Court Opinion

ID: 9488145
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:37:31.104534+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:43.280176
License: Public Domain

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge,
Dissenting:
The majority opinion is what it is. Judge Kleinfeld’s dissent, in which I fully join, effectively disposes of its reasoning. However, Judge Canby’s concurrence, joined by Judge D.W. Nelson, is extremely disappointing. We should, as judges, be able to bring a little practical knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to the decision-making process. To suggest that in a case in which the plaintiff alleges that he was assaulted by a number of sheriffs deputies, the testimony of those deputies could be anything but critical, or the denial of the right to take their depositions could be anything but harmful, is either incredibly naive or wholly elevates form over substance. We are here after all, as I am sure Judges Canby and Nelson would agree, to seek truth and do justice. What more need a plaintiff show other than that it was the alleged perpetrators of the constitutional wrong whose depositions he was precluded from taking? There is a limit to the Frankfurter view of jurisprudence. I think we exceed it here.
Moreover, if it were so critical that we determine from a transcript what we all know anyway, the Rules permit us to order what we need. See Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(e). I hardly think it necessary to force a mentally disturbed civil rights plaintiff to pay for a transcript in a case such as this. Certainly, his failure to do so should not cause us to forfeit his appeal and his rights.