Court Opinion

ID: 9471182
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:26:23.312973+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:17.937708
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because I feel that appellant has waived his right to appeal from the determination of the magistrate in this cause under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) as interpreted by this court in United States v. Walters, 638 F.2d 947, 950 (6th Cir.1981). The majority cites the language of that case, which holds “that a party shall be informed by the magistrate that objections must be filed within ten days or further *290appeal is waived.” 638 F.2d at 950 (emphasis added).
This court added:
The purpose of the Magistrate’s Act is to relieve courts of unnecessary work. Since magistrates are not Article III judges, it is necessary to provide for a redetermination by the court, if requested, of matters falling within subsection (b)(1)(B).
638 F.2d at 950 (emphasis added).
There is no dispute but that the magistrate informed Patterson that his objections had to be filed within ten days as specified. Patterson, within that period of time, requested no extension from the magistrate or from the district court; nor did he request a redetermination by filing objections to the magistrate’s ruling that judgment be rendered for appellee on its motion. He therefore waived any further appeal from this decision.
Rule 6(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, cited by the majority, gives a district court undoubted discretion to enlarge the time in which an act is required to be done “for cause shown ... if request therefore is made before the expiration of the time originally prescribed.” (Emphasis added.) No such showing was found to have been made on the part of appellant by the district judge in this case, nor did the district judge determine under that Rule that appellant had demonstrated “excusable neglect.”
Under these circumstances, neither the district court nor this court can properly address the merits of appellant’s claim.