Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-91-01177/USCOURTS-ca10-91-01177-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 

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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS F I L .8 D ls 

United Stat.es Coprt (!f Appea 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

MELVIN M. MARIN, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

v. 

COLORADO BOARD OF LAW EXAMINERS, 

Defendant-Appellee. 

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Tenth C1rcmt 

FEJ O ~ 1992 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

No. 91-1177 

(O.C. Civ. Action 91-N-85) 

(D. Colorado) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Before LOGAN, BARRETT and EBEL, Circuit Judges. 

Plaintiff Melvin M. Marin filed an action in the United 

States District Court for the District of Colorado seeking a 

declaratory judgment and an injunction against the Colorado Board 

of Law Examiners. The suit alleged that the waiver of rights form 

which the Board of Law Examiners required for continuing 

processing of his application for admission to the Colorado Bar 

violated plaintiff's constitutional rights. 

The district court scheduled a discovery and scheduling 

conference at which the plaintiff did not appear, plaintiff having 

previously indicated that he would be unable to attend the 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case, 

res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 91-1177 Document: 010110221631 Date Filed: 02/03/1992 Page: 1 
conference or do anything on the case until a month or two later. 

As a consequence the court ordered the case dismissed without 

prejudice to plaintiff's commencing another action when he was 

ready to proceed. 

Plaintiff thereafter moved to alter the judgment of the 

district court, see I R. tab 19, but later filed a notice of 

withdrawal of that motion, stating as a basis that "the cheapest 

route for the court and all parties appears to be proceeding on 

the new complaint which plaintiff sent forward some days ago." 

Id. tab 20 at 2. Plaintiff then filed a timely notice of appeal 

from the district court's judgment of dismissal. 

Contrary to the Board of Law Examiners' argument, a dismissal 

without prejudice of a legal action for want of prosecution is 

appealable. See Petty v. Manpower, Inc., 591 F.2d 615, 617 (10th 

Cir. 1979); Coffey v. Whirlpool Corp., 591 F.2d 618, 620 (10th 

Cir. 1979). 

Nevertheless, we hold that the appeal has been mooted because 

plaintiff indeed did start over again, filing a new complaint, as 

indicated in his notice of withdrawal of his motion to alter the 

district court's judgment. The district court order of May 6, 

1991, referenced the earlier dismissal as not precluding the 

plaintiff's filing a new action, and it states as follows: 

He has now filed such an action. Pursuant to this 

court's rules, that action has been referred to me to 

determine whether it is related to this case. See D. 

Colo. R. 200 A.2. The new case asserts claims identical 

to those asserted in this case--plus a few new ones. I 

have now entered scheduling orders and other orders in 

that case. Assuming that plaintiff follows those 

orders, the relief requested in that case would grant 

him everything he seeks in this case . 

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Appellate Case: 91-1177 Document: 010110221631 Date Filed: 02/03/1992 Page: 2 
Id. tab 23 at 1-2. We have been informed that that second action, 

Civ. Action No. 91-N-766, is ongoing, and indeed an appeal from 

actions taken by the district court therein has been docketed in 

this court as appeal No. 91-1338. Because the new action quite 

evidently presents the same claims as in the appeal before us, and 

there appears to be no statute of limitations or other problem 

that would preclude prosecution of that action, the instant appeal 

is DISMISSED as moot. 

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Entered for the Court 

James K. Logan 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 91-1177 Document: 010110221631 Date Filed: 02/03/1992 Page: 3