District Court Acted Well Within Its Discretion When It Denied Relief Under Rule 60(b) For Counsel's Deliberate Choice To Dismiss Federal Case Under A Mistaken Assessment Of His Client's Rights To Proceed In State Court
ESKRIDGE v. COOK COUNTY (August 17, 2009)
Michelle Eskridge died of pneumonia after having been treated at Access Community Health Network (Access) and Stroger Hospital. Access was a U. S. Public Health Service facility and Stroger was a Cook County facility. Michelle's parents sued Access and Cook County in state court. The United States removed the case to federal court, where the case against the U.S. was dismissed for failure to exhaust Federal Tort Claims Act remedies. The court remanded the case against Cook County to state court. The Eskridges exhausted their remedies and filed a second suit in federal court against the county and the United States and dismissed the earlier suit. Later, having decided to pursue only Cook County, the Eskridges filed yet a third lawsuit, in state court, against Cook County and moved to dismiss the federal suit. Their motion was granted. Meanwhile, in state court, Cook County moved to dismiss the suit on procedural grounds. Upon realizing the merits of the County’s defense, the Eskridges filed a motion in federal court for relief from their own voluntary dismissal, claiming they intended only to dismiss the United States. The court denied the motion. They then moved for reconsideration, a motion which was considered a second Rule 60(b) motion, which was also denied. The Eskridges appeal.
In their opinion, Judges Evans, Williams and Tinder affirmed. The Court first noted its extremely deferential review. First, Rule 60(b) is itself an extraordinary remedy. Second, appellate review proceeds under an "extremely deferential" standard. Third, here, the Eskridges did not appeal from the original Rule 60(b) order but only from the denial of their request for reconsideration. On the merits, The Court noted that relief under Rule 60(b) typically involves a misunderstanding. Here, the Eskridges' attorney asked for the relief granted. The fact that he did not anticipate the actual consequences of his request does not compel the relief requested.
