Harold Nance v. Walter C. Kelly, Superintendent, Attica Correctional Facility

912 F.2d 605, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 15241

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Decided: August 28, 1990
• Docket: 997, Docket 89-2310
• Status: Published

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

Harold Nance, pro se, appeals a June 19, 1989, judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, John T. Curtin, Judge, dismissing his complaint sua sponte under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) (1988). Nance’s complaint seeks relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982) against Walter Kelly, the Superintendent of Attica Correctional Facility, in connection with alleged constitutional violations during Nance’s imprisonment at Attica. We reverse and remand.

Nance filed his complaint in forma pau-peris. His complaint consisted of handwritten responses to a printed “Form to be Used in Filing a Complaint Under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983,” which was supplied by the district court. Under the heading asking for the “Statement of Claim,” Nance wrote, “Plaintiff is Wrongfully and Intentionally being deprived of his Constitutional Rights By not being Treated Medically Properly. Orthopedically For Foot, Problems.” Under the heading that followed, asking for the relief requested, Nance added, “Proper Medical Treatments. Persistant After Care. Mone[ta]ry Compensations for Mistreat-ments and damages $2,000.” Prior to the defendant's answer, the district court ruled that by failing to make requisite factual allegations concerning the time and place of any alleged constitutional violations, and failing to allege that defendant Kelly had any personal knowledge or involvement with the alleged constitutional violations, the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. On this basis, the district court sua sponte dismissed the complaint, without prejudice, as frivolous within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d). Upon plaintiff’s failure to file an amended complaint, the district court dismissed the action.

A district court may sua sponte dismiss a case filed in forma pauperis “if satisfied that the action is frivolous or malicious.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d). In Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989), the Supreme Court explained the two instances in which a district court may dismiss a complaint pursuant to section 1915(d). First, it may dismiss when the “factual contentions are clearly baseless,” such as when allegations are the product of delusion or fantasy. Id. 109 S.Ct. at 1833. Or, second, it may dismiss when the claim is “based on an indisputably meritless legal theory.” Id.

Neitzke stressed that the showing a plaintiff must make to establish that a complaint is not “based on an indisputably mer-itless legal theory” is not the same as one necessary to withstand a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See id. at 1832-33. The district court’s role in ensuring that an in forma pauperis complaint is non-frivolous is meant to replace the role played by court costs and filing fees in deterring frivolous complaints. See id. at 1833. Accordingly, a district court should look with a far more forgiving eye in examining whether a complaint rests on a merit-less legal theory for purposes of section 1915(d) than it does in testing the complaint against a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. By way of illustration, the Court noted that claims in which the defendants are clearly immune from suit or claims seeking redress for a non-existent legal interest would be examples of claims which would be considered indisputably meritless and properly dismissed under section 1915(d). See id.

We believe there is a significant difference between the type of claims the Court sanctioned in Neitzke as subject to dismissal under section 1915(d) and Nance’s complaint. Reading Nance’s pro se complaint broadly, as we must, see Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S.Ct. 594, 595-96, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972), his claim that he was deliberately denied medical treatment states a cognizable claim of cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. See Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104, 97 S.Ct. 285, 291, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). According to the district court, Nance’s complaint failed because it lacked details as to the time and place of the relevant events and Kelly’s role in them. By contrast, the two examples furnished by the Court did not suffer solely from a lack of pleading requisite details; rather, they sought to assert rights which plainly do not exist.

We conclude that once an in forma pauperis plaintiff raises a cognizable claim, a district court may not dismiss it sua sponte under section 1915(d), even if the complaint does not flesh out all of the requisite details. So long as the in forma pauperis plaintiff raises a cognizable claim, dismissal on the basis of factual deficiencies in the complaint must wait until the defendant attacks the lack of such details on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. See Wilson v. Rackmill, 878 F.2d 772, 774-75 (3d Cir.1989) (identifying failure to state facts with requisite specificity as “a problem more properly addressed under Rule 12(b)(6)”). Requiring a Rule 12(b)(6) motion as a predicate for dismissal on the basis of factual deficiencies guarantees that the in forma pauperis plaintiff will have benefit of certain fundamental procedural protections, such as notice of the alleged deficiencies of his complaint and an opportunity to refine those alleged deficiencies, see Neitzke, 109 S.Ct. at 1834, so as to avoid dismissal.

Kelly has refused to defend this appeal on grounds that he was never properly served with the complaint. Because the district court dismissed the complaint prior to the filing of an answer, we have no basis on which to address this argument and accordingly express no opinion on it.

Judgment reversed. Cause remanded.