Opinion ID: 1360551
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Case Number 09-5598-Petition for Writ of Mandamus

Text: In May of 2009, the Company petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus. The issues for which the Company seeks mandamus relief may be broken up into three general categories: (1) the district court's ruling granting partial summary judgment to Gooch on the interpretation of the policy, and its treatment of that ruling as law of the case; (2) the district court's decision to defer ruling on the Company's motion to dissolve a preliminary injunction, requiring the Company to continue reimbursing Gooch according to the old method, until a hearing on class certification and permanent class-wide injunctive relief; and (3) the district court's various discovery rulings, which the Company describes as one-sided. Before we address these three issues, however, we review the general standards concerning the availability of mandamus relief, taken from our recent decision in In re Professionals Direct Insurance Co., 578 F.3d 432 (6th Cir.2009): This Court has authority to issue a writ of mandamus under 28 U.S.C. § 1651 and Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 21. However, a writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy that we will not issue absent a compelling justification. Traditionally, writs of mandamus were used only to confine an inferior court to a lawful exercise of its prescribed jurisdiction or to compel it to exercise its authority when it is its duty to do so. Kerr v. U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist. of Cal., 426 U.S. 394, 402, 96 S.Ct. 2119, 48 L.Ed.2d 725 (1976). Accordingly, [t]he writ of mandamus is not to be used when the most that could be claimed is that the district courts have erred in ruling on matters within their jurisdiction. Schlagenhauf v. Holder, 379 U.S. 104, 112, 85 S.Ct. 234, 13 L.Ed.2d 152 (1964). Rather, only exceptional circumstances amounting to a judicial usurpation of power will justify the invocation of this extraordinary remedy. Will v. United States, 389 U.S. 90, 95, 88 S.Ct. 269, 19 L.Ed.2d 305 (1967). And, because mandamus is a discretionary remedy, a Court may decline to issue the writ if it finds that it would not be appropriate under the circumstances even if the petitioner has shown he is clear[ly] and indisputabl[y] entitled to it. Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court, 542 U.S. 367, 381, 124 S.Ct. 2576, 159 L.Ed.2d 459(2004). In evaluating whether to issue a writ of mandamus, we consider five factors: (1) whether the party seeking the writ has no other adequate means, such as direct appeal, to attain the relief desired; (2) whether the petitioner will be damaged or prejudiced in a way not correctable on appeal after a final judgment; (3) whether the district court's order is clearly erroneous as a matter of law; (4) whether the district court's order contains an oft-repeated error, or manifests a persistent disregard of the federal rules; (5) whether the district court's order raises new and important problems, or legal issues of first impression. John B. v. Goetz, 531 F.3d 448, 457 (6th Cir.2008). Not every factor need apply (four and five tend to point in opposite directions, for example), but together they must present extraordinary circumstances to justify issuance of the writ. In re Perrigo, 128 F.3d 430, 435 (6th Cir.1997). With narrow exceptions, a party has no right of appeal until after a final judgment on the merits, and mandamus is not intended to substitute for appeal after a final judgment. Thus, a court may only exercise its mandamus jurisdiction when a party is in danger of harm that cannot be adequately corrected on appeal and has no other adequate means of relief. The first two factors in the five-factor test are aimed at preventing the end-run around the final judgment rule that might otherwise occur. And, as a result, courts generally ask whether the first two prongs of the test have been satisfied before addressing the merits of the errors alleged in the petition. See, e.g., In re Gregory Lott, 424 F.3d 446, 449-52 (6th Cir.2005). 578 F.3d at 437-38.
The central issue in this case is whether the Company's new approach to reimbursements is permissible under the language of the policy. It is not surprising, then, that this issue is the primary motivator for the Company's request for mandamus relief. The Company complains about the manner in which the district court has gone about interpreting the policy. We set forth the facts relevant to this issue below. The Company responded to Gooch's complaint by moving to dismiss [3] on the basis that the four corners of the insurance policy precluded Gooch's claim. Gooch responded and also cross-moved for partial summary judgment on the interpretation of the policy, for a preliminary injunction requiring the Company to continue reimbursing him under the old process, and for class certification. Gooch submitted a significant amount of evidence in support of these motions. The Company argued that Gooch's motions were premature, and the district court agreed. It stayed discovery for the most part, subject to reopening if the court found that it needed evidence to rule on the meaning of the policy. The court further ordered that, if it denied the motion to dismiss, the Company's responses to Gooch's motions would be due 150 days after the court ruled on the motion to dismiss. We presume that this 150-day window was to allow the parties to conduct the discovery necessary to complete the briefing on Gooch's motions. Relatively little occurred over the next seven months while the district court considered the Company's motion to dismiss. Then, on March 6, 2008, the court issued a ruling on several of the outstanding motions, including Gooch's class certification, partial summary judgment, and preliminary injunction motions that it had previously indicated were stayed. The upshot of this combined ruling was that the district court agreed with Gooch's interpretation of the insurance policy. Importantly, the court partially relied upon matters outside of the pleadings and the four corners of the policythe evidence submitted by Goochin coming to its conclusions, without having permitted the Company an opportunity to take discovery or offer any contradictory evidence. [4] The court therefore denied the Company's motion to dismiss, granted partial summary judgment in favor of Gooch, and entered a preliminary injunction requiring the Company to reimburse Gooch under its prior procedures. The court also certified the class that Gooch sought to represent. The Company reacted defensively. It quickly moved, on March 18th, to set aside the class certification [5] and, on March 20th, to set aside the partial summary judgment. Approximately one month later, on April 11th, the court held a status conference. During that conference, the court, for reasons that are not apparent from the record, stayed all discovery indefinitely and vacated all pending deadlines. In February 2009, approximately ten months after the April 11, 2008 status conference, the court entered an order vacating the partial summary judgment that it had entered for Gooch approximately one year earlier and that the Company had sought to vacate eleven months earlier. Nevertheless, approximately one month later, during a March 2009 status conference, the court announced that, although it had vacated the partial summary judgment to Gooch on the interpretation of the policy (which it had arrived at by relying, at least in part, on evidence submitted by Gooch without the Company having had the opportunity to submit rebutting evidence), it intended to treat its interpretation of the policy as the law of the case. It is in light of this fact pattern that the Company makes its first and most vehement request for mandamus relief. It is clear from the Company's submissions on appeal that it is highly frustrated with the manner in which the district court has managed this case. We do not find the Company's frustration altogether unreasonable, although our review of the record from the district court leads us to believe that the Company itself is not completely innocent with regard to the disjointed manner in which this case has progressed. But, in any event, frustration with the manner in which a district court is managing a case is not grounds for mandamus relief. Essentially, we are presented with (1) a premature entry of summary judgment that has now been mooted by a subsequent vacation of that summary judgment and (2) a court that indicates that it nevertheless intends to treat the substance of that mooted order, i.e. its reading of the insurance policy, as law of the case. As to the first situation, the entry of partial summary judgment, mandamus relief is clearly inappropriate as the district court corrected its own error. Thus, we are left with the question whether the court's indication that it intends to treat its interpretation of the insurance policy as law of the case amounts to the wholesale judicial usurpation of power necessary to invoke our mandamus jurisdiction. In re Prof'ls Direct Ins. Co., 578 F.3d at 437 (citing Will v. United States, 389 U.S. 90, 95, 88 S.Ct. 269, 19 L.Ed.2d 305 (1967)). Based on our review of the record, we do not interpret the district court's statement as invoking the formal law of the case doctrine. [6] Instead, we interpret it as being a sort of shorthand legal slang to signal that the court simply does not intend to revisit the issue of contract interpretation. When viewed in this light, we do not believe that mandamus relief is warranted. Even accepting the Company's position that the court's interpretation of the policy is incorrect (a matter on which we offer no opinion), all we would have before us is an incorrect interlocutory ruling by the district court. Stated differently, the most that could be claimed is that the district court erred on a matter within its jurisdiction, In re Prof'ls Direct Ins. Co., 578 F.3d at 437 (citing Schlagenhauf v. Holder, 379 U.S. 104, 112, 85 S.Ct. 234, 13 L.Ed.2d 152 (1964)), which is not a sufficient predicate for mandamus relief. Turning to the five mandamus factors set forth by our prior cases, allegedly incorrect interlocutory rulings are common on direct appeal in civil cases e.g., the court denies a motion to dismiss, the case goes to trial and results in a verdict, then we determine on direct appeal that the complaint indeed failed to state a claim and thus the district court incorrectly denied the motion to dismiss. Thus, under the first and second of the five mandamus factors, the relief sought by the Company is clearly available on direct appeal. Even more compelling, however, is the third mandamus factor, which asks whether the district court's order is clearly incorrect as a matter of law. First, there is currently no incorrect order to speak of, as the court vacated the partial summary judgment. Instead, the most we have is an allegedly incorrect interpretation of the policy, set forth in a now mooted order, and an indication that the court is not inclined to change its mind. And second, given the unsettled state of the pleadings and discovery, we cannot determine whether the district court's interpretation of the policy is correct or incorrect. It therefore follows that it is not currently clear that the court's interpretation is incorrect as a matter of law. In sum, because the first three mandamus factors all cut strongly against issuing mandamus relief on the issue of policy interpretation, we decline the Company's request.
The second matter for which the Company seeks mandamus relief is a preliminary injunction that the court entered at the same time that it denied the Company's motion to dismiss and prematurely entered summary judgment and class certification for Gooch. The injunction essentially requires that the Company continue reimbursing Gooch under its old method pending the outcome of the litigation. The court issued this injunction in March of 2008, but the Company did not seek immediate interlocutory appeal. Almost one year later, the Company moved to dissolve the preliminary injunction. [7] Gooch did not immediately respond to the merits of the Company's motion. Instead, he moved to combine briefing and ruling on the motion to dissolve with the already pending motions for class certification and for class-wide injunctive relief. The basis for Gooch's motion was as cavalier as it was candid: ruling on the motion to dissolve may have the undesired effect of allowing the Company to bring an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292. (Docket No. 244.) [8] In other words, Gooch was asking the court to delay ruling on the motion to dissolve in order to prevent the Company from having an immediate basis for appellate jurisdiction. The Company predictably responded that forestalling an appeal is not a proper basis for a court to defer ruling on a motion in due course. Nevertheless, the court granted Gooch's motion in July of 2009, thereby combining the motion to dissolve with Gooch's motions for class certification and class-wide injunctive relief. As of this writing, the court has not ruled on any of these motions, so the injunction remains in place. Importantly, however, the court did not base its decision to defer ruling on the motion to dissolve on Gooch's rationale of staving off an appeal. Instead, the court stated this motion is granted to the extent that the Defendants' motion to dissolve will be heard with the motion on class certification as these motions possess related issues.  (Docket No. 308 (emphasis added).) Though the order does not indicate what these related issues are, we do not find it unreasonable to accept that such issues exist. Thus, it is apparent that the court did not grant the motion for the allegedly improper reason of preventing the Company from seeking interlocutory appellate review; it granted the motion for the wholly proper purpose of conserving judicial resources by considering related issues together. Because the district court did nothing improper in this respect, we have no basis to exercise our mandamus jurisdiction. [9]
The final matter for which the Company seeks mandamus relief is a generalized grievance that the district court is ruling on discovery issues in a one-sided manner in favor of Gooch. As evidence of this general observation, the Company points to several discrete instances, such as when the Court partially lifted a discovery stay for Gooch but not for the Company or when the Court ruled on Gooch's discovery motions within days and failed to rule on the Company's motions for months. Gooch contends that the Company is mischaracterizing the proceedings in the district court and that the Company has earned any discovery adversity that it may face by virtue of its supposedly abusive approach to discovery. But this is of little import because the Company has made no request for any particularized discovery relief amenable to our mandamus authority. In the context of discovery, mandamus is typically only available in those most extreme situations in which the district court has ordered a party to disclose something that it absolutely should not have to disclose. See, e.g., In re Prof'ls Direct Ins. Co., 578 F.3d at 443 (denying mandamus relief where party sought review of order requiring disclosure of information the party believed was protected by the work product doctrine); John B., 531 F.3d at 457 (granting mandamus relief when an erroneous discovery order likely would have required disclosure of confidential state information or private personal information unrelated to the lawsuit, and observing that [t]his court has recognized that mandamus may be used as a means of immediate appellate review of orders compelling the disclosure of documents and information claimed to be protected from disclosure by privilege or other interests in confidentiality) (citations and internal quotations omitted). In other words, there typically must be a discrete discovery ruling that we can look to and find to be so incorrect and prejudicial as to justify exercising our mandamus jurisdiction. Here, the Company does not point to any instances in which the district court has ordered it to produce information that is privileged or otherwise immune from disclosure. Nor does the Company point to any order denying it access to certain information. At most, the Company complains that the district court has thus far restricted its access to certain information, but there is no indication that the court has denied access to this information permanently, much less that this information is of such great magnitude to justify mandamus relief. Because we are not inclined to move into the practice of issuing generalized mandamus orders directing district courts to go forth and manage discovery correctly, we decline to grant the Company mandamus relief in this case.