Setala v. J.C. Penney Company2/8/2002
LEVINSON, RAMIL, AND ACOBA, JJ.; WITH MOON, C.J., CONCURRING SEPARATELY, AND WITH WHOM NAKAYAMA, J., JOINS
We hold that a notice of appeal is deemed "filed" for purposes of Hawaii Rules of Appellate Procedure (HRAP) Rule 4(a) on the day it is tendered to prison officials by a pro se prisoner. Accordingly, we remand this case to the first circuit court (the court) for an evidentiary hearing, consistent with this opinion, on the issue of whether Plaintiff-Appellant Vincent M. Setala (Plaintiff) tendered his notice of appeal to prison officials on or before the deadline.
I.
This case arises out of a shoplifting incident on March 21, 1994, when Plaintiff entered Defendant-Appellee J.C. Penney Company's (J.C. Penney) store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center and was subsequently detained by J.C. Penney employees. After being apprehended by J.C. Penney employees, Plaintiff pled no contest and was sentenced to a term of incarceration. Plaintiff subsequently filed a complaint against J.C. Penney and others [hereinafter collectively, Defendants] for personal injury arising out of the foregoing incident. At the time that he did so, Plaintiff was, and currently remains, incarcerated at the Halawa Correctional Facility on Oahu. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss on February 12, 1999, arguing that the two-year statute of limitations had run between the time of the incident, March 21, 1994, and the date Plaintiff had filed his complaint, March 7, 1997. On April 16, 1999, the court granted Defendants' motion, agreeing that the applicable statute of limitations period had run.
Plaintiff appealed, signing his notice of appeal on May 14, 1999. The notice was not filed until June 10, 1999. Plaintiff also filed a motion for reconsideration on June 10, 1999. On September 22, 1999, Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration was denied. Due to the motion for reconsideration, the time for appeal was tolled, and this court dismissed Plaintiff's first appeal on November 1, 1999. Plaintiff filed a second notice of appeal, which was filed on November 5, 1999, but which was dated October 17, 1999.
Defendants filed a statement of jurisdiction arguing that Plaintiff was fourteen days late in filing his notice, and that Plaintiff's appeal should be dismissed as untimely. In his statement of jurisdiction, Plaintiff contends that, within the thirty-day period for appeal, he "placed the Notice of Appeal into the Halawa Prison Mail System on October 18, 1999, which date may be ascertained by the Correctional Officer's signature with date/time information that is written upon the back of the envelope at the time it is (by prison policy) sealed,[ ]stamped 'confidential', and then placed in the prison mailbox." No envelope, however, is attached to the notice of appeal.
II.
Plaintiff contends that his notice of appeal is timely on the basis of the "Houston Rule," set out by the United States Supreme Court in Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988). In that case, the Court, recognizing the unique circumstances of pro se prisoners, held that a notice of appeal in a habeas corpus case is deemed filed, under the rules pertaining to civil cases, at the time the prisoner delivers the notice to prison authorities for forwarding to the courts. Relying on Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (FRAP) Rules 3 and 4, the Court determined that "nothing in Rules 3 and 4 compels the conclusion that, in all cases, receipt by the clerk of the district court is the moment of filing." Id. at 274. Pointing out that, unlike other civil litigants, pro se prisoner litigants cannot personally travel to the courthouse to ensure that their notice is stamped "filed" by the clerk, id. at 271, the Co
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hawaii Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|