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Charmaine HAMER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF CHICAGO & Fannie Mae, Defendants-Appellees

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit2016-08-31No. No. 15-3764
835 F.3d 761

Summary

Holding. The appellate court dismissed Hamer's appeal as untimely because the district court's extension of the notice of appeal deadline exceeded the maximum period permitted under 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c) and Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(5)(C), and the appellate court lacks authority to excuse this jurisdictional defect.

Charmaine Hamer filed a discrimination lawsuit against her former employers alleging age and civil rights violations. The district court granted summary judgment against her, and she sought to appeal. The district court granted her motion to extend the notice of appeal deadline to December 14, 2015, but this extension exceeded the maximum period allowed under federal appellate rules by approximately 30 days. Hamer filed her notice of appeal on December 11, 2015, within the district court's extended deadline but outside the limits set by the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

The court held that the statutory deadline for filing a notice of appeal is mandatory and jurisdictional, and that district courts cannot extend this deadline beyond the limits established by statute and the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Even though Hamer relied on the district court's erroneous extension order, the appellate court lacked authority to excuse the late filing or create an exception to these rigid jurisdictional requirements. The court also rejected Hamer's argument that the defendants waived their timeliness challenge, finding that jurisdictional defects cannot be waived by the opposing party.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether a district court may extend the notice of appeal deadline beyond statutory and rule-based limits
  • Whether the federal appellate rules' time restrictions on extending appeal deadlines are jurisdictional and mandatory
  • Whether a party may waive a challenge to the timeliness of an appeal when jurisdictional defects are involved
  • Whether an appellant's reliance on a district court's erroneous extension order excuses late filing

Procedural posture

Hamer appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment against her, but the appellate court addressed the threshold jurisdictional issue of whether her notice of appeal was timely filed.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

YANDLE, District Judge.

Charmaine Hamer, a former Intake Specialist for the Housing Services of Chicago (“NHS”) and Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Help Center (“Fannie Mae”) (together “Appellees”), filed suit against her former employers, alleging violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et. seq., and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., as amended. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of NHS and Fannie Mae on September 14, 2015. As such, pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A) and 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a), the original deadline for Hamer to file her Notice of Appeal was October 14, 2015.

On October 8, 2015, Hamer’s counsel filed a “Motion to Withdraw and to Extend Deadline for Filing Notice of Appeal” in which she requested an extension to December 14, 2015 for Hamer to file her Notice of Appeal. The district court granted the motion and extended the deadline to December 14, 2015.

Hamer filed her Notice of Appeal with this Court on December 11, 2015; within the timeframe permitted by the district court’s Order, but exceeding the extension allowable under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5)(C) which provides: “No extension under this Rule 4(a)(5) may exceed 30 days after the prescribed time or 14 days after the date when the order granting the motion is entered, whichever is later.”

On December 31, 2015, we, sua sponte, entered an Order instructing the Appellees to file a brief addressing the timeliness of this appeal. They did so, arguing that Hamer’s Notice of Appeal is untimely under Rule 4(a)(5)(C) and, therefore, that this Court lacks jurisdiction over her appeal.

Hamer asserts that the district court extended the time to file her Notice of Appeal pursuant 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c), which states in relevant part: “[T]he district court may, upon motion filed not later than 30 days after the expiration of the time otherwise set for bringing appeal, extend the time for appeal upon a showing of excusable neglect or good cause.” She contends that Rule 4(a)(5)(C) does not apply since the district court did not consider it when granting the extension. Hamer further argues that the Appellees waived their timeliness challenge by not initially raising it.

The Supreme Court has consistently held that the statutory requirement for filing a timely notice of appeal is “mandatory and jurisdictional.” Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 207, 209, 127 S.Ct. 2360, 2362, 168 L.Ed.2d 96 (2007). In Bowles, the Court explained the relationship between the statutory filing period set forth in § 2107(a) and the district court’s authority to extend that period under § 2107(c) and Rule 4:

According to 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a), parties must file notices of appeal within 30 days of the enjry of the judgment being appealed. District courts have limited authority to grant an extension of the 30-day time period... Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure carries § 2107 into practice. In accord with § 2107(c), Rule 4(a)(6) describes the district court’s authority to reopen and extend the time for filing a notice of appeal after the lapse of the usual 30 days ... Id. at 208, 127 S.Ct. 2360. Like the initial 30-day period for filing a notice of appeal, the limit on how long a district court may reopen that period is set forth in a statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c). Because Congress specifically limited the amount of time by which district courts can extend the notice-of-appeal period in § 2107(c), that limitation is more than a simple ‘claim-processing rule.’ (emphasis added). As we have long held, when an ‘appeal has not been prosecuted in the manner directed, within the time limited by the acts of Congress, it must be dismissed for want of jurisdiction.’ Id. at 213, 127 S.Ct. 2360. (internal citation omitted).

Like Rule 4(a)(6), Rule 4(a)(5)(C) is the vehicle by which § 2107(c) is employed and it limits a district court’s authority to extend the notice of appeal filing deadline to no more than an additional 30 days. Thus, the district court was in error when it granted Ms. Hamer an extension that exceeded the Rule 4(a)(5)(C) time period by almost 30 days.

Although we recognize that Ms. Hamer relied upon the district court’s erroneous Order and was misled into believing that she had until December 14, 2015 to file her Notice of Appeal, this Court simply has no authority to excuse the late filing or to create an equitable exception to jurisdictional requirements. See Bowles at 214,127 S.Ct. 2360. Therefore, Hamer’s Notice is untimely.

Finally, Hamer’s argument that the Ap-pellees waived the issue of the timeliness of her appeal also fails. When a filing error is one of “jurisdictional magnitude”, forfeiture or waiver cannot excuse the lack of compliance with the statute’s time limitation.” See Bowles at 213, 127 S.Ct. 2360. Had the Appellees never challenged the timeliness of Hamer’s Notice, they could not waive what this Court is bound by statute to uphold. Accordingly, because we have no jurisdiction to consider Hamer’s appeal on the merits, it is dismissed.