Court Opinion

ID: 9480159
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:40:03.929298+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:31.403499
License: Public Domain

EDMONDSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent from the court’s judgment and from two parts of the court’s opinion. First, I am unwilling to conclude from a silent record that a United States District Judge, although temporarily unable to speak, abandoned his responsibility and did not preside over a trial at which he was present. From the record, we simply can not rule out the possibility that the magistrate and judge communicated by writing, by whispers or by signals. Appellant has failed to carry his burden of proving trial court error, and I see no reason to presume the worst about an Article III judge.
Second, while I agree that an incarcerated plaintiff has some right to rely on the clerk and marshals to serve defendants, I cannot agree that the district court erred in declining to grant a continuance in this case. I recognize that plaintiff did something about inquiring about the lack of service, but he did not do much. Certainly, nothing in the record reflects repeated communications to the court to ensure that *1097service was made before trial. Plaintiff was an accomplished and experienced writ writer capable of representing himself. Plaintiff knew well in advance of trial that there was a problem with service; and, in addition, he knew that service on the parties was important. He failed, however, to press for confirmation of service; the record indicates no reason why he could not have easily been more diligent than he was.
I do not understand how the court can say that plaintiff reasonably believed each defendant had been served. More important, he certainly had reason to believe that service had not been completed. No one told him that marshals or the clerk had effected additional service; and the last information directly on point sent by the court indicated that only defendant Jones had been served. From the time plaintiff notified the court that only one defendant had been ordered served until the day of trial, 32 months had passed in which plaintiff could have pushed for service to be made or for a definitive statement that it had been made; but he never did that. To grant a continuance on the day of trial would have been, as today’s court opinion observes, a considerable inconvenience to many people. I cannot say that the district court abused its discretion or acted arbitrarily in these circumstances. Cf. Romandette v. Weetabix Co., Inc., 807 F.2d 309, 312 (2d Cir.1986) (dismissal of in forma pauperis plaintiff's complaint for lack of service reversed where plaintiff did “everything in his power” to comply with service rules).
I would affirm the judgment of the district court.