Cristobal v. Siegel

• Decision Date: 03 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-16642,92-16642
• Citation: 26 F.3d 1488
• Parties: Adrian L. CRISTOBAL, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jeffrey SIEGEL, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1488

26 F.3d 1488

Adrian L. CRISTOBAL, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jeffrey SIEGEL, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 92-16642.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 3, 1993. ^*

Decided June 23, 1994.

Peter F. Perez, Agana, Guam, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Barry K. Tagawa, Long & Levit, San Francisco, CA, for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Guam, Appellate Division.

Before: POOLE, WIGGINS and T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge POOLE.

POOLE, Circuit Judge:

Appellants ("the Cristobals") challenge an order of the District Court of Guam Appellate Division ("Appellate Division") affirming the grant of summary judgment by the Superior Court of Guam ("Guam Superior Court") in favor of Appellees Jeffrey Siegel, Francis Gill, Brian Hanohano, and Coral Pit, Inc. ("Coral Pit"). Coral Pit filed a motion for summary judgment in early January 1991. The Cristobals failed to file a timely memorandum of points and authorities in opposition to the motion. Guam Rule of Court 3(c) provides that failure to file a memorandum of points and authorities in opposition to a motion constitutes consent to the granting of that motion. The Guam Superior Court deemed that the Cristobals had consented to Coral Pit's motion for summary judgment under Rule 3(c) because the Cristobals did not file opposition papers and entered summary judgment in favor of Coral Pit. We reverse and remand.

I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This appeal arises out of protracted litigation regarding a lease agreement. The Cristobals brought suit against Coral Pit in June 1988 alleging fraud, cancellation of instruments, forgery, and slander of title. Coral Pit counterclaimed to have title of property quieted in Coral Pit. By August 1989 Coral Pit had successfully obtained either summary judgment for or dismissal of each of the Cristobals' causes of action.

Subsequently the parties began settlement negotiations. On March 12, 1990, the Cristobals' counsel, Lawrence Teker ("Teker"), wrote to Coral Pit's counsel, Thomas J. Lannen ("Lannen"), confirming that he had met with the Cristobals, that they agreed to a settlement proposal, but that they were reviewing the final document.

On March 16, 1990, Teker again wrote to Lannen, stating "As I mentioned I still don't have the authority to give you this letter but I think I will." Attached was an unsigned letter proposing a settlement dated March 9, 1990.

On April 2, 1990, Lannen's office received a copy of the March 9, 1990 letter proposing settlement, this time signed by Teker. Lannen responded in an April 24, 1990 letter stating, "On behalf of all the defendants, the offer is hereby accepted." After reiterating the terms set out in Teker's letter, Lannen closed by noting "I believe the parties all agree to add two additional terms, which have always been included in past discussions." These terms included a letter from Judge Lamorena, one of "the Cristobals," absolving Coral Pit of any fraud, and an agreement that the Cristobals would not oppose a rezoning of the property. We have no record of Teker's response, if any.

Nearly five months later, on September 13, 1990, Lannen again wrote to Teker, this time complaining of the Cristobals' delay in reviewing and executing "the Settlement Agreement." Lannen stated that regardless of whether a settlement agreement were executed, "it is our position that a settlement of this matter has been reached. While I believe our correspondence clearly reflects our agreement, should there be any doubt, this is again to affirm that we accept your offer of settlement as set forth in your March 9, 1990 letter which you delivered on your client's behalf." Lannen warned that if the settlement documents were not forthcoming that he would seek court enforcement of the settlement.

On September 20, 1990, David Lujan ("Lujan") wrote to Lannen informing him that he had replaced Teker as counsel for the Cristobals, and that his clients rejected any settlement discussed between Teker and Lannen. Lujan formally appeared as counsel of record for the Cristobals on September 27, 1990.

On January 3, 1991, Coral Pit filed a motion for summary judgment seeking enforcement of the purported settlement agreement. Attached to the motion were copies of the letters described above. The motion was noticed for hearing on January 17, 1991. The Cristobals had until January 10, 1991 to file their response, or a motion for leave to file a late brief. Not until January 15, 1991 did the Cristobals file a motion to permit late filing of their opposition papers, as well as an ex parte application for order shortening time for hearing on that motion.

The Guam Superior Court heard the motion to permit late filing on January 15, 1991. First, the court continued the summary judgment hearing from January 17, 1991 to January 24, 1991. Then the court denied the motion to permit late-filed opposition. Then the court deemed the motion for summary judgment consented to under Rule of Court 3(c). According to the court this "consent" to summary judgment mooted the summary judgment hearing scheduled for January 24, 1991. On this basis the court granted summary judgment to Coral Pit.

The Cristobals filed a motion for reconsideration, but then withdrew the motion because no final judgment had been entered pursuant to Guam Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e). On May 17, 1991 the Cristobals moved for entry of final judgment pursuant to Guam Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b). The Guam Superior Court entered a judgment enforcing the terms of the alleged settlement agreement on October 9, 1991. The Cristobals filed a notice of appeal to the Appellate Division on November 13, 1991. The Appellate Division affirmed the Guam Superior Court's entry of summary judgment holding that the Guam Superior Court did not err when it found that there was no excusable neglect in the Cristobals' failure to timely file an opposition to Coral Pit's motion for summary judgment. The Cristobals timely appealed to this court.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Guam v. Yang, 850 F.2d 507, 511 (9th Cir.1988) (en banc) established that this court reviews the interpretations of Guam law by the District Court of Guam Appellate Division de novo. This court reviews the decision of the trial court, the Guam Superior Court, as if it had not been heard previously by an appellate court. Guam v. Ignacio, 10 F.3d 608, 611 (9th Cir.1993); accord Aguon v. Calvo, 951 F.2d 1131, 1132-33 (9th Cir.1991) (after remand to Guam Superior Court "to obtain the benefit of the lower courts' construction of the Guam Marketable Title Act, we must now review that construction de novo."); Petition of Government of Guam, 869 F.2d 1326, 1327 (9th Cir.1989) (de novo review of Guam Superior Court's interpretation of Guam Civil Code).

Coral Pit argues that this case turns on an interpretation of local procedural rules, specifically whether the Guam Superior Court erred in finding no excusable neglect by the Cristobals' counsel when failing to file opposition papers. Consequently Coral Pit urges the panel to apply an abuse of discretion standard. In Lynn v. Chin Heung International, Inc., 852 F.2d 1221, 1222 (9th Cir.1988) and Guam Sasaki Corp. v. Diana's Inc., 881 F.2d 713, 716 (9th Cir.1989), however, we carefully distinguished between the deference owed to local rules regarding "the methodology of docket management adopted by the local courts," (abuse of discretion) and local rules which govern "challenges to the substantive sufficiency of pleadings" (de novo). Lynn, 852 F.2d at 1222. Since a motion for summary judgment challenges the substantive sufficiency of a complaint, we review the Guam Superior Court's grant of summary judgment de novo. See Hyon-Su v. Maeda Pacific Corp., 905 F.2d 302, 304 (9th Cir.1990) (grant of summary judgment by Guam Superior Court reviewed de novo).

III. DISCUSSION

A. Summary Judgment and Rules of Practice

Within the Ninth Circuit a federal trial court cannot grant summary judgment under the Federal Rules unless the moving party bears its burden of showing its entitlement to judgment.

A local rule that requires the entry of summary judgment simply because no papers opposing the motion are filed or served, and without regard to whether genuine issues of material fact exist, would be inconsistent with Rule 56, hence impermissible under Rule 83 [which prohibits rules of court inconsistent with the Fed.R.Civ.P.].

Henry v. Gill Industries, Inc., 983 F.2d 943, 950 (9th Cir.1993) (construing the Federal Rules); See also Hoover v. Switlik Parachute Co., 663 F.2d 964, 967 (9th Cir.1981) (where no opposition to motion filed, summary judgment still inappropriate if there is insufficient evidence to support the motion). For reasons which we elaborate below, this Ninth Circuit construction of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure applies to Guam Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Consequently, the Guam Superior Court erred by granting summary judgment based on the Cristobals' "consent," because this consent was only a constructive consent based on the strict application of Guam Rule of Court 3(c). This application of Guam Rule of Court 3(c) relieved Coral Pit of its burden to demonstrate its entitlement to summary judgment and the trial court of its responsibility to independently evaluate the sufficiency of the motion, contrary to the Ninth Circuit's substantive requirements for summary judgment.

1. Relationship Between the Guam Rules of Court and the Guam Rules of Civil Procedure

Coral Pit argues that our interpretation of the relationship between the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and local federal court rules should not govern the relationship between the Guam Rules of Civil Procedure and the Guam Rules of Court because the Guam Rules of Court supersede the Guam Rules of Civil Procedure.

Coral Pit's argument depends upon a tortured reading of the former Guam Rule of Court 1, in...