________
Richard Cushing Donovan, Clerk
[Certified Copies to Hon. Jamie Pieras and Ms. Frances De Moran,
Clerk, U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico. Copies to: Mr. Mahony,
Ms. Templeton, Ms. Martinez-Fortier, Mr. Garay, Mr. Falto-Cruz,
Mr. Ortiz-Alvarez, Mr. Martinez-Luciano, Ms. Zabala-Galarza,
Mr. Rivera-Alvarez, Mr. Svonkin, Mr. Guzman, Mr. Villares-
Sarmiento, Mr. Roldan-Gonzalez, Mr. Pagan-Rivera, and Mr.
Emmanuelli-Huertas.]
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