Devontay Myles v. Sgt. Edwards

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: April 17, 2024
• Docket: 22-7284
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 22-7284 Doc: 11 Filed: 04/17/2024 Pg: 1 of 3

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-7284

DEVONTAY D. MYLES,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

SGT. EDWARDS; C/O CAMPBELL; LT. JAMES WILLIAMS; SGT. TYRIEK TAYLOR,

Defendants - Appellees,

and

MS. BENNETT, Asst. Superintendent,

Defendant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. James C. Dever III, District Judge. (5:19-ct-03128-D)

Submitted: March 11, 2024 Decided: April 17, 2024

Before DIAZ, Chief Judge, and AGEE and HARRIS, Circuit Judges.

Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Devontay D. Myles, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 22-7284 Doc: 11 Filed: 04/17/2024 Pg: 2 of 3

PER CURIAM:

After he was released from prison, Devontay D. Myles forwarded his new mailing

address to the district court, where his amended 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint was pending

on remand. This was the last time the district court heard from Myles for months.

On August 17, 2022, the district court granted Defendants’ motion for summary

judgment in part but denied the motion with regard to Myles’ excessive force claim against

certain Defendants and referred the case to the magistrate judge for a settlement

conference. The next day, August 18, the magistrate judge ordered the parties to file a

notice with the court by September 1 indicating which days they were available for the

settlement conference. Myles did not respond to that scheduling order. Accordingly, on

September 8, the magistrate judge issued a show cause order directing Myles to appear, by

phone or in person, at a hearing on September 21. When Myles did not appear at the show

cause hearing, the magistrate judge recommended dismissing the amended complaint due

to Myles’ failure to prosecute and comply with the court’s orders. Myles did not object to

the magistrate judge’s memorandum and recommendation by the deadline after being

advised of the consequences of failing to object. * On October 25, the district court

reviewed the magistrate judge’s memorandum and recommendation for clear error and,

finding none, accepted the magistrate judge’s conclusions and dismissed Myles’ amended

§ 1983 complaint.

The magistrate judge gave Myles until October 5 to file his objections, but because *

Myles was served by mail, he had until October 11 to object. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(a)(1)(C), (d).

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The timely filing of objections to a magistrate judge’s recommendation is necessary

to preserve appellate review of the substance of that recommendation where the parties

have been warned of the consequences of noncompliance. See Arakas v. Comm’r, Soc.

Sec. Admin., 983 F.3d 83, 103 (4th Cir. 2020); Wright v. Collins, 766 F.2d 841, 846

(4th Cir. 1985). On appeal, however, Myles suggests that he missed the relevant deadlines

because he was released from the hospital on October 15, 2022, after receiving treatment

for a life-threatening condition. See Martin v. Duffy, 977 F.3d 294, 298 (4th Cir. 2020)

(“We read the pleadings of a pro se plaintiff liberally and interpret them to raise the

strongest arguments that they suggest.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). We conclude

that the current record does not reveal whether Myles was incapacitated when he failed to

respond to the magistrate judge’s August 18 scheduling order by September 1, attend the

September 21 show cause hearing, or object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation.

Accordingly, we remand to the district court for the limited purpose of determining

whether Myles has legitimate grounds for an extension of any of the deadlines. See Fed.

R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1)(B). The record, as supplemented, will then be returned to this court for

further consideration.

REMANDED