Silvia v. Laurie, 78-1461
Citation | 594 F.2d 892 |
Decision Date | 21 March 1979 |
Docket Number | No. 78-1461,78-1461 |
Parties | James R. SILVIA, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. William E. LAURIE, etc., et al., Defendants, Appellees. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
James R. Silvia, pro se.
Before COFFIN, Chief Judge, CAMPBELL and BOWNES, Circuit Judges.
On October 11, 1978, the plaintiff, James R. Silvia, noticed his appeal from a district court judgment entered May 9, 1978, dismissing his action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for failure to raise a substantial federal question. As the defendants included officers of the United States prison system, the appeal should have been brought within sixty days of the day judgment was entered i. e., by July 8, 1978. Fed.R.App.P. 4(a). The appeal, being untimely, must be dismissed.
Silvia urges that he was unable to comply with the provisions of Rule 4(a) because he did not receive notice of the district court judgment until September 1978. Failure to receive notice can constitute a "showing of excusable neglect" sufficient to allow a district court to extend the time for appeal by an additional thirty days, but such an extension here could not have gone beyond August 7, 1978. Id. See 9 Moore's Federal Practice P 204.13(1), at 969-71 (2d ed. 1975). This exception obviously offers no help to the plaintiff, who allegedly did not learn of the judgment until even the August 7 date had passed.
While it is tempting to overlook the requirements of Rule 4 when a party particularly one who is incarcerated fails to receive notice of judgment, we cannot do so. That a civil appeal be filed within the time specified by the rule is a prerequisite to our jurisdiction. That is, the time limits of Rule 4 are not merely procedural requirements that can be waived at the discretion of the court, but rather are limits on this court's power to review decisions of the district courts. E. g., Browder v. Director, Department of Corrections, 434 U.S. 257, 264-65, 98 S.Ct. 556, 54 L.Ed.2d 521 (1978); Martinez v. Trainor, 556 F.2d 818, 819 (7th Cir. 1977); See United States v. Robinson, 361 U.S. 220, 228-29, 80 S.Ct. 282, 4 L.Ed.2d 259 (1960); Spound v. Mohasco Industries, Inc., 534 F.2d 404, 410-11 (1st Cir.), Cert. denied, 429 U.S. 886, 97 S.Ct. 238, 50 L.Ed.2d 167 (1976). But see 9 Moore's Federal Practice P 204.02(2), at 908-11 (2d ed. 1975). While the application of this rule may lead to apparently harsh results in some cases, it serves important interests of finality. Browder, 434 U.S. at 264,...
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Gorman v. Abbott Laboratories
...imprecations. There is nothing unfair about holding a party to the natural consequences of its procedural blunders. Cf. Silvia v. Laurie, 594 F.2d 892, 893 (1st Cir.1979) (notice of appeal untimely when not brought within sixty days of date of judgment); Jakobsen v. Massachusetts Port Autho......
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Tanner v. Yukins, 12–2114.
...In re Stein, 197 F.3d 421, 424 (9th Cir.1999) ; In re Cosmopolitan Aviation Corp., 763 F.2d 507, 514 (2d Cir.1985) ; Silvia v. Laurie, 594 F.2d 892, 893 (1st Cir.1979). The drafters of the Rules of Appellate Procedure, however, were aware of the long-standing “problem of litigants who fail ......
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Tanner v. Yukins
...In re Stein, 197 F.3d 421, 424 (9th Cir. 1999); In re Cosmopolitan Aviation Corp., 763 F.2d 507, 514 (2d Cir. 1985); Silvia v. Laurie, 594 F.2d 892, 893 (1st Cir. 1979). The drafters of the Rules of Appellate Procedure, however, were aware of the long-standing "problem of litigants who fail......
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