Tripati v. Henman
| Decision Date | 15 August 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-2323,87-2323 |
| Citation | 857 F.2d 1366 |
| Parties | Anant Kumar TRIPATI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. G.L. HENMAN; Ogis Fields, Regional Director, Western Region; Norman Carlson, Director Federal Prison System; William Perrill; R.J. Barncastle; Willis Gibson; Chuck Smallwood; Yolanda Savage, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Anant Kumar Tripati, La Tuna, Tex., in pro. per.
James D. Whitney, Asst. U.S. Atty., Tucson, Ariz., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
Before BRUNETTI, KOZINSKI and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges.
Appellant Tripati presents us with the interesting question of whether a prisoner's constitutional right of access to the courts encompasses the right to an adequate law library, to enable the prisoner to defend civil forfeiture actions. Unfortunately, he presents it on the wrong appeal.
In June 1986, Tripati filed a complaint against federal prison officials (action # 1), alleging the inadequacy of the law library at the Federal Correctional Institution at Tucson. On April 14, 1987, the district court, in granting the officials' cross-motion for summary judgment, ruled that the law library met the constitutional standards set forth in Lindquist v. Idaho State Board of Corrections, 776 F.2d 851 (9th Cir.1985). On April 20, Tripati filed a notice of appeal. The next day, he filed a motion pursuant to Rule 59(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure asking the district court to alter or amend the judgment. On April 22, the district court denied the motion for lack of jurisdiction. Tripati appealed the denial on May 27.
Tripati had meanwhile filed a nearly identical complaint, naming many of the same defendants, in September 1986 (action # 2). In an order dated May 13, 1987, the same district judge again granted defendants' motion for summary judgment. The court correctly held that Tripati's claims regarding the adequacy of the law library were precluded by the court's decision of a month earlier in action # 1. Tripati appealed the order terminating action # 2; this is the judgment we are reviewing today.
In the meantime, however, we disposed of action # 1. In Tripati v. Henman, 845 F.2d 205 (9th Cir.1988), we determined that the district court was incorrect in denying Tripati's Rule 59(e) motion for lack of jurisdiction. We held that the Rule 59(e) motion rendered the prior notice of appeal a nullity and that the district court thus retained jurisdiction. Accordingly we reversed and remanded to the district court for consideration of the motion.
On the basis of what has been presented to us, it appears that action # 1 has progressed no farther. There has been a district court decision, Tripati has a Rule 59(e) motion pending, and, if past experience is any guide, Tripati will appeal the decision if his motion is denied. We must now determine the preclusive effect of action # 1's law library ruling on the identical claim asserted in action # 2.
"The established rule in the federal courts is that a final judgment retains all of its res judicata consequences pending decision of the appeal...." 18 C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 4433, at 308 (1981). See SSIH Equipment S.A. v. United States Int'l Trade Comm'n, 718 F.2d 365, 370 (Fed.Cir.1983). To deny preclusion in these circumstances would lead to an absurd result: Litigants would be able to refile identical cases while appeals are pending, enmeshing their opponents and the court system in tangles of duplicative litigation. See Warwick v. Maryland Dep't of Transp., 573 F.Supp. 1011, 1014 (D.Md.1983), aff'd without opinion, 735 F.2d 1359 (4th Cir.1984). A pending Rule 59(e) motion similarly does not deprive a judgment of finality for res judicata purposes. 1 See Restatement (Second) of Judgments Sec. 13 comment f (1982). This case illustrates the logic behind the rule. To deny action # 1's preclusive effect while Tripati's motion is pending would enable him to simultaneously maintain two identical claims in the same district court.
The court below was accordingly correct in recognizing that its rejection of Tripati's law library claim in action # 1 precluded its consideration of the identical claim in action # 2. The law library claim having been first raised and resolved in action # 1, it must be finally disposed of in that action. We will be able to consider the merits of what appears to be an interesting legal issue sometime in the near future, if and when Tripati files another appeal in action # 1.
AFFIRMED.
* The panel finds this case appropriate for submission without oral argument pursuant to Ninth Circuit...
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