Court Opinion

ID: 9450557
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:52:00.389327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:22.652462
License: Public Domain

SPEARS, District Judge
(dissenting in part):
I cannot agree with those portions of the majority opinion which hold that the removal petitions here were inadequate because they were verified only on knowledge, information and belief, set forth no facts, and spoke only in legal conclusions.
The allegation in each petition for removal that “petitioner was and is employed as a special investigator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division, Internal Revenue Service, United States Treasury Department, and was acting within the scope of his employment and under color of his office”, is unequivocal. No objections were made to the petitions themselves or to the forms of verification, either in the District Court or in this Court; nor were any counter affidavits submitted in opposition to the motions to dismiss. It is my opinion, therefore, that the removal petitions in-eluding the verification, were adequate to support a summary judgment.
In Klingman v. National Indemnity Company, 7 Cir. 1963, 317 F.2d 850, 854, where an objection to an affidavit was made for the first time on appeal, the Court said:
“Finally, defendant contends that ‘the affidavit filed in opposition to defendant’s motion for summary judgment is inadequate to meet the requirements of Rule 56(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’ in that it could not Rave been based on personal knowledge. Defendant does not contest the truthfulness of any matters alleged in the affidavit. No objection to this affidavit was made in the district court, and the court recited in its order granting summary judgment that this affidavit was considered. The objection is made for the first time on this appeal.
“The thrust of Rule 56(e) is that the affidavit ‘shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matter stated therein.’ It is settled law that testimony to which no objection is made may be considered by the trier of fact. We conclude that an analogous rule is applicable here. On a motion for summary judgment, if no objection is made to an affidavit which is objectionable under Rule 56(e), the affidavit may be considered by the court in ruling on the motion. See Monks v. Hurley, D.C.D.Mass., 45 F.Supp. 724 (1942); 6 Moore, Federal Practice § 56.22, at 2335 (2d ed. 1953).”
The majority says that the defense of sovereign privilege “should not be sustained on the basis of technical .procedural defaults of the opposing party or in the absence of a clear and specific factual demonstration that the actions of the officers were indeed taken in pursuit of their official duties.” I am in accord with that statement, but I do not agree that “(T)his standard has not yet been met in connection with the alleged wiretapping here”.
The trial judge gave appellant’s counsel repeated opportunities during oral arguments, through direct questioning, to deny the alleged capacity in which West and Strasser were acting. But this was never done, in spite of the fact that counsel was advised by the Court that “we have to find out what the facts are”, was cautioned that the Court did not want any quibbling, and was admonished to “get down to the guts of the case”.
Under the circumstances of this case, I do not think we are dealing with mere *158“technical procedural defaults of the opposing party”, or with an “absence of a clear and specific factual demonstration that the actions of the officers were indeed taken in pursuit of their official duties”. On the contrary, the trial judge did everything humanly possible to encourage appellant’s counsel to comment on the allegations that West and Strasser were federal officers, in order to make certain that the case would be decided on the facts, rather than technicalities. In response to his questions, however, he received evasive replies ranging from “I don’t know” and “I couldn’t say” to “we assume they are from the discussion, of course”, and “that is my understanding”. This conduct, coupled with appellant’s continued failure to otherwise deny, object, or furnish rebuttal evidence, hardly constitutes the kind of participation in summary judgment proceedings contemplated by this court in Cunningham v. Securities Investment Company of St. Louis, 5 Cir., 1960, 278 F.2d 600, rehearing denied, 281 F.2d 439. In that case Judge Hutcheson quoted from Moore’s Federal Practice, Section 56.23, pp. 2340-2341, Vol. 6, citing Surkin v. Charteris, 5 Cir., 1952, 197 F.2d 77, in part as fellows:
“ * * * it is certainly well settled that the opposing party is not entitled to hold back his evidence until trial, and is not entitled to a trial on the possibility that an issue of material fact might arise if the case were to go to trial on the merits.”
The Cunningham case was followed by this Court in Norton v. McShane, 5 Cir., 1964, 332 F.2d 855, 861, where it was held that in view of the affidavit of the Attorney General of the United States that the officers being sued were discharging their official governmental responsibilities, it became incumbent upon the plaintiffs, by affidavit or otherwise, in opposition to defendants’ motions for summary judgment, to set forth specific facts showing that there was a genuine issue for trial as to whether the defendants were acting within the scope of their official duties.
Appellant has never even to this day objected to the petitions for removal, or come forward with any evidence by affidavit or otherwise to refute the allegations contained therein, or said that she had any such evidence, or contended that she has been deprived of an opportunity to produce it. It can only be concluded, as the trial judge must have, that there is no evidence of that nature available to appellant. As a consequence, nothing can be gained by requiring the trial court to again consider matters about which there has been no contest, on the outside chance that an issue of material fact might possibly arise at another trial.
Since, in my view of the case, West and Strasser established without objection or controverting affidavits that they acted within the scope of their employment and under color of their offices; and since the complaint itself reflects that the Telephone Company’s only participation was to aid and assist West and Strasser, I would affirm the judgment of the District Court.
Except as hereinabove set forth, I fully concur in the majority opinion.