Opinion ID: 512983
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Propriety of the District Court's Grant of Summary Judgment

Text: 23 The primary question presented on appeal is whether the district court properly granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the plaintiffs' federal claims. Plaintiffs have argued that the district court's failure to rule on their motion to compel prevented them from discovering evidence that would have established the existence of a genuine issue of material fact. Therefore, they argue that the district court's entry of summary judgment was premature. 24 The plaintiffs filed a request for production of documents in the district court. The plaintiffs requested, among other things, all documents that were relied upon in preparing any documents or filings in connection with the dissolution of TPC; all documents that related to the valuation of the timberlands; all documents relating to the amount of commissions earned by the trustees prior to and following the liquidation of TPC; and all documents relating to the consequences of paying $5,000 for each outstanding share of TPC. The defendants filed a general objection to all of plaintiffs' requests for discovery and, as noted above, the plaintiffs filed a motion to compel production of the documents requested. The district court never ruled on that motion. The plaintiffs argue that their inability to obtain the documents requested makes the granting of summary judgment improper. 25 In reviewing a district court's grant of summary judgment, this court's review is plenary and is to be conducted utilizing the same legal standards as those imposed upon the district court. WSB-TV v. Lee, 842 F.2d 1266, 1269 (11th Cir.1988). The Supreme Court has recently addressed the standards for granting motions for summary judgment. In Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, the Court addressed the burden to be placed on the nonmoving party as follows: 26 In our view, the plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. 27 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265, 273 (1986) (emphasis added). 28 This court has recently considered the application of Celotex, and other recent Supreme Court cases, to cases in which the nonmoving party has not had an adequate opportunity to conduct discovery. In WSB-TV v. Lee, we reviewed the Supreme Court's decisions in Celotex, in Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986), and in Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corporation, 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). We concluded that the common denominator of the three cases is that summary judgment may only be decided upon an adequate record. 842 F.2d at 1269. Because the plaintiffs in WSB-TV had been afforded no opportunity for discovery, we held that consideration of the defendant's motion for summary judgment was erroneous. 29 This court has often noted that summary judgment should not be granted until the party opposing the motion has had an adequate opportunity for discovery. E.g., Littlejohn v. Shell Oil Co., 483 F.2d 1140, 1145 (5th Cir.1973) (en banc), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1116, 94 S.Ct. 849, 38 L.Ed.2d 743 (noting the high fatality rate of summary dispositions at a time before the facts have been fully developed); Alabama Farm Bureau Mutual Casualty Co. v. American Fidelity Life Insurance Company, 606 F.2d 602, 609 (5th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 820, 101 S.Ct. 77, 66 L.Ed.2d 22 (Summary Judgment should not, therefore, ordinarily be granted before discovery has been completed.); Murrell v. Bennett, 615 F.2d 306, 310 (5th Cir.1980) (citing Alabama Farm Bureau ). The party opposing a motion for summary judgment has a right to challenge the affidavits and other factual materials submitted in support of the motion by conducting sufficient discovery so as to enable him to determine whether he can furnish opposing affidavits. Parrish v. Board of Commissioners of the Alabama State Bar, 533 F.2d 942, 948 (5th Cir.1976). If the documents or other discovery sought would be relevant to the issues presented by the motion for summary judgment, the opposing party should be allowed the opportunity to utilize the discovery process to gain access to the requested materials. Id. Generally summary judgment is inappropriate when the party opposing the motion has been unable to obtain responses to his discovery requests. Cowan v. J.C. Penney Company, Inc., 790 F.2d 1529, 1532 (11th Cir.1986). 30 The issue of inadequate discovery was called to the district court's attention by the parties in their briefs addressed to the motion to compel. In their response to the plaintiffs' motion to compel, defendants asserted that a ruling in their favor on the pending motion to dismiss or for summary judgment would render moot any discovery issue. 1 Plaintiffs responded to this assertion by reminding the district court that motions for summary judgment are premature and should not be granted until the party opposing such a motion is permitted to make discovery essential to his case. Therefore, the district court should have been aware of the plaintiffs' contention that they had not been able to obtain, through discovery, evidence essential to their opposition to the motion for summary judgment. The discovery requested was clearly relevant to the pending motion for summary judgment, both as to the securities fraud and RICO counts. 31 In this Circuit, a party opposing a motion for summary judgment need not file an affidavit pursuant to Rule 56(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in order to invoke the protection of that Rule. In Littlejohn, the court [o]ut of an abundance of caution and to prevent a possible injustice, held that an affidavit was not required to invoke the protection of Rule 56(f). 483 F.2d at 1146. The court concluded that the written representation by [plaintiff's] lawyer, an officer of the court, is in the spirit of Rule 56(f) under the circumstances. Form is not to be exalted over fair procedures. Id. Requiring the party opposing a motion for summary judgment to explicitly and unequivocally invoke the protection of Rule 56(f) through the means of an affidavit would provide certainty to district courts. However, the law of this Circuit recognizes that the interests of justice will sometimes require a district court to postpone its ruling on a motion for summary judgment even though the technical requirements of Rule 56(f) have not been met. 32 In Cowan, this court held that the nonmovant's failure to file a motion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f) to foreclose entry of summary judgment [did] not invalidate her claim that the entry of that judgment was error. 790 F.2d at 1532. However, the party opposing the motion for summary judgment bears the burden of calling to the district court's attention any outstanding discovery. Id. at 1530. In Cowan, the court concluded that the nonmovant properly apprised the district court of the outstanding discovery request. 33 [W]e find that prior to the entry of summary judgment she had properly brought to the district court's attention that the discovery response from World Shoe Corp. was still outstanding. The record clearly indicates that Cowan sought an order to compel World Shoe's response which was granted by the district court on November 8, 1984. 34 Id. at 1532. 35 In the case at hand, plaintiffs' filed a motion to compel, which was briefed extensively. The motion sought to compel the production of documents relevant to the pending motion for summary judgment. Therefore, plaintiffs properly directed the district court's attention to the fact that their discovery requests were still outstanding. The district court should have ruled on the motion to compel prior to entering summary judgment for the defendants. Its failure to rule on the motion to compel circumvented the policy underlying discovery in cases in which a summary judgment motion is filed. 36 [T]he whole purpose of discovery in a case in which a motion for summary judgment is filed is to give the opposing party an opportunity to discover as many facts as are available and he considers essential to enable him to determine whether he can honestly file opposing affidavits. 37 Parrish, 533 F.2d at 948. By failing to rule on the motion to compel, the district court deprived the plaintiffs' of their right to utilize the discovery process to discover the facts necessary to justify their opposition to the motion. It is clear that many of the documents requested are relevant to the issues raised by the defendants' motion for summary judgment. It is also clear that many of the requested documents are discoverable. Accordingly, the entry of summary judgment and dismissal of the pendent state law claims was improper and must be reversed. On remand the district court should consider the plaintiffs' motion to compel in light of the rules governing discovery and should order the requested documents produced as appropriate. Once there is an adequate record, the district court may again consider the defendants' motion for summary judgment.B. Propriety of the District Court's Denial of Preliminary Injunction 38 The district court's order denying the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction recited that the motion raises a question which can be more properly dealt with at a later date, if such should be appropriate, because there appears to be no reason to assume that the Trustees could not reimburse the trust for any attorney's fees which might later be found to have been improperly paid. This appears to represent nothing more than a decision to defer the ruling until a later time. The plaintiffs renewed their motion subsequent to the amendment of their complaint. 39 Because the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction has been renewed, we do not find it necessary to reverse the district court's denial of the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. It may well be that discovery will reveal additional evidence relevant to the court's consideration of the plaintiffs' renewed motion for preliminary injunction. On remand, the district court should consider the plaintiffs' renewed motion for preliminary injunction in a timely manner and issue findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.