Wilson v. U.S. Government, 93-2025

• Decision Date: 11 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-2025,93-2025
• Citation: 23 F.3d 559
• Parties: , 28 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1160 Robert WILSON, et al., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, Defendant, Appellee. . Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 559

23 F.3d 559

1994 A.M.C. 2074, 28 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1160

Robert WILSON, et al., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, Defendant, Appellee.

No. 93-2025.

United States Court of Appeals First Circuit.

Heard March 11, 1994.

Decided May 4, 1994.

Osvaldo Perez-Marrero, Hato Rey, PR, for appellant.

David V. Hutchinson, Asst. Director, Admiralty Torts Branch, Civ. Div., with whom Frank W. Hunger, Asst. Atty. Gen., Guillermo Gil, U.S. Atty., Washington, DC, and Fidel Sevillano, Asst. U.S. Atty., Hato Rey, PR, were on brief for appellee.

Before CYR and STAHL, Circuit Judges, and PIERAS, ^* District Judge.

STAHL, Circuit Judge.

More than two years after suffering an injury at sea, plaintiff-appellant Robert Wilson ¹ attempted to amend his complaint against a private party to include the United States as defendant. The amended complaint sought damages under the Public Vessels Act and the Suits in Admiralty Act, both of which carry a two-year statute of limitations. The district court dismissed the claims as time-barred, declining to apply either equitable tolling, or Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c)'s "relation back" provisions. Finding no error, we affirm.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

On September 10, 1988, Wilson, an employee of General Electric Government Services, Inc. (hereinafter "GEGS"), whose job entailed maintaining a fleet of Seaborne Powered Target Boats (hereinafter "SEPTARs") for the United States Navy, was sent to sea by GEGS, along with several other employees, in a SEPTAR. Wilson and the other crew members became stranded in Hurricane Gilbert and required rescue by the Coast Guard.

On September 30, 1988, and again on November 23, 1988, counsel for Wilson wrote to United States Navy officials requesting transcripts of radio communications recorded during the stranding incident. Counsel also requested the results of any Navy investigations regarding the incident. These letters did not allude in any manner to the possibility that the United States might be a party in any capacity to any legal proceeding. In fact, at the time the requests were sent, no complaint against any party had yet been filed.

On September 8, 1989, almost a year after these requests to the Navy, Wilson and other crew members filed suit against GEGS under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. Sec. 688, for injuries allegedly suffered in the stranding incident. The United States received no notice of these suits, nor was the United States, or any of its departments or agencies, named as a party. On April 2, 1990, GEGS moved for summary judgment, arguing that the United States Navy owned the SEPTAR on which Wilson and the others were injured, and that therefore the United States was the only proper party in interest.

In response to GEGS's motion for summary judgment, Wilson filed a motion on June 8, 1990, requesting that GEGS be dismissed from the suit and that the United States be substituted as defendant. On June 19, 1990, the district court dismissed GEGS from the suit and granted Wilson's motion to amend his complaint.

Though the district court had granted leave for Wilson to amend his complaint, more than two months elapsed and Wilson had still not filed an amended complaint. On September 10, 1990, two years to the day after the stranding incident, the court notified Wilson that he had until September 24, 1990, i.e., fourteen days from the date of the order, to file an amended complaint, or the action would be dismissed for lack of prosecution. It is important to note that when the court issued this deadline, the United States had received no notice that it would be named a party to the suit and the amended complaint had not yet been filed. Thus, as far as the record indicates, no statute of limitations issue was before the district court when it set the September 24, 1990, deadline.

The amended complaint was filed on September 25, 1990, ² the day after the deadline imposed by the district court. It alleged liability under the Public Vessels Act, 46 U.S.C. Secs. 781-90 and the Suits in Admiralty Act, 46 U.S.C. Secs. 741-52. Suits under these statutes carry a two-year statute of limitations. Along with the amended complaint, Wilson filed a motion requesting the court to "relate back" the filing date of the amended complaint to that of the original complaint. The United States was not served with the complaint until November 16, 1990, fifty-two days after the amended complaint was filed.

On January 8, 1991, the United States moved to dismiss the action as time-barred. The matter was then referred to a magistrate who found that Wilson had indeed missed the two-year statute of limitations and had provided no basis for either relating back the filing date of the amended complaint, or for equitably tolling the limitations period. On June 30, 1993, the district court adopted the magistrate's findings and dismissed the action as time-barred. Wilson appeals from this ruling.

II. DISCUSSION

Both the Suits in Admiralty Act and the Public Vessels Act apply when a plaintiff brings a "public-vessel-related suit in admiralty against the United States." Justice v. United States, 6 F.3d 1474, 1475 (11th Cir.1993). Causes of action under both Acts "may be brought only within two years after the cause of action arises." 46 U.S.C. Sec. 745. A cause of action "arises" under both Acts on the date of injury. See, e.g., McMahon v. United States, 342 U.S. 25, 27, 72 S.Ct. 17, 19, 96 L.Ed. 26 (1951) ("[W]e think it clear that the proper construction of the language used in the Suits in Admiralty Act is that the period of limitation is to be computed from the date of the injury."); Justice, 6 F.3d at 1475 (stating that the Public Vessels Act incorporates the statute of limitations of the Suits in Admiralty Act). ³

There is no dispute that the original complaint against GEGS was timely filed, nor can it be disputed that the amended complaint which named the United States as a party was first filed more than two years after the date of injury. Wilson offers two grounds for arguing that the amended complaint should nonetheless be viewed as timely. First, Wilson argues that the two-year statute of limitations should be equitably tolled. Second, he argues that the amended complaint should be deemed to "relate back" to the date of filing of the original complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c). We address these arguments in turn.

A. Equitable Tolling

Federal courts have allowed equitable tolling only sparingly. Irwin v. Veterans Admin., 498 U.S. 89, 94, 111 S.Ct. 453, 457, 112 L.Ed.2d 435 (1990). For example, such tolling has been allowed where the claimant actively pursued a timely yet defective pleading, or where the complainant was tricked by his adversary's misconduct into allowing a deadline to pass. See id. at 96, nn. 3 & 4, 111 S.Ct. at 457-58 nn. 3 & 4 (compiling cases). Where, on the other hand, " 'the claimant [fails] to exercise due diligence in preserving his[/her] legal rights,' courts are reluctant to apply principles of equitable tolling to extend a federal limitations period." De Casenave v. United States, 991 F.2d 11, 13 (1st Cir.1993) (quoting Irwin, 498 U.S. at 96, 111 S.Ct. at 458).

In this case, Wilson's failure at more than one juncture to exercise due diligence proves fatal to his request for equitable tolling. First, Wilson asks us to toll the statute of limitations because he purportedly was unaware at the time he filed suit that the United States, rather than GEGS, owned the SEPTAR on which he was injured. He further states that GEGS's delay in filing a motion for summary judgment on these grounds caused undue delay in determining the ownership of the SEPTAR, which in turn warrants equitable tolling.

The magistrate's report points out, however, that the ownership of the SEPTAR easily could and should have been determined through routine discovery. Wilson offers no evidence to the contrary. Nor does he allege any trickery or other questionable motive on the part of GEGS. In fact, there is no evidence in the record tending to show that GEGS was dilatory in alerting the district court that the United States owned the SEPTAR. Similarly, there is no record evidence showing that Wilson made any attempt to ascertain who owned the SEPTAR, nor is there any evidence that Wilson pursued discovery on this, or any other issue in this case. In sum, nothing in the record controverts the magistrate's finding that the issue of ownership could have been made known through routine discovery procedures. Thus, we see no reason to toll the statute of limitations based on the actions of GEGS in this case. Cf. Favorite v. Marine Personnel and Provisioning, Inc., 955 F.2d 382, 388 (5th Cir.1992) (declining to equitably toll two-year statute of limitations under the Suits in Admiralty Act and the Public Vessels Act where plaintiff "waited to bring suit only because he believed he could sue ... his private employer[ ] under the three-year statute of limitations in the Jones Act").

More important than Wilson's initial failure to ascertain the identity of the SEPTAR's owner, however, is the fact that Wilson did learn of the actual ownership of the SEPTAR more than five months before the statute of limitations expired, i.e., when GEGS filed its motion for summary judgment. Still, Wilson did not amend his complaint. In fact, Wilson filed the amended complaint only after the district court threatened to dismiss the case for lack of prosecution. Wilson offers no reason or excuse for this delay. We see no basis for extending the exceptional doctrine of equitable tolling to a party who, by all accounts, merely failed to exercise his rights. Cf. Puleio v. Vose, 830 F.2d 1197, 1203 (1st Cir.1987) ("The law ministers to the vigilant, not to those who sleep upon perceptible rights."), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 990, 108 S.Ct. 1297, 99 L.Ed.2d 506 (1988). In sum, the record before us reflects that Wilson failed to exercise due diligence in pursuing his claim, and thus w...