Elder v. New Jersey Transit Corp.
Docket: No. 09-2339
Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; September 15, 2009; Federal Appellate Court
Emerson Elder, representing himself, appealed a post-judgment order from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey that denied his motion related to an employment discrimination case against New Jersey Transit Corp. Elder alleged religious discrimination and retaliation due to his previous legal actions against the company. The District Court had granted summary judgment in favor of New Jersey Transit on March 23, 2004, a decision that was previously affirmed on appeal. Elder filed a motion for reconsideration on October 4, 2005, which the District Court deemed filed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) and denied as untimely and without merit. He subsequently filed a motion for a new hearing on March 17, 2008, which was also treated under Rules 59(e) and 60(b) and denied for similar reasons. Elder’s attempts to reconsider this denial were also unsuccessful. On November 12, 2008, he filed another post-judgment motion challenging the March 23, 2004, decision, which was again denied as untimely and lacking merit. The appellate court affirmed the District Court's order, concluding that it did not abuse its discretion in denying Elder’s motion. The appeal was found to raise no substantial questions. Furthermore, Elder's claims of a conflict of interest involving his appointed counsel were rejected, and it was determined that his post-judgment motions were untimely under both Rule 59(e) and Rule 60(b). The court noted that Elder did not timely appeal the denials of his earlier motions, thus lacking jurisdiction to review those.