Court Opinion

ID: 9470311
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:02:16.006256+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:50.053675
License: Public Domain

NEWMAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
In Sack v. Low, 478 F.2d 360 (2d Cir. 1973), a District Court in the Southern District of New York had dismissed a claim because of res judicata, relying on a judgment of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts court had found the claim barred by the local statute of limitations. While an appeal from the Southern District’s judgment was pending, the plaintiffs secured from the District of Massachusetts an order amending the Massachusetts judgment to specify that the dismissal in Massachusetts was without prejudice. In the “unusual circumstances” of that case,1 id. at 362 n. 1, we ruled that the amendment of the Massachusetts judgment was effective to permit the plaintiffs to proceed in the Southern District, where the applicable limitations period had not expired. Once Sack v. Low was decided, any plaintiff suing in this Circuit, whose case had been dismissed elsewhere on statute of limitations grounds, was on notice of the need to secure a “without prejudice” notation on the prior judgment.
In this case, the plaintiff litigated in the Southern District of New York the preclusive effect of a judgment entered in the Western District of Washington, without bothering to obtain a “without prejudice” notation on the Washington judgment. Only after litigating unsuccessfully in the Southern District did plaintiff move in the Western District of Washington for an amended judgment. I agree that this maneuver must fail, but I would rely simply on the fact that a judgment of dismissal was properly entered in the Southern District of New York before the plaintiff returned to the Western District of Washington.2 I would not assess whether the delay in making a Rule 60(b) motion in Washington made it inappropriate for the District Court there to grant the motion, nor whether Rule 60(b) provided any basis for relief, since we have no oversight authority concerning that court.3 Focusing on whether the judgment of a district court within our Circuit was entered before or after another district’s “without prejudice” notation results in a rule of clarity and easy administration. It also confines our consideration solely to the appropriateness of the actions taken by district courts within our Circuit.
For these reasons, I concur in the result.

. In Sack v. Low, supra, we were willing to indulge the plaintiffs with the assumption that, despite Bertha Building Corp. v. National Theatres Corp., 248 F.2d 833, 844 (2d Cir. 1957), cert. denied, 356 U.S. 936, 78 S.Ct. 777, 2 L.Ed.2d 811 (1958), they could not have been expected to anticipate, prior to judgment in the Southern District, that the dismissal with prejudice in the District of Massachusetts, on statute of limitations grounds, would be held to bar their suit in the Southern District of New York. 478 F.2d at 362 n. 1. After Sack v. Low, there can be no uncertainty on that score.

. The circumstances of this case are to be contrasted with a case in which a judgment of court B is based on a judgment of court A and the judgment of court A is reversed on appeal, while the judgment of court B is pending on appeal. In that circumstance the appellate court would normally set aside the judgment of court B. See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 16 comment c (1980). The determination that court A’s judgment is erroneous is properly noticed on appeal from court B's judgment. In the instant case, however, the judgment of the Washington Court has not been held to be erroneous; the plaintiff has simply availed itself of an option to secure a “without prejudice” notation. A plaintiff who elects to forgo use of that option until after an adverse judgment has been rendered against him in another jurisdiction should not expect á court of appeals to reward his tardiness. After being late to sue in the first jurisdiction, he ought to move expeditiously to maintain his opportunity to sue elsewhere.

. There is no issue in this case requiring scrutiny of a judgment of another jurisdiction to determine if the court rendering the judgment had jurisdiction.