Easter v. Saffle

51 F. App'x 286
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedNovember 14, 2002
Docket02-6044
StatusUnpublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 51 F. App'x 286 (Easter v. Saffle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Easter v. Saffle, 51 F. App'x 286 (10th Cir. 2002).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Waymond Easter appeals from an order of the district court dismissing his complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. 1 After filing his notice of appeal, Easter filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in this court. Easter asks that we order the district court to direct defendants “to provide a medical means of receiving treatment without being sanction[ed] and punished for taking ... prescribed medications” and to arrange that his medications be tested to determine their effect on any urinalyses and blood tests that might be performed. (Appellant’s Mot. at 1.) We affirm the decision of the district court and deny the motion for a preliminary injunction.

Easter is an inmate in the Oklahoma prison system serving a life sentence. He tested positive for the presence of cannabi-noid (THC) by means of a urinalysis. A second confirming urinalysis yielded the same result. Easter requested a blood test to confirm the urinalysis results because he maintained that his prescribed asthma medications had caused the positive results. Prison staff determined that his asthma medications could not cause a false positive result and refused to conduct the blood test. Following a prison disci *288 plinary proceeding, Easter was found guilty of possession of THC.

Easter then commenced this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleged he was denied due process in the procedures employed in the disciplinary hearing and in the THC testing. He also alleged he was subjected to an Eighth Amendment violation because the prison medical unit was deliberately indifferent to his medical needs by forcing him to choose between taking his prescribed asthma medications and being unable to pass a THC urinalysis test or not taking the medications in order to pass the test.

The district court determined that Easter could not obtain relief for his claims of violations of prison regulations and state statutes, citing Jones v. City & County of Denver, 854 F.2d 1206, 1209 (10th Cir.1988); that his claim for money damages based on his allegation that prison disciplinary procedures were constitutionally defective was barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994); that his claim that his property was improperly seized did not rise to the level of a constitutional deprivation and, further, that adequate state remedies existed under Oklahoma law. Lastly, the district court held that Easter had failed to state a viable Eighth Amendment claim. The court ordered that defendants give Easter a copy of the determination that his asthma medication could not have caused a false positive test for THC.

On appeal, Easter argues that the district court denied him the right to be heard, to present evidence, and to amend his complaint. He further contends the district court could not dismiss his action under § 1915A prior to service of process on defendants and submission of a report pursuant to Martinez v. Aaron, 570 F.2d 317 (10th Cir.1978). As to the merits of his complaint, Easter maintains his claims are not barred by Heck, defendants violated his due process rights in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not receive sufficient prior notice of the hearing to prepare his evidence, and defendants denied him due process by not following the manufacturer’s specification that when a urinalysis is positive for THC, a blood test must be performed to confirm this. He also contends his Eighth Amendment rights were violated.

We have “not yet determined whether a dismissal pursuant to § 1915A on the ground that the complaint is legally frivolous is reviewed de novo or for abuse of discretion.” Plunk v. Givens, 234 F.3d 1128, 1130 (10th Cir.2000). As in Plunk, however, we “need not resolve that question at this juncture” based on our review of the entire record in this case, including the district court’s order and the magistrate judge’s thorough report and recommendation, “which reveals no hint of reversible error under either standard.” Id.

Contrary to Easter’s contentions, defendants were served with his complaint. The district court originally construed the complaint as alleging claims properly brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and ordered defendants to respond to the complaint accordingly. Easter objected to the § 2241 characterization and the district court accepted his contention that he was bringing a § 1983 action. Defendants did not submit a new response addressing Easter’s complaint as a § 1983 action. However, because the district court dismissed the complaint as frivolous under § 1915A, there was no need for a response by defendants.

Easter also states he should have been granted permission to amend his complaint. His proposed amendment does not salvage this action. Even without the two claims he is willing to abandon, the strictures of § 1915A still apply. “[S]ua sponte dismissal of a meritless complaint that cannot be salvaged by amendment comports *289 with due process and does not infringe the right of access to the courts.” Curley v. Perry, 246 F.3d 1278, 1284 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 122 S.Ct. 274, 151 L.Ed.2d 201 (2001). Further, a due process violation did not occur because Mr. Easter had “a reasonable post-judgment opportunity to present his arguments to the district court and the appellate court, including the opportunity to suggest amendments that would cure the complaint’s deficiencies.” Id.

Easter maintains his claims are not barred by Heck and defendant violated his due process rights in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not receive sufficient prior notice of the hearing. In Heck, the Supreme Court held that before a § 1983 plaintiff can recover damages for an allegedly unconstitutional conviction, or for other harms caused by unlawful actions which would render a conviction or sentence invalid, the plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been reversed, expunged, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination, or called into question by a federal court’s issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. 512 U.S. at 486-87. The Court applied the rationale of Heck to prison disciplinary proceedings in Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641, 646-47, 117 S.Ct. 1584, 137 L.Ed.2d 906 (1997).

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Bluebook (online)
51 F. App'x 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/easter-v-saffle-ca10-2002.