BLD-252
NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 14-4038
___________
AMBROSIO ROUSE,
Appellant
v.
II-VI INCORPORATED; BRUCE GLICK, Individual Capacity; CSABA SZELES,
Individual Capacity; SAMUEL J. PASQUARELLI, Individual Capacity; BEVERLY A.
BLOCK, Individual Capacity; FRANCIS KRAMER, Individual Capacity; CARL J.
JOHNSON, Individual Capacity; JUDGE MARILYN J. HORAN, Individual Capacity;
JUDGE CHERYL LYNN ALLEN, Individual Capacity; JUDGE SALLIE UPDYKE
MUNDY, Individual Capacity; JUDGE CORREALE F. STEVENS, Individual Capacity;
JOHN L. MUSMANNO, Individual Capacity
____________________________________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Civil No. 13-cv-00065)
District Judge: Honorable Arthur J. Schwab
____________________________________
Submitted on a Motion for Summary Action
Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6
June 25, 2015
Before: AMBRO, JORDAN and KRAUSE, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: July 6, 2015)
_________
OPINION*
_________
PER CURIAM
Ambrosio Rouse appeals pro se from orders of the United States District Court for
the Western District of Pennsylvania, which, inter alia, denied his motion to reopen his
civil action and his motion for reconsideration of that order. We will affirm the District
Court’s judgment.
In January 2013, Rouse filed a complaint in the District Court, seeking to relitigate
several employment discrimination cases that he had brought in Pennsylvania state court
against his former employer, II-VI Incorporated. His federal complaint added civil
conspiracy allegations against the attorneys and state court judges who were involved in
those cases. On August 26, 2013, the District Court granted the defendants’ motions to
dismiss and, in a separate order, denied three then-pending motions that had been filed by
Rouse. After the District Court denied his motion for reconsideration, Rouse appealed.
We summarily affirmed, concluding that Rouse’s claims were foreclosed by claim and
issue preclusion, barred by judicial immunity, and untimely under the applicable statute
of limitations.1 In re Rouse, C.A. No. 13-4233 (order entered June 10, 2014).
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
1
At the same time, we also denied a mandamus petition in which Rouse sought to
challenge Judge Schwab’s denial of his motion for recusal.
2
Shortly thereafter, Rouse filed in the District Court a motion to reopen the
proceedings. The District Court denied that motion on July 31, 2014, citing the law of
the case doctrine. Undeterred, Rouse filed “Exceptions” to that order on August 25,
2014, arguing that “the merits of [his] Fourteenth Amendment Rights to Due Process and
Equal Protection . . . have yet to be considered and properly disposed of on the merits by
any order rendered so far in this instant action.” By order entered August 28, 2014, the
District Court stated that “to the extent that [Rouse’s] ‘Exceptions’ is another motion to
reconsider, said ‘Motion’ . . . is DENIED.” Rouse filed a notice of appeal on September
29, 2014, seeking review of (1) the orders granting the defendants’ motions to dismiss,
denying Rouse’s three then-pending motions, and denying his motion for reconsideration
(the 2013 orders), (2) the order denying his motion to reopen, and (3) the order denying
his “Exceptions.”2
We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The Appellees participating in this
appeal have filed a joint motion to summarily affirm, which Rouse opposes. The
Appellees have also filed a motion to award damages and costs under Federal Rule of
Appellate Procedure 38.
2
Rouse’s notice of appeal also identified a case management order that was entered in
the case in error, removed from public view, and redocketed in the correct case. We
conclude that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in entering this order. ZF
Meritor, LLC v. Eaton Corp., 696 F.3d 254, 268 (3d Cir. 2012) (“We . . . review a district
court’s decisions regarding . . . case management for abuse of discretion.”).
3
To the extent that Rouse seeks to challenge the 2013 orders, we will not consider
his claims because we have already affirmed the District Court’s decisions. See Atl.
Coast Demolition & Recycling, Inc. v. Bd. of Chosen Freeholders of Atl. Cnty., 112 F.3d
652, 663 (3d Cir. 1997) (stating that law-of-the-case doctrine “bars our reconsideration of
issues previously resolved by an earlier panel.”). In addition, the District Court properly
denied Rouse’s motion to reopen. According to Rouse, reopening was warranted because
the August 2013 order granting the defendants’ motions to dismiss did not comply with
the separate judgment requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 58(a). But even if
Rule 58(a) was not satisfied, reopening for entry of a separate judgment would not
benefit Rouse because, as noted above, he may not appeal again from the order granting
the defendants’ motions to dismiss. Leslie Salt Co. v. U.S., 55 F.3d 1388, 1392 (9th Cir.
1995) (stating that “one panel of an appellate court will not reconsider matters resolved in
a prior appeal to another panel in the same case.”). Finally, the District Court did not
abuse its discretion in denying Rouse’s “Exceptions,” which essentially sought
reconsideration of the order denying reopening. Rouse did not cite any intervening
change in the controlling law, produce any new evidence that was not available, or show
the need to correct a clear error of law. See Max’s Seafood Café v. Quinteros, 176 F.3d
669, 673 (3d Cir. 1999).
4
For the foregoing reasons, we will grant the Appellees’ motion to summarily
affirm the District Court’s orders. See 3d Cir. LAR 27.4; I.O.P. Ch. 10.6. The
Appellees’ motion to award attorneys’ fees and costs under Rule 38 is denied.
5