Pinson v. U.S. Department of Justice ( 2017 )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
JEREMY PINSON :
:
Plaintiff, :
: Civil Action No.: 12-1872 (RC)
v. :
: Re Document No.: 316
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, et al., :
:
Defendants. :
MEMORANDUM OPINION
DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO VACATE ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
Pro se Plaintiff Jeremy Pinson has filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”),
5 U.S.C. § 552, requests with different departments within of the U.S. Department of Justice
(“DOJ”). On August 10, 2016, this Court granted in part the DOJ’s motion for partial summary
judgment on multiple FOIA requests directed at the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). The Court
entered judgment for the DOJ after Pinson failed to respond to the motion, despite having
received a 60-day extension and a sua sponte order warning her1 that failure to respond could
result in judgment against her.
Pinson argues that she failed to respond because she did not receive the motion after she
was transferred to Allenwood USP, a federal prison in Pennsylvania. She accordingly moves to
vacate judgment under Rules 59 and 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The DOJ
opposes the motion, arguing that Pinson was given adequate time to respond and that Pinson has
1
Pinson identifies using feminine pronouns. The government and this Court follow suit.
See Defs’ Mot. Dismiss or, Alt., Renewed Mot. Summ. J. at 2 n.1, ECF No. 287. The Court’s use
of feminine pronouns is not intended to reflect any substantive or legal characterization.
not explained why she did not notice the missing document for several months after not
receiving it at the new facility. Although both parties treat this motion as one under Rules 59 and
60, it is actually most appropriately treated as a motion for reconsideration under Federal Rule of
Civil Procedure 54. Because Pinson has not sufficiently established that she is entitled to relief
under Rule 54, the Court denies her motion for reconsideration.
II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
This Court has already explained the factual background in detail in its prior
Memorandum Opinion. See Pinson, 2016 WL 29245, at *1–5, ECF No. 259 at 3–12. The Court
assumes familiarity with its prior opinion and confines its discussion to the facts most relevant to
the present motion.
Pinson filed this case in 2012, claiming that the DOJ had unlawfully failed to comply
with many of her FOIA requests. Compl., ECF No. 1. In early February 2016, after several
motions, responses, and orders arising from the complaint and after the DOJ fulfilled many of
the requests, the DOJ filed a second motion for partial summary judgment on the remaining
FOIA requests related to the BOP. See Def’s Second Mot. Summ. J. Respect BOP (Mot. Summ.
J.), ECF No. 265. Two days later, this Court ordered Pinson to respond to the motion for partial
summary judgment in accordance with the Fox/Neal rule, which instructs the Court to “take
pains to advise a pro se party of the consequences of the failure to respond to a dispositive
motion.” See Fox/Neal Order at 1, ECF No. 266. The Fox/Neal order stated that Pinson must
respond by March 7, 2016. Fox/Neal Order at 1. On March 7, 2016, Pinson filed a motion to
extend the deadline by 60 additional days, Mot. Enlargement Time All Deadlines (“Mot. Enlgmt.
Time”), ECF at 270, which the Court granted, making the new deadline for Pinson to respond
May 18, 2016. Order Granting Pl’s Mot. Enlgmt. Time, ECF No. 272.
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In “mid-March” 2016, the Bureau of Prisons transferred Pinson from a facility in
Florence, Colorado to one in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. See Pl’s Mot. Vacate Order (“Pl.’s
Mot.”) ¶ 2, ECF No. 316; Notice of Change of Address, ECF No. 273. Pinson contends that the
prison staff packed her documents and shipped them to the new facility, but that the paperwork
associated with the DOJ’s motion for partial summary judgment was not delivered to her at the
new facility. Pl.’s Mot. ¶ 3.
Pinson did not respond to the DOJ’s motion for partial summary judgment by May 18,
2016, and “admits [that] she overlooked the fact that a dispositive motion was missing.” Pl.’s
Mot. ¶ 4. As a result, nearly a month after the extended deadline, the Court granted in part the
DOJ’s motion for partial summary judgment, finding that Pinson’s failure to respond meant that
she effectively “conceded the DOJ’s undisputed facts.” Mem. Op. Granting in Part Def’s 2d Mot.
Partial Summ. J. (“Mem. Granting Summ. J.”), ECF No. 309. On August 26, 2016, Pinson filed
the instant motion to vacate the August 10 order. Pl’s Mot. She claims that if she had received
the BOP’s motion after her transfer, she would have responded to it in time. Pl.’s Mot. ¶ 5. The
DOJ opposes vacatur of the order, claiming that the DOJ has been more than generous with
Pinson’s previous extension requests, and that she had sufficient time to respond to the
dispositive motion—filed on February 3, 2016—even before moving to the new facility in mid-
March. Defs.’ Opp’n Pl.’s Mot. Vacate Order (“Defs.’ Opp’n”), ECF No. 324. The DOJ also
notes that Pinson did not “raise [the] alleged fact” that she did not receive the documents until
late August, months after the transfer. Def’s Opp’n at 3.
III. ANALYSIS
In her motion to vacate, Pinson asks the Court to reconsider its grant of partial summary
judgment under Rules 59 and 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Pl.’s Mot. at 1. Pinson
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does not specify which section of either rule applies to her motion. Defendant responds to the
motion as if it were brought under the rules she cites. See generally Defs.’ Opp’n. However,
neither Rule 59 nor 60 are applicable to this motion, because Pinson is not seeking
reconsideration of a final judgment. See City of Dover v. EPA, 40 F. Supp. 3d 1, 4 (D.D.C.
2013); Alaska v. FERC, 980 F.2d 761, 764 (D.C. Cir. 1992) (“[G]rants of partial summary
judgment are generally considered interlocutory orders . . . .”). Instead, she asks the Court to
reconsider an interlocutory order, which is governed by Rule 54(b). See Lemmons v. Georgetown
Univ. Hosp., 241 F.R.D. 15, 21 (D.D.C. 2007). Because the standards are similar and the Court
construes pro se parties’ pleadings liberally, the Court construes Pinson’s motion as one for
reconsideration under Rule 54(b). As described below, the Court denies Pinson’s petition
because it does not state sufficient grounds to justify relief.
A. Legal Standard
Motions for reconsideration of interlocutory orders are “within the discretion of the trial
court.” See Lemmons, 241 F.R.D. at 21 (quoting Lewis v. United States, 290 F. Supp. 2d 1, 3
(D.D.C.2003)). The Court may enter reconsideration “as justice requires.” Id. (quoting Judicial
Watch v. Dep’t of Army, 466 F. Supp. 2d 112, 123 (D.D.C. 2006)). Although this standard is not
expressly stated, a trial court has more discretion in applying Rule 54(b) than it does under Rules
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59(e)2 or 60(b).3 Cobell v. Norton, 224 F.R.D. 266, 272 (D.D.C. 2004). “Justice may require
revision when the Court has ‘patently misunderstood a party, has made a decision outside the
adversarial issues presented to the Court by the parties, has made an error not of reasoning but of
apprehension, or where a controlling or significant change in the law or facts has occurred since
the submission of the issue to the Court.’” Singh v. George Washington Univ., 383 F. Supp. 2d
99, 101 (D.D.C. 2005) (alteration omitted) (quoting Cobell, 224 F.R.D. at 272). Errors of
apprehension may include the consideration of incorrect or incomplete factual information. See
id.
It is certainly not enough for a party to represent that she “forgot” about a pending
motion, and thus received a judgment against her. See, e.g., Oladokun v. Corr. Treatment
Facility, 309 F.R.D. 94, 98 (D.D.C. 2015). “Parties have an obligation to monitor the court’s
docket and keep apprised of relevant deadlines.” Halmon v. Jones Lang Wootton USA, 355 F.
Supp. 2d 239, 244 (D.D.C. 2005). This principle extends to imprisoned pro se plaintiffs. See
Oladokun, 309 F.R.D. at 99.
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Rule 59(e) allows a court to alter its judgment within 28 days after it is entered, but such
a decision is “discretionary and need not be granted unless the district court finds that there is an
intervening change of controlling law, . . . new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or
prevent manifest injustice.” Firestone v. Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1208 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (per
curiam) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Motions under Rule 59(e) are ‘disfavored’ and the
moving party bears the burden of establishing ‘extraordinary circumstances’ warranting relief
from final judgment.” Schoenman v. FBI, 857 F. Supp. 2d 76, 80 (D.D.C. 2012) (quoting
Niedermeier v. Office of Baucus, 153 F. Supp. 2d 23, 28 (D.D.C. 2001)).
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Rule 60(b) allows a court to alter its judgment for reasons including “mistake,
inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect,” “newly discovered evidence that, with reasonable
diligence, could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b),” and
“fraud, . . . misrepresentation, or misconduct by an opposing party.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). As
with Rule 59, the burden is on the movant to show that relief is warranted. Oladokun v. Corr.
Treatment Facility, 309 F.R.D. 94, 95 (D.D.C. 2014).
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B. Pinson’s Motion
Framed in terms of Rule 54(b), Pinson asserts that the Court should reconsider its order
entering partial summary judgment because it did not have complete information—namely, her
justification for failing to respond. See Pl.’s Mot. ¶ 5. The DOJ argues that Pinson should have
noticed that the motion papers were missing and, in any case, has not asserted that she did not
receive the Court’s Fox/Neal order. Defs.’ Opp’n at 3. Notably, Pinson concedes that she
“overlooked the fact that a dispositive motion was missing” but argues that she would have
responded to the motion for partial summary judgment had she been given the paperwork after
her move. Pl.’s Mot. ¶¶ 4–5.
Pinson has not explained how non-delivery of the motion papers precluded her from
responding to the DOJ’s motion. Pinson has an obligation to monitor the dockets of the cases in
which she is a party. See Halmon, 355 F. Supp. 2d at 244; Oladokun, 309 F.R.D. at 99. She did
not do so. Pl.’s Mot. ¶ 4 (“[P]laintiff admits she overlooked the fact that a dispositive motion was
missing.”). And, as the DOJ emphasizes, Pinson contends only that that the motion was not
delivered to her at the new facility. Pl.’s Mot. ¶ 3. She does not allege that she never saw the
motion. To the contrary. Pinson had the motion in her possession and even took action on it by
requesting more time to respond. See generally Mot. Enlgmt. Time. Moreover, she does not
allege that other documents related to the DOJ’s motion were not delivered to her, including the
Fox/Neal order or the order granting an extension of time for her to respond to the motion. To
the extent Pinson needed the motion in her possession to effectively oppose it, non-delivery may
have been persuasive grounds for requesting another enlargement of time. However, it was not
an excuse for wholesale failure to respond. Although the multitude of cases and claims Pinson
pursues here and elsewhere undoubtedly make it hard for her to keep track of them all, it is
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solely her responsibility to do so. Her failure to maintain a system that enables her to keep track
of motions like the one at issue is not cause for reconsideration. Thus, even if the Court had
“complete” information, its decision would have been the same. Pinson has therefore not shown
that justice requires the Court to reconsider its interlocutory order.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s Motion to Vacate Order (ECF No. 316) is
DENIED. An order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion is separately and
contemporaneously issued.
Dated: March 27, 2017 RUDOLPH CONTRERAS
United States District Judge
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