Bush v. United States Postal Service, 73-2040.
Decision Date | 29 April 1974 |
Docket Number | No. 73-2040.,73-2040. |
Citation | 496 F.2d 42 |
Parties | Homer BUSH, Appellant, v. The UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE et al., Appellees. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Thomas M. Chattin, Charleston, W. Va., for appellant.
Jean A. Staudt, Atty., U. S. Dept. of Justice (Irving Jaffe, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen.; Robert E. Kopp, Atty., Dept. of Justice; and John A. Field, III, U. S. Atty., for the Southern District of West Virginia, on brief), for appellees.
Before BRYAN, Senior Circuit Judge, and BUTZNER and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.
Homer Bush appeals from an order of the district court that dismissed his complaint against the United States Postal Service and some of its officers for failure to prosecute. The dismissal was with prejudice, and because such a severe sanction cannot be justified on this record, we reverse.
Bush instituted this action on November 1, 1972. His attorney directed the marshal to serve process on the named defendants and the United States Attorney. On December 11, before a responsive pleading was filed, Bush's attorney amended the complaint pursuant to Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Inexplicably he twice directed the marshal to serve the amended complaint on the postmaster and failed to request that the United States Attorney be served. On one set of the instructions for service on the postmaster, he indicated that two copies of the complaint were for the Attorney General and one copy was for the United States Attorney. The record does not disclose what happened to these copies.
On January 5, 1973 the United States Attorney, unaware of the amended complaint, requested an additional thirty days to plead. His motion was granted, and on February 6 he filed an answer. A month later, he filed a motion to dismiss the original complaint. A hearing on the motion, which had been set for April 9, was continued to April 26 at the request of Bush's attorney to avoid a scheduling conflict.
When counsel appeared on April 26 for the hearing, the United States Attorney learned for the first time of the amended complaint. He requested and was granted three weeks to file responsive pleadings, including a motion to dismiss. At the conclusion of the hearing, Bush's attorney inquired whether the court intended to hear the motion "twenty-one days from now." The district judge responded that he would set a date for the hearing "after the pleading is filed."
The United States Attorney filed a motion to dismiss on May 15. The same day he gave notice to Bush's attorney that he would bring the motion on for hearing June 1. Bush's attorney did not appear on June 1. The court, noting that a return receipt1 indicated that the notice was received by the attorney's office on May 16, dismissed the action under Rule 41(b) for failure to prosecute.
Three days later Bush's attorney learned that the action had been dismissed. He then moved to set aside the order of dismissal on the grounds that he did not have actual notice of the June 1 hearing, that his failure to attend the hearing arose out of mistake or excusable neglect, that Bush had never evidenced intent to abandon the prosecution, and that dismissal had been ordered without notice to Bush and without an opportunity to be heard. He supported this motion by his own affidavit and that of his secretary. Without further hearing, the court denied the motion to reconsider.
Recently, reviewing cases that interpret Rule 41(b), we said:
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