Court Opinion

ID: 9548364
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:02:22.529795+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:18:51.516096
License: Public Domain

RABINO WITZ, Justice,
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s holding that the superior court “was under no duty to warn the Baumans and R.J.W. of the necessity of opposing the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.”
In Breck v. Ulmer, 745 P.2d 66 (Alaska 1987), we said in part:
We agree with Breck [a pro se plaintiff in a civil action, just like Bauman] that the pleadings of pro se litigants should be held to less stringent standards than those of lawyers. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 595, 30 L.Ed.2d 652, 654 (1972) (per curiam). In this regard we note that several courts have explicitly imposed a duty on the trial judge to advise a pro se litigant of his or her right under the summary judgment rule to file opposing affidavits to defeat a motion for summary judgment. See Hudson v. Hardy, 412 F.2d 1091, 1094 (D.C.Cir.1968) (per curiam); Roseboro v. Garrison, 528 F.2d 309, 310 (4th Cir.1975) (per curiam). Likewise, we believe the trial judge should inform a pro se litigant of the proper procedure for the action he or she is obviously attempting to accomplish; here Breck should *1102have been advised of the necessity of submitting affidavits to preclude summary judgment, and of the possibility of amending her complaint.
Id. at 75 (emphasis added). See also Note, An Extension of the Right of Access: The Pro Se Litigant’s Right to Notification of the Requirements of the Summary Judgment Rule, 55 Fordham L.Rev. 1109 (1987) (authored by Joseph M. McLaughlin); Jacobsen v. Filler, 790 F.2d 1362, 1367-70 (9th Cir.1986) (Reinhardt, J., dissenting).
In light of the above quoted portion of the Breck text, I am not persuaded that Breck is distinguishable on the grounds that the Baumans “failed to submit even a defective motion in opposition to the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.” Nor can I agree that the trial court’s impartiality is compromised by a requirement that the court inform a pro se litigant of the right under Civil Rule 56 to oppose a summary judgment motion.