Schmidt, Darwin v. Eggers, Michelle ( 2005 )


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  •                               UNPUBLISHED ORDER
    Not to be cited per Circuit Rule 53
    United States Court of Appeals
    For the Seventh Circuit
    Chicago, Illinois 60604
    Submitted November 10, 2005*
    Decided November 14, 2005
    Before
    Hon. MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge
    Hon. TERENCE T. EVANS, Circuit Judge
    Hon. DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge
    No. 05-1203
    DARWIN SCHMIDT,                         Appeal from the United States District
    Plaintiff-Appellant,                Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
    v.                                No. 03-C-482-S
    MICHELLE EGGERS,                        John C. Shabaz,
    Defendant-Appellee.                 Judge.
    ORDER
    After a Wisconsin court revoked his parole, Darwin Schmidt sued his parole
    officer under 
    42 U.S.C. § 1983
    , essentially claiming that she engineered the
    revocation to satisfy a personal vendetta. Schmidt lost at summary judgment, and
    after two timely but unsuccessful motions for reconsideration, he appealed to this
    court in January 2004. We dismissed that appeal after Schmidt failed to pay the
    required fees. In January 2005, nearly a year after our dismissal, Schmidt returned
    to the district court and filed a third “Motion for Reconsideration.” In that motion—
    which because of its timing was actually a motion to vacate the judgment under
    *
    After an examination of the briefs and the record, we have concluded that
    oral argument is unnecessary. Thus, the appeal is submitted on the briefs and the
    record. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
    No. 05-1203                                                                     Page 2
    Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b), see Talano v. Northwestern Med. Faculty Found., Inc., 
    273 F.3d 757
    , 762 (7th Cir. 2001)—Schmidt did nothing more than challenge the grant
    of summary judgment. The district court denied the motion, and Schmidt now
    appeals.
    The time to appeal the adverse ruling on summary judgment long ago
    expired, see Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), so the only question before us is whether the
    district court abused its discretion in denying Schmidt’s most recent “Motion for
    Reconsideration.” In that motion Schmidt attacks only the merits of the order
    granting summary judgment in favor of his parole officer, but that legal question
    should have been raised in the dismissed appeal and is not a proper ground for
    relief under Rule 60(b). See Gleash v. Yuswak, 
    308 F.3d 758
    , 761 (7th Cir. 2002).
    What Schmidt actually seeks is another chance at appeal, and we have said before
    that a motion under Rule 60(b) is not a substitute for a timely appeal. See Bell v.
    Eastman Kodak Co., 
    214 F.3d 798
    , 801 (7th Cir. 2000); Neuberg v. Michael Reese
    Hosp. Found., 
    123 F.3d 951
    , 955 (7th Cir. 1997); Donald v. Cook County Sheriff’s
    Dep’t, 
    95 F.3d 548
    , 554 (7th Cir. 1996).
    AFFIRMED.