Jack C. Smith v. Anthony M. Frank

Plaintiff appeals the judgment in favor of defendant Postmaster General in his handicap discrimination action against the United States Postal Service brought under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §§ 701 , et seq. We hold that the district court erred in refusing to accept plaintiff’s timely filed but lengthy objections to the magistrate’s findings of fact and conclusions of law and in denying the plaintiff a reasonable opportunity to conform his objections to the local rules, and remand this claim to the district court for action not inconsistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff worked for defendant at the Concord, California Post Office from 1968 through 1984 as a distribution clerk. In 1973, plaintiff was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal disease, and received extensive medical treatment for this condition over the next eleven years. In 1984, plaintiff had strict limitations placed on him by his physician and returned to work on a light-duty status in accord with the collective bargaining agreement between the Postal Service and the Postal Workers Union. As a result of these limitations, plaintiff could not perform all of the tasks required of him as a…