Lee A. Rand v. James Rowland Nadim Khoury, M.D., William Bunnell Roy Lee Johnson Leo R. Estes

Opinion by Judge TASHIMA; Concurrence by Judge REINHARDT; Concurrence by Judge THOMAS; Dissent by Judge KLEINFELD.

TASHIMA, Circuit Judge:

We address the continued viability and application of the “pro se prisoner fair notice” requirement of Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule 56”) adopted in Klingele v. Eikenberry, 849 F.2d 409 (9th Cir.1988), and modified in Arreola v. Mangaong, 65 F.3d 801 (9th Cir.1995), to require that the notice be given only by the district court itself. The three-judge panel (“panel”) held that remand was required because the district court failed to give the notice required by these cases to the pro se prisoner plaintiff, i.e., that notice given by the moving party was insufficient under Arreola. Rand v. Rowland, 113 F.3d 1520, 1522-24 (9th Cir.1997). On en bane review, we reaffirm the central holding of Klingele that a pro se prisoner is entitled to fair notice of the requirements of Rule 56. We further hold, however, that because Klingele’s central concern was that the prisoner receive fair notice of the requirements of Rule 56 and the consequences of such a motion, Klingele’s notice purpose is fulfilled even though the prisoner does not receive the notice from the district court, so long as notice is given and [*954] its contents are complete. We therefore overrule Arreola v. Mangaong, 65 F.3d 801.