Opinion ID: 447604
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Our Rulings

Text: 39 We have appellate jurisdiction to review the denial of a Rule 60(b) motion to modify an injunction. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(a)(1) (1982). Although the defendants do not specify which ground for Rule 60(b) relief they rely upon, we conclude that they are proceeding under Rule 60(b)(5), which provides for relief from a judgment when it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application. 40 The Rule confers on district judges [no] standardless residual discretionary power to set aside judgments.... Mayberry v. Maroney, 558 F.2d 1159, 1163 (3d Cir.1977). Such relief is extraordinary and may be granted only upon a showing of exceptional circumstances. Id. 41 Philadelphia Welfare Rights Org. v. Shapp, 602 F.2d 1114, 1119 (3d Cir.1979). Since the extraordinary circumstances standard applicable to the trial court's exercise of discretion is a strict one, our review of the denial of Rule 60(b)(5) relief is commensurately narrow. Where, as here, an evidentiary hearing has been held, the trial court's findings of fact must be accepted unless clearly erroneous. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). The court's exercise of discretion in light of supportable findings of fact will not be disturbed unless there was a clear abuse. Hodge v. Hodge, 621 F.2d 590, 593 (3d Cir.1980); S.E.C. v. Warren, 583 F.2d 115, 120 (3d Cir.1978); Girard Trust Bank v. Martin, 557 F.2d 386, 390 (3d Cir.1977); Virgin Islands National Bank v. Tyson, 506 F.2d 802, 804 (3d Cir.1974); Giordano v. McCartney, 385 F.2d 154, 155 (3d Cir.1967). 42 Applying these standards of review, we affirm the March 13, 1984 order. The trial court's findings of fact, far from being clearly erroneous, are fully supported by record evidence that is for the most part undisputed. 3 The defendants made no real showing of extraordinary circumstances occurring since the entry of the May 25, 1983 injunction, from which no appeal was taken. The makeshift arrangements which they proposed in March of 1984 could have been suggested a year earlier, but were not. Instead, the defendants allowed the inmate ceilings to go into effect, while making no arrangements for alternative places of accommodation outside the jail. The County's reluctance to find such alternative accommodations is the same as it was in the spring of 1983. Meanwhile, by virtue of the ceiling on the jail population, some alleviation of the unconstitutional conditions found by the trial court occurred as a result of the May 25, 1983 injunction. As the court's findings make clear, what the defendants proposed in their Rule 60(b)(5) motion was to reinstate conditions which had already been found to be constitutional violations, and to add new risks to the health and safety of inmates. We can find no clear abuse of discretion in the court's denial of the defendants' motion for such extraordinary relief.
43 The parties are not in agreement as to the nature of the December 30, 1983 order imposing a sanction of $5,000 on the defendants for each prisoner released from custody under the terms of the October 20, 1983 order. It is undisputed that the trial court intended the sanction to act as a spur to action by the county with respect to the provision of facilities for housing inmates outside the jail. 4 Since the $5,000 is described as a sanction it may have been intended as a civil contempt order. Alternatively, as urged by the class representatives, it may have been intended as a modification of the underlying injunction. 44 In either event we have appellate jurisdiction. If it was intended as a civil contempt, it was entered in a post-permanent injunction proceeding, and is reviewable under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291, but only with respect to the question whether the alleged contemnor has disobeyed the underlying injunction. Halderman v. Pennhurst State School & Hospital, 673 F.2d 628, 636-37 (3d Cir.1982). If it was intended as a modification of the underlying injunction, the December 30, 1983 order is reviewable under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(a)(1). Because the trial court's intention is not entirely clear, we will consider alternative constructions of the order. 45 (1) Civil Contempt 46 We noted in Part II B above, that in April of 1983 the class representatives moved to hold the defendants in contempt of the October 11, 1978 and April 17, 1980 orders. At the close of the plaintiffs' case the court found that the defendants' conduct did not rise to the level of contempt. App.60a. The class representatives' motion for additional relief was granted, however, resulting in the May 25, 1983 order imposing a cap on inmate population, and other relief. 47 The other relief in the May 25, 1983 order might well have included a direction to the county defendants to produce and implement a plan within a specified time for housing inmates elsewhere. 5 The court did not do so. Instead the order provided for a gradual reduction of the inmate population over five months, in the obvious hope that the inability to house greater numbers of inmates in the jail would move the county to discharge an obligation resting, under state law, with county government. The sad record of Allegheny County in this respect demonstrates that this hope was misplaced. While the court's frustration over the County's attitude is understandable, even irresponsible officials can only be held in civil contempt as a means of coercing their compliance with specific court orders. 48 The court has found numerous violations of the successive injunctions entered in this case since October 11, 1978. Indeed, the court has found violations of its May 25, 1983 order imposing population limits. The December 30, 1983 order is not, however, directed toward coercing a correction of such violations. By December 30, 1983 the jail officials were in compliance, and they have given no indication that the population limits will in the future be exceeded. 49 Plainly, therefore, if the $5,000 per released prisoner is to be regarded as a contempt sanction, it is one aimed at coercing the County into spending the funds needed to develop and implement a plan for an alternative housing arrangement. There is no question but that the defendants are fully aware of the court's wishes in this respect. Wishes, however, are not orders. Fed.R.Civ.P. 65(d) requires that [e]very order granting an injunction ... shall be specific in terms; [and] shall describe in reasonable detail, and not by reference to the complaint or other document, the act or acts sought to be restrained.... This requirement of specificity is related to the court's awesome civil and criminal contempt powers. Persons may not be placed at risk of contempt unless they have been given specific notice of the norm to which they must pattern their conduct. Granny Goose Foods, Inc. v. Local 70, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 415 U.S. 423, 444, 94 S.Ct. 1113, 1126, 39 L.Ed.2d 435 (1974); Schmidt v. Lessard, 414 U.S. 473, 476, 94 S.Ct. 713, 715, 38 L.Ed.2d 661 (1974); Gunn v. University Committee To End The War in Viet Nam, 399 U.S. 383, 388-89, 90 S.Ct. 2013, 2016-17, 26 L.Ed.2d 684 (1970). Under the terms of the May 25, 1983 order, the County defendants were free to do what they are doing: release prisoners in order to comply with the population limits in the jail. They were not given any specific direction to prepare and implement an alternative plan for housing inmates. Thus they cannot be held in civil contempt for failing to do so, however irresponsible that failure may be. 50 (2) Modification of the Injunction 51 The court's October 20, 1983 order provided that it would be reviewed on or before March 1, 1984. Thus the defendants were on notice that the trial court might modify it to provide for additional relief. They were also on notice that in the motion which resulted in the October 20, 1983 order the class representatives requested that the court 52 [o]rder Defendants, under penalty of fine or other penalty as deemed appropriate by this Court, to immediately reduce the population of the Jail by whatever means necessary, to levels consistent with restrictions set forth in this Court's May 15th [sic] Order, and to order any other relief necessary to ensure compliance with the Court's Order. 53 App. 115a. Arguably the notice of motion and the court's retention of authority to review its order on or before March 1, 1984 gave the defendants notice that further relief would be considered on December 30, 1983. Moreover the defendants were given a full opportunity to present testimony with respect to additional relief. Assuming, without deciding, that notice and an opportunity to be heard on December 30, 1983 satisfied procedural due process, we turn to the question whether the order which was entered, if considered as a modification of the injunction, was an abuse of discretion. 54 At the outset we note that the $5,000 sanction imposed for each prisoner released is to be paid to the Clerk of Court of the United States District Court. No provision is made for the disposition of these funds; apparently they would inure to the benefit of the United States. The court did not direct the defendants to implement an alternative plan for housing inmates, and couple that order with fines for delay which could be used by the court or the plaintiffs to develop their own plan. There is no discernable connection between the sanction and any of the remedial features of the injunction in place. If the court had directed the County defendants to develop and implement a plan for alternative housing, there would be an obvious relationship between such an order and a monetary sanction for delay in compliance. Absent such a relationship, however, we are reluctantly constrained to hold that the December 30, 1983 order, insofar as it directed the defendants to pay $5,000 to the Clerk of the United States District Court for each released inmate, lacked a sufficiently specific nexus with the underlying violations and their correction so as to amount to an abuse of discretion. Our reluctance reflects our complete sympathy with the court's frustration with County Officials whose continued contumacy has aggravated a serious problem which itself was in large part a result of their inactivity.