Arthur R. Grimm v. Harold Brown, Secretary of the Air Force

The appellee, Arthur R. Grimm, was a Captain in the Air Force. He was administratively discharged in 1963 after approximately seventeen years of military service. His discharge followed the recommendation of a board of inquiry that considered four misconduct charges lodged against Grimm to be well-founded.

After exhausting his administrative remedies, the appellee brought an action in the district court to set aside his discharge. Thereafter, both parties filed motions for summary judgment based on the administrative record. The district court, 291 F.Supp. 1011 , granted the ap-pellee’s motion and entered judgment voiding the discharge and ordering the appellee’s reinstatement in the Air Force, effective from the date of discharge.

The appropriateness of the district court’s order is at issue on this appeal. The appellants contend that it was error to invalidate the discharge and order reinstatement of the appellee instead of remanding the matter to the Air Force for reconsideration. The appellants argue that such remand was required, because the district court did not disapprove all four of the charges on which the discharge was based, and that the Air Force should be given the…

(dissenting).

I would reverse.

The majority accepts the district court’s conclusion that the findings of the board were collective and the charges were inextricably woven together. It concludes that Grimm was therefore denied a fair and impartial hearing on all of the charges due to an' error with respect to the security charge. The record does not support their position.

The Board of Inquiry made four findings of misconduct. The first two of these findings relate solely to Captain Grimm’s history of financial irresponsibility and in no way to security matters. The third finding, involving the security violation, is distinctly set out. The board found that Grimm had wrongfully engaged in an unauthorized discussion of classified subjects on or about January, 1961. A fourth finding stated that Grimm had displayed a record of marginal service without any mention of the security matter. Thus three of the findings are distinct from the finding as to the security incident. We do not have “inextricably interwoven” charges. No attack was made in the district court on these three findings, and there was no evidence submitted to the court on which the findings could have been held…

449 F.2d 654 Arthur R. GRIMM, Appellee, v. Harold BROWN, Secretary of the Air Force, et al., Appellants. No. 24381. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. August 30, 1971. 1 Michael C. Farrar (argued), Alan S. Rosenthal, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for appellants. 2 Nathan S. Smith (argued), James G. Seely, Jr., San Francisco, Cal., for appellee. 3 Before BROWNING and CARTER, Circuit Judges, and GRAY, * District Judge: WILLIAM P. GRAY, District Judge: 4 The appellee, Arthur R. Grimm, was a Captain in the Air Force. He was administratively discharged in 1963 after approximately seventeen years of military service. His discharge followed the recommendation of a board of inquiry that considered four misconduct charges lodged against Grimm to be well-founded. 5 After exhausting his administrative remedies, the appellee brought an action in the district court to set aside his discharge. Thereafter, both parties filed motions for summary judgment based on the administrative record. The district court, 291 F.Supp. 1011 , granted the appellee's motion and entered judgment voiding the discharge and ordering the appellee's reinstatement in the Air Force, effective from the…