Archie v. Christian
| Decision Date | 04 February 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-2175,84-2175 |
| Citation | 808 F.2d 1132 |
| Parties | Paul Edward ARCHIE, et al., Plaintiffs, Paul Edward Archie, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David A. CHRISTIAN, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Paul E. Archie, pro se.
M. Lawrence Wells, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jim Mattox, Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before CLARK, Chief Judge, GEE, RUBIN, REAVLEY, POLITZ, RANDALL, JOHNSON, WILLIAMS, GARWOOD, JOLLY, HIGGINBOTHAM, DAVIS, HILL, and JONES, Circuit Judges.
This appeal concerns the power of a United States Magistrate to conduct a jury trial pursuant to the 1979 Magistrate's Act, 28 U.S.C. Sections 631-639. We conclude that he may do so only with the voluntary consent of all parties to the case, who may not be compelled to accept a trial so conducted. Even so because, in the circumstances presented, it appears that the refusal of one of the parties to consent resulted in merely a procedural error and not in an absence of jurisdiction, we conclude that the panel's decision to the contrary was erroneous; and we remand the appeal to the panel for consideration of the merits.
Appellant Archie brought an action against Texas prison officials, claiming that they had violated his civil rights while he was confined in state prison. Pursuant to a blanket reference of such matters to United States Magistrates of the Southern District of Texas, Archie's case was tried to a jury before a magistrate. 1 Archie voiced no objection to the magistrate's presiding nor has he done so to this good day; not so the defendants, who objected and demanded an Article III judge. They ceased doing either, however, when the jury rejected all of Archie's claims but two and awarded him no damages on those.
The magistrate filed a report to the district court recommending that the objection to his presiding be overruled on the Sec. 636(b) grounds of the general reference order and that the findings of the jury be adopted. Archie filed objections on the merits of the report, but none to the magistrate's having presided; and the district court adopted the report and its recommendations, dismissing the action by a signed, final judgment. This appeal followed, Archie continuing to complain of merits issues only. A panel of our Court declined to address the issues advanced by Archie for review and vacated the judgment of the trial court, determining on its own motion that "the magistrate was without jurisdiction to conduct these proceedings." Archie v. Christian, 768 F.2d 726, 727 (5th Cir.1985). We took the case for rehearing en banc because of reservations regarding the panel's disposition.
Although, for reasons stated later, we conclude that reference of this case for trial by a magistrate was improper, the judgment rendered by the district court was not beyond its jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction was not lacking--all parties were properly before the court--and the judgment that the court rendered was well within its subject matter jurisdiction. The flaw was in the procedure by which that judgment was arrived at: by generally delegating the conducting of jury trials to officials not authorized to do such work without consent of the parties and by the district judges adopting as his own the product of that improper process.
That the process by which it arrived at its judgment was irregular and erroneous did not, however, deprive the district court of jurisdiction over the action. As we have noted, all parties had been properly drawn before the court; and the claims adjudicated were proper subjects of its jurisdiction. 2 It is of the essence of jurisdiction that its absence cannot be waived: a companion section of the Act to that under which the reference was attempted here, however, permits the parties to waive not only the conducting of the trial by an Article III judge but even the entry of judgment by him. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c). Certainly Congress must have believed that such a provision was constitutional and that a magistrate exercising such powers--with the consent of the parties, one component of which was necessarily a waiver of their rights to an Article III presiding judicial officer--was doing so with jurisdiction, or it would not have enacted such a law. That congressional conclusion, although not preemptive, is entitled to considerable deference.
Modern authority is not much given to concluding that procedural irregularities work ouster of a court's jurisdiction. In the somewhat analogous situation of an improperly removed case, for example, the United States Supreme Court has held that even though the case has been removed contrary to the applicable statute, nevertheless complaint may not be made of this for the first time on appeal, provided the case was one of which the federal district court would have had original jurisdiction. Thus, in Grubbs v. General Electric Credit Corp., 405 U.S. 699, 702, 92 S.Ct. 1344, 1347, 31 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972), the Court stated:
"Longstanding decisions of this Court make clear, however, that where after removal a case is tried on the merits without objection and the federal court enters judgment, the issue in subsequent proceedings on appeal is not whether the case was properly removed, but whether the federal district court would have had original jurisdiction of the case had it been filed in that court."
We need not conclude today that no imaginable procedural lapse could be so egregious as to deprive a federal district court of jurisdiction of the case. We do hold, however, that the procedure employed here--a procedure that wanted only the advance consent of all parties to be regular--was not so outlandish as to deprive the district court of power to enter the judgment which it did. Had there been appropriate complaint of it, a speedy reversal on the summary calendar would doubtless have ensued; jurisdiction, however, is another matter entirely. We conclude that it was not wanting.
The magistrate's conclusion in this case, adopted by the district court, that Sections 636(b)(1)(B) and (b)(3) authorize the nonconsensual reference of a prisoner suit to a magistrate for jury trial was rejected by a panel of our Court in a decision issued shortly after judgment was entered in the present case. Ford v. Estelle, 740 F.2d 374, 380 (5th Cir.1984).
Section 636(b)(1)(B) authorizes the nonconsensual reference to a magistrate of a prisoner petition challenging the conditions of confinement so that the magistrate may conduct hearings and submit proposed findings of fact and recommendations for disposition to the district court. The district court may accept, reject, or modify this report. If a party objects to any portion of it, the district judge must make a de novo determination of that issue. Sec. 636(b)(1). Ford concluded that a jury trial would not fit into the structure of this subsection of the Magistrate's Act because such a trial produces factfindings "intrinsically incapable" of the required de novo review owing to the special respect to which a jury verdict is entitled. 740 F.2d at 380. For the same reason, Ford also held that Section 636(b)(3), which permits the district court to assign to the magistrate any additional duties not inconsistent with federal law or the Constitution, does not authorize the reference to him of a jury trial without the parties' consent. Id. at 381. Section 636(b) was construed to permit nonconsensual reference only of matters which would not be submitted to a jury. Id. at 380. We concur in these holdings of the Ford court for the reasons which it gave, more fully stated in its opinion and summarized above.
Section 636(b) being unavailable as a basis for referring civil jury cases to magistrates for trial, only Section 636(c) remains. This provision requires the consent of all parties, incorporating explicit provisions safeguarding the voluntariness of that consent; and rules, both federal and local, are in place to insure that no dragooning takes place. 3
In common with our sister circuits, we have upheld Section 636(c) against attack on constitutional grounds. Puryear v. Ede's, Ltd., 731 F.2d 1153 (5th Cir.1984).
It follows that, in our circuit, no jury trial of this kind can be conducted by a magistrate without the consent of all parties, given in writing and filed before trial commences. In order to prevent recurrences of such situations as today's appeal presents, and in the exercise of our supervisory powers, we direct that before commencing the actual trial of any civil case in which a magistrate is to preside pursuant to the authority of 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c), jury or nonjury, he shall inquire on the record of each party whether he has filed consent to the magistrate's presiding and shall receive an affirmative answer from each on the record before proceeding further. 4
As we have noted above, the deficiency in procedure represented by the failure of the parties to consent to the magistrate's presiding in this case is not of such egregiousness as to deprive the district court of jurisdiction. Appellant Archie has never complained of it, and the appellees (understandably) do not raise it on appeal. This being so, and the defect not being a jurisdictional one, it has been waived. The panel decision has been VACATED and the cause is REMANDED to the panel for consideration of the merits of the appeal.
I concur with the result reached by Judge Gee but, with one eye on Chief Judge Clark's able dissent, would as a matter of prudence do so on different and narrower grounds. We need not face the questions posed by a civil jury trial before a magistrate without the consent of ...
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