U.S. v. Holland

• Decision Date: 18 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. 2:97cr139.,2:97cr139.
• Citation: 48 F.Supp.2d 571
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiffs, v. Richard Joyner HOLLAND, Richard Joyner Holland, Jr., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

48 F.Supp.2d 571

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiffs, v. Richard Joyner HOLLAND, Richard Joyner Holland, Jr., Defendants.

No. 2:97cr139.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Norfork Division.

May 18, 1999.

Robert J. Seidel, Jr., James A. Metcalfe, United States Attorney's Office, Norfolk, VA, William L. Finch, Department of Justice, Criminal Division — Fraud Section, Washington, DC, for plaintiffs.

James Crawford Roberts, Alan Dale Albert, Mays & Valentine, Norfolk, VA, Hunter Wilmer Sims, Jr., Kaufman & Canoles, Norfolk, VA, for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER ON GOVERNMENT'S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

MORGAN, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the Government's Motion for Reconsideration. The Motion asks the Court to reconsider its Opinion and Order of February 3, 1999, in which the Court granted the Hyde Amendment petition of the defendants, Richard Joyner Holland, Sr. and Richard Joyner Holland, Jr. (together the "Hollands" or "Defendants"), and awarded the Hollands $570,658.00 in litigation expenses and costs. The parties agreed to submit this Motion to the Court on their respective briefs thereby waiving oral argument. The United States is referred to as the "Government" regarding this petition and as the "Prosecution" regarding the events leading up to the Hollands' acquittal. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is referred to as the "FDIC." This Opinion and Order sets forth the Court's ruling and rationale.

I. Factual and Procedural History

In light of the Court's recitation of the underlying facts in its February 3, 1999 Opinion and Order, the Court will forego any further statement of the facts and hereby incorporates by reference the facts as found in that Opinion and Order. On March 4, 1999, the Government filed a pleading entitled Motion for Reconsideration. The Defendants requested and received an extension of time in which to respond to the Government's motion. On March 25, 1999, the Hollands filed a joint response.

II. Standard of Review

There is no provision in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure providing for motions for reconsideration. United States v. Dickerson, 971 F.Supp. 1023 (E.D.Va.1997) (Government moved for reconsideration of order granting in part defendant's motion to suppress). However, since Hyde Amendment proceedings are post-trial proceedings incorporating the Equal Access to Justice Act ("EAJA") and provide a civil remedy of money damages, the Court FINDS its decision upon the Hyde Amendment claims to be in the nature of a civil proceeding. Accordingly, the Court will apply the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in considering the Government's Motion for Reconsideration. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 52(b), 59(b)(d) and (e) and 60(b) each address motions to reconsider or similar motions. The Government did not specify the rule or rules pursuant to which it sought reconsideration. However, Rule 52(b) and 59(b), (d) and (e) require the moving party to file such motions no later than 10 days after the entry of the judgment. In the instant case, the Government filed its Motion for Reconsideration 29 days after the entry of the Court's February 3, 1999 Opinion and Order. A motion pursuant to Rule 60(b) must be made "within a reasonable time." Therefore the Court will consider the motion as timely filed pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b).

Rule 60(b) provides:

On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or a party's legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence ... (3) fraud, misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged ... or (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment.

Rule 60(b) does not suggest a de novo review of the facts and legal arguments. A motion under Rule 60(b) is addressed to the sound discretion of the district court. Square Construction Co. v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 657 F.2d 68 (4th Cir.1981). Rule 60(b) "has invested federal courts with the power in certain restricted circumstances to vacate judgments whenever such action is appropriate to accomplish justice." Compton v. Alton Steamship Co., Inc., 608 F.2d 96 (4th Cir.1979), citing, Klapprott v. United States, 335 U.S. 601, 69 S.Ct. 384, 93 L.Ed. 1099 (1949). The remedy provided by Rule 60(b) is "extraordinary and is only to be invoked upon a showing of exceptional circumstances." Id. As a threshold matter, "the movant must demonstrate the existence of a meritorious claim or defense." Id. at 71. In its consideration, the Court must balance the "competing policies favoring the finality of judgments and justice being done in view of all the facts, to determine, within its discretion, whether relief is appropriate in each case." Id. Rule 60(b) does not authorize a motion merely for reconsideration of a legal issue. United States v. Williams, 674 F.2d 310 (4th Cir.1982). "Where the motion is nothing more than a request that the district court change its mind," it is not authorized by Rule 60(b). Id.

The Court FINDS that the Government's arguments designated as 1, 2 and 3 in its motion raise no issues cognizable under Rule 60(b).¹ The Government argues that "we have focused here only on the extent to which the Court's February 3, 1999 Order raises issues under the Hyde Amendment that had not crystalized before." (Government's Motion at p. 22). The efforts of the Government to dress these issues in a different cloak does not create a Rule 60(b) issue. The Court will undertake to explain its rationale in concluding that it has already ruled upon these issues, as well as attempting to explain why the Government either misunderstands or misstates its rulings. Such misunderstandings or misstatements were rife in the Government's initial response to the petition dated June 26, 1998, but the Court only dealt with the more egregious examples in its February 3, 1999 Opinion and Order. One example of the Government's confusion is found when comparing the argument stated in its June 26, 1998 response with its argument upon the subject motion; compare: "For example, in granting the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal as to Count 23, a false statement to the FDIC, the Court in its written opinion filed April 30, 1998 discusses extensively its reasons for rejecting Sheeran's testimony, and (as an inevitable corollary) accepting as consistent and credible the testimony of the Marches." (Government Response at p. 29); and "A principal basis upon which the Court deemed the prosecution vexatious was its view that the government should have known that the witnesses it needed to establish the Hollands' criminal intent (principally Sheeran and, to a lesser extent, Dr. and Mrs. March) were `incredible as a matter of law.'" (Government's Motion at p. 19). The Government thereby argues in one pleading that the Court found the Marches' testimony consistent and credible and argues in another pleading that the Court found their testimony incredible as a matter of law. In fact, the Court did not rule either that the Marches' testimony was "incredible as a matter of law" or that it was consistent and credible. The Court did observe that the testimony of Mrs. March was internally inconsistent:²

Court: In addition to that, the court admitted grand jury testimony.

Mr. Williams: Your Honor, I do understand that. All I'm doing now with reference to June March's testimony — and you can certainly mark it as rejected — I — because I believe that — because I disagree with you, I'm respectfully tendering to the court, even if you mark it as rejected, to be made any part of the record for the Court of Appeals the grand jury testimony of June March for October of 1994 and September 26, 1997, because I submit that if I am right, with all due respect, you — The Court of Appeals may say, no, Judge Morgan was right; but if I am right, and there is a conflict —

Court: Well, there is a conflict. The Court did not find that there wasn't a conflict. The Court found that there was an internal conflict in her grand jury testimony. Her testimony at the grand jury supported both sides depending on which portion of it you read.

(Tr. 8/19/98 hearing; p. 97. L. 5-22)

III. Analysis

A. Government's Constitutional Challenge to Court's Interpretation of the Hyde Amendment

The Government first moves the Court to reconsider its application of the EAJA to the Hyde Amendment. According to the Government, the Court's decision to allow the Hollands to proceed pursuant to Section 2412(b) of the EAJA renders the Hyde Amendment unconstitutional as applied, because it abridges the separation of powers doctrine. The Government argues that the Court's interpretation allows courts to use the Hyde Amendment to "punish the executive or provide a windfall for defendants." The Government further asserts that because the Hyde Amendment is a waiver of sovereign immunity, it is to be strictly construed in favor of the United States. According to the Government, the Court's construction of the Hyde Amendment transgresses this canon of construction.

First, it should be repeated that Rule 60(b) does not authorize a motion merely for reconsideration of a legal issue. The Government has not offered any new facts or evidence, but merely requests that the Court change its mind about its interpretation of the Hyde Amendment. This is not the purpose of a motion for reconsideration. Nevertheless, even if the Court were persuaded to reexamine its interpretation of the EAJA as incorporated into the Hyde Amendment, the Court would reach the same conclusion it reached at the August 19 and 20, 1998 hearing and in its February 3, 1999 Opinion and Order.

As is appropriate in all cases which turn on statutory construction, the Court...