Opinion ID: 547610
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Procedure on Summary Judgment

Text: 21 The district court entered summary judgment against Bradley following a hearing on motions in limine rather than in the context of ruling on a motion for summary judgment. In fact, defendants did not move for summary judgment. Thus, the district court order bypassed the process established by Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 which requires 10 days notice in order that the nonmovant may marshall his or her evidence to show that there is a genuine issue of material fact. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). 22 Defendants argue that because the motions in limine essentially asked the district court to preclude all evidence that would support Bradley's claims, Bradley must have known that if the motions were granted all his claims would be effectively barred. Furthermore, they note Bradley had two weeks notice of the hearing on the motions, submitted briefs and documentary evidence, and did not ask for additional time. Thus, they contend, a final disposition on the merits was not improper. We disagree. 23 Unlike a summary judgment motion, which is designed to eliminate a trial in cases where there are no genuine issues of fact, a motion in limine is designed to narrow the evidentiary issues for trial and to eliminate unnecessary trial interruptions. See In re Japanese Electronic Products Antitrust Litigation, 723 F.2d 238, 260 (3d Cir.1983), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio, 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1985). In this case, defendants' extensive motions in limine requested the exclusion of testimony of teachers and an expert witness on Learnball, testimony concerning Bradley's loss of salary, and testimony concerning Bradley's emotional stress. Defendants also sought to exclude all evidence concerning any First Amendment right to use Learnball in the classroom on the ground that the district court had already ruled that no such right existed, all evidence on any of Bradley's liability claims on the ground that the state decisions establishing that no rights were violated were binding under the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel, and all evidence concerning his equal protection claim because it failed to state a claim under the relevant federal statutes. 24 Defendants' position that Bradley was on notice that the grant of these motions would terminate the litigation is not supported by the record. At the hearing, neither the parties nor the judge suggested that the trial, for which the jury had already been picked, would not go forward. To the contrary, the trial judge explicitly declined to rule on the admissibility of some evidence, stating that such rulings could be better made at trial, and he scheduled the jury to return the following day. Most importantly, in the absence of a formal motion for summary judgment, plaintiff was under no formal compulsion to marshall all of the evidence in support of his claims. Although he may in fact have done so, we cannot be sure and therefore entry of summary judgment in such circumstances was unwarranted. 25 This court has previously been presented with an analogous situation. In Brobst v. Columbus Services International, 761 F.2d 148 (3d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1043, 108 S.Ct. 777, 98 L.Ed.2d 863 (1988), defendants filed a motion in limine seeking to exclude evidence of one aspect of plaintiffs' Equal Pay Act action. In ruling on the motion, the district court granted summary judgment on unrelated grounds. This court reversed because the district court, by granting summary judgment pursuant to a motion in limine that was based on other grounds, effectively precluded plaintiffs from marshalling the record evidence that it had already accumulated on this issue and pretermitted their filing affidavits.... In effect, the district court's procedure converted the in limine motion into one for summary judgment, but without the procedural protections of notice which the federal rules require before judgment on the merits may be granted. Id. at 154; cf. Rose v. Bartle, 871 F.2d 331, 342 (3d Cir.1989) (reversible error to convert motion to dismiss to motion for summary judgment unless the court provides notice of its intentions and allows an opportunity to submit evidentiary materials). 26 Of course, the district court was not precluded from considering whether the complaint stated a claim, an issue which remains open up to the trial on the merits, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(h)(2), and which defendants raised in their answer. Thus, the judgment may be affirmed if there is no set of facts on which plaintiff could possibly recover. See Brobst, 761 F.2d at 155; cf. Rose, 871 F.2d at 342; Hancock Indus. v. Schaeffer, 811 F.2d 225 (3d Cir.1987). We proceed to examine plaintiff's claims under this standard, looking to the permissible sources, which in this case are the allegations of the complaint and the state proceedings of which we can take judicial notice. 27