Singleton v. SmithSingleton v. Smith
- Reporters:
- Before:
- Keith, Boggs, Cole
OPINION
BOGGS, Circuit Judge. Following a negative jury verdict in his civil trial, costs were imposed against appellant Singleton pursuant to the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA“),
I
The merits of Singleton‘s complaint are not at issue here, but may be useful for context. Singleton, an Ohio prisoner, is a diagnosed asthmatic who was incarcerated in the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio in 1994. He claimed to have requested a nonsmoking environment and been denied it. Indeed, he said the defendants, who are corrections sergeants, told other inmates to “smoke him out” because he was “an asshole.” Singleton claimed that his asthma was worsened as a result of the cigarette smoke to which he was exposed by defendants’ alleged acts of commission and omission. In 1994, Singleton filed a civil rights claim under
Specifically, costs were assessed for: (1) the defendants’ deposition of the plaintiff-appellant on January 31, 1996; (2) the defendants’ depositions of the defendants-appellees on November 14, 1997; (3) the defendants’ depositions of four inmates on January 1, 1998; (4) the defendants’ depositions of two other inmates on February 13, 1998; (5) the defendants’ deposition of Singleton‘s medical expert on February 19, 1998; and (6) defendants’ two depositions (one a video deposition) of their own medical expert on March 2, 1998. Singleton does not challenge the necessity of these costs or present legal challenges to any of them individually.
These depositions began after Judge Beckwith (then handling the case) denied a defense motion to reconsider the magistrate judge‘s report and recommendation denying summary judgment. This occurred on January 11, 1996 and was followed by an order to file a written statement on readiness to proceed to trial (January 16, 1996). Singleton‘s deposition was noticed to the court the next day and taken two weeks later. The depositions of the corrections officers were not noticed. When Singleton identified his witnesses is not apparent in all cases from the record before us. In a notice filed January 25, 1996, he identified Timothy Slone (deposed on 2/13/98) and also mentioned his writ writer, Darryl Blankenship (deposed 1/1/98). In a notice filed on June 6, 1996, Singleton identified Troy Harshey (deposed 2/13/98), Slone again, and his old cell mate Howard Boddie, Jr. (deposed 1/1/98).
At the conclusion of the trial, the defendant presented a Bill of Costs for $6263.39. The clerk of the court disallowed some costs, and assessed Singleton $4339.75. On plaintiff‘s motion to re-tax costs, the trial judge apparently was willing to consider indigency as a factor favoring denial of costs. The judge noted, however, that pursuant to his interpretation of our rule in Talley-Bey v. Knebl, 168 F.3d 884, 886 (6th Cir. 1999), any award would not be subsequently challengeable on the basis of inability to pay. After considering several factors and disallowing one of the clerk‘s assessments as unauthorized, he awarded $3857.35 to the defendants. Singleton‘s complaints are not directed at the particular calculations that led to this figure but attack the equitable, statutory, and constitutional grounds for taxing him with so large a sum.
II
Standard of Review
We review a district court‘s award of costs for an abuse of discretion. Jones v. Continental Corp., 789 F.2d 1225, 1233 (6th Cir. 1986). “Abuse of discretion is defined as a definite and firm conviction that the trial court committed a clear error of judgment.” Bowling v. Pfizer, Inc., 102 F.3d 777, 780 (6th Cir. 1996) (upholding the award of attorney‘s fees). Singleton‘s second argument addresses the constitutionality of the PLRA. We review de novo a challenge to the constitutionality of a federal statute. See United States v. Brown, 25 F.3d 307, 308-09 (6th Cir. 1994). Whether the PLRA, by its terms, may be retroactively applied in this case to govern the taxation of costs is a question of statutory construction subject to de novo review. See Glover v. Johnson, 138 F.3d 229, 249 (6th Cir. 1998).
The effective date of the PLRA is April 26, 1996. Our orders pursuant to the PLRA became effective on March 1, 1997. See In re Prison Litigation Reform Act, 105 F.3d 1131, 1139 (6th Cir. 1997).
The Facial Constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(f)(1), 1915(f)(2)(A)
Singleton claims that the imposition of large financial burdens resulting from his unsuccessful litigation unconstitutionally denies him access to the courts in violation of the First Amendment. This argument is foreclosed by our previous ruling in Hampton v. Hobbs, 106 F.3d 1281, 1284-85 (6th Cir. 1997). There, in evaluating the fee provisions of the PLRA, we found that “prisoners asserting civil claims in federal court have never been guaranteed a ‘free ride.‘” Id. at 1285. As discussed above, the PLRA itself has provisions that prevent assessments from being so burdensome that they would stop a prisoner from being able to bring suit.
Singleton‘s discussion of the caselaw on these points is inapposite, dealing with cases such as Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105, 114, 115 (1943), which invalidated on First Amendment grounds special burdens on Jehovah‘s Witnesses’ distribution of religious literature. The function of the challenged provisions of the PLRA is not to place special burdens on the prisoners, but to put them in the same position as other litigants, nor does it in fact prevent them from performing the protected activity (here, litigating claims), as the invalidated fees effectively did to the Jehovah‘s Witnesses.
Singleton also points out that a side effect of the cost provisions is that they will affect more heavily those with strong but ultimately unsuccessful claims. Frivolous litigants, whose claims are dismissed early on, will impose fewer discovery costs such as depositions on the other side, and
Abuse of Discretion in Taxation of Costs
The district court in this case, after correctly stating the law on the matter, appears to have primarily considered the issues of indigency and whether the case was a “close and difficult one.” The judge found Singleton‘s claim, although reaching the jury stage, was not a difficult or close case. On the question of indigency, he seems to have weighed the point that Singleton‘s needs will be provided for the state in any event, and found the imposition of costs would not be overly burdensome on Singleton‘s life. See Hampton, 106 F.3d at 1285. The court further considered whether the imposition of costs would chill Singleton‘s exercise of constitutional rights, relying on our Circuit precedents in Hampton and Weaver to find that the effect did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation.
Since costs are presumptively awarded and the issue is in the discretion of the trial court, it requires a substantial showing for us to rule that this discretion was abused. Generally, this would require the lower court ignoring the criteria set by Sixth Circuit, see White & White, 786 F.2d at 730, or otherwise a certainty on our part that a clear error in judgment was
Because the payment provisions of the PLRA,
The size of the award and the circumstances in which it will ultimately be applied should be equitable factors in evaluating the effect of indigency. Cf. Weaver, 948 F.2d at 1013 (agreeing “a district court . . . may look to such factors as the ‘purpose of the rule,’ ‘the litigation history’ of the party, ‘good faith,’ and ’the actual dollars involved‘“) (emphasis supplied) (citation omitted); 16A CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT, ET AL., FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 3985 at 710 n.8 (3d ed.1999) (citing Weaver). The lower court did not clearly refuse to take the award‘s size into consideration — it was aware of Singleton‘s financial condition, although it did not concern itself with any post-release effects of the award. In any event, we cannot be certain of an error on the part of the district court, as Singleton has, apparently, long years with which to prepare himself to be able to pay a debt which is not insurmountable if he is employable. See McGill v. Faulkner, 18 F.3d 456, 460 (7th Cir. 1994) (on abuse of discretion standard, upholding a $3214 cost award against a prisoner irrespective of indigency, and noting “we are not convinced on the record that McGill will not ever be able to pay the order imposing costs“). It is in Ohio‘s interest to see that Singleton acquires sufficient skills if the state ever wants to be paid. Singleton‘s situation may not be good, but the immediate effect of the award is muted. He remains better off than an impoverished free litigant who may be made utterly destitute by taxation of costs — Singleton will not be deprived of his home or his means of livelihood.
Singleton also claims that even if some costs were appropriate, the total award of costs was not. He also contends that the district court felt it could not generate an equitable intermediate figure because it somehow took the PLRA as creating an “all-or-none” rule. (Singleton Br. at 13). Although not cited by Singleton, district courts do occasionally remit part of otherwise allowable costs on equitable grounds, including the losing party‘s financial circumstances. See Jansen v. Packaging Corp. of America, 898 F. Supp. 625, 630 (N.D. Ill. 1995); Coulter v. Newmont Gold Co., 873 F. Supp. 394, 397 (D. Nev. 1994); Ezold v. Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, 157 F.R.D. 13, 18 (E.D. Pa. 1994). In evaluating a similar motion for costs against a prisoner under
Singleton asserts that the district court misunderstood the PLRA‘s requirement that after a court chooses to tax costs, the prisoner must pay in full. Singleton claims the district judge felt his discretion was confined from even considering a partial award. Assuming this would have been a mistake, there is no evidence the district court made it. The district court simply pointed out that its assessments would not be subject to challenge or reduction on the basis of inability to pay. It did not, as Singleton claims, adopt an “all-or-none” rule anywhere in the opinion. There is no evidence the district court considered a partial award, and it was not required to do so. Because there was no legal error, and because we are not convinced a clear error of judgment occurred, we hold that the initial award of costs was not an abuse of discretion.
Retroactive Exclusion by the PLRA of Post-Award Challenges
Prior to the enactment of the PLRA, it was possible for an unsuccessful indigent plaintiff to have a subsequent challenge to an award of costs through proof of inability to pay. See Weaver, 948 F.2d at 1014. As the district court in this case noted, the PLRA eliminated such challenges through its provisions requiring payment in full. Having upheld the award of costs, and the constitutionality of the relevant provisions of PLRA, our inquiry is not at an end, however, because we must determine to what extent the PLRA affects Singleton‘s litigation, which in part predates it.
There is a “traditional presumption” against retroactivity. Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 280 (1994). In order to assess whether to apply a change in law to pending cases, Landgraf establishes a two-part test. First, we are to look at whether the new statute shows “clear congressional intent” defining its temporal reach and favoring retroactive application. Ibid. Second, if congressional intent is absent, the inquiry becomes whether “the new provision attaches new legal consequences to events completed before its enactment.” Id. at 270. New procedural rules are less likely to create retroactivity problems. Id. at 275. However, retroactivity concerns and analysis are also legitimately applied to procedural rules – “the mere fact that a new rule is procedural does not mean that it applies to every case.” Id. at 275 n.29.
The Supreme Court‘s subsequent analysis of the PLRA in Martin v. Hadix concluded that the “PLRA contains no express command about its temporal scope.” 527 U.S. 343, 362 (1999). The Court therefore analyzed the provisions in question there (on attorney‘s fees) under the second Landgraf test, as also seems appropriate here. The relevant question becomes whether the change in law in the Sixth Circuit, ultimately traceable to the passage of the PLRA, attached new legal consequences to events completed by Singleton in his case prior to the change in law. In answering this question, we are to be “informed and guided by ‘familiar considerations of fair notice, reasonable reliance, and settled expectations.‘” Id. at 358 (quoting Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 270).
If there had been no PLRA, or if Singleton‘s case had proceeded as originally
The Weaver challenge available to in forma pauperis plaintiffs, in which they had a method to avoid some or all of a district court‘s ordered costs, was considered to be incompatible (as to prisoners) with the PLRA‘s command that “[i]f the judgment against a prisoner includes the payment of costs . . . the prisoner shall be required to pay the full amount of the costs ordered.”
Also in our administrative order, we required plaintiffs as of March 1, 1997 to file a form that would waive objection to “fee assessment” by the trial court, and waive objection to “the withdrawal of funds from the trust account by prison officials to pay the prisoner‘s court fees and costs.” In re PLRA, 105 F.3d at 1132. Taken with the foregoing then, it would seem that it is this order that represents the “new rule” that should be assessed for retroactive effect, namely, whether the elimination of the post-assessment challenge to taxation of costs, based on ability to pay, attached new legal consequences to events that had already occurred by March 1, 1997 in Singleton‘s case.3
The Supreme Court‘s analysis in Martin is instructive in resolving this case. There, successful plaintiffs sought to avoid the PLRA‘s limits on attorney fees in a situation in which some of the work had occurred prior to the PLRA and some after (the case had been filed many years prior to the PLRA, but the bill of costs
Martin protected the settled expectations of attorneys regarding the benefits of filing a prisoner suit, and there appears to be no reason not to protect the expectations of the litigant himself. Although Singleton was always liable for his costs, until March 1997 Weaver provided a backstop that would probably have prevented him from being subject to a post-incarceration debt immediately payable. The first cost currently assessed against Singleton is for defendants’ deposition of him months before the PLRA became effective.
Persuasive authority varies on retroactive applications of the PLRA‘s prevailing-party cost provisions. In an unpublished decision, a panel of this court held that the new method for paying costs imposed by the court “merely establishes a procedure,” and it thereby upheld $7980 in costs despite the fact that the complaint had been filed four years prior to the PLRA. See Sanders v. Seabold, No. 98-5470, 1999 WL 644376 (6th Cir. Aug. 13, 1999) (unpublished). However, one of our district court decisions prior to Sanders held to the opposite effect — “the Sixth Circuit‘s recent administrative order does contain indications that the Sixth Circuit would hold that in cases filed prior to the enactment of the PLRA, pre-PLRA standards should be applied in determining whether to relieve a prisoner litigant of otherwise taxable costs on the basis of indigency.” Wilcox v. Straub, No. 95-725, 1997 U.S. Dist. Lexis 10746, *2 (W.D. Mich. Jun. 24, 1997) (referring to In re PLRA). The Sanders opinion was handed down only shortly after the Supreme Court‘s opinion in Martin, and makes no reference to it, or to its renewed emphasis that procedural label is not enough to insulate new rules -- specifically, PLRA rules -- from a retroactivity inquiry. See 527 U.S. at 359. Nor did Sanders, unlike Wilcox, analyze our instructions in In re PLRA, which marked the actual demise of the Weaver procedure. Moreover, because the complaint in Sanders was deemed frivolous, there were multiple grounds on which to impose costs on the plaintiff.
The PLRA was meant to regulate Singleton‘s litigation behavior. In particular, the provisions on costs and fees were meant to alter his economic incentives to take legal actions. When he took such actions, Singleton had settled expectations about his ultimate liability for the entailed costs. These expectations would be upset by the retroactive elimination of a Weaver challenge, and following the guide of Landgraf and Martin, Singleton should be protected as to the legal effect of the actions he took. Therefore, it would be impermissibly retroactive to eliminate a Weaver challenge to costs that relate to “events completed” prior to March 1, 1997.
The remaining ambiguity has to do with when “events were completed” or “expectations became settled” with regard to one or all of the costs in this case. Unlike with the fee-seeking attorneys in Martin, the creation of the costs here was not under complete control of the individual being regulated by the new rule. Logically, for the purposes of retroactive application, an event would be “completed” when Singleton took an action that made the other party‘s cost inevitable. The costs in this case may be divided into three categories. In the first category would be those costs incurred by defendants prior to the PLRA, which for purposes of this question has the effective date of March 1, 1997. The costs of deposing Singleton fall into this category. In the second category would be costs incurred by the defendants after the PLRA, but made necessary by actions taken by Singleton (such as noticing witnesses) prior to the PLRA. The third category would consist of costs made
On remand, the magistrate judge must first determine in which category each of the assessed costs falls. After imposing liability on Singleton for any costs found to be in the third category, the magistrate must then allow Singleton an opportunity to prove that he will be unable to pay the costs found to be in the first and second category. If this showing warrants relief from those costs subject to challenge, the costs should be reduced or eliminated from the total assessed against the appellant.
III
The award of costs against Singleton is AFFIRMED. However, because Singleton may challenge at least part of this award on the grounds of inability to pay, we REMAND for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.