Keith Cole v. Bryan Collier, Executive Dir

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Decided: December 18, 2018
• Docket: 18-20402
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 18-20402 Document: 00514766167 Page: 1 Date Filed: 12/18/2018

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

FILED No. 18-20402 December 18, 2018 Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce Clerk

JACKIE BRANNUM; MICHAEL DENTON; RICHARD ELVIN KING; FRED WALLACE; MARVIN RAY YATES, individually and on behalf of those similarly situated,

Plaintiffs - Appellees

v.

BRYAN COLLIER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, in his official capacity; ROBERTO M. HERRERA, in his official capacity; TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE,

Defendants - Appellees

JAMES A. MEEKS,

Movant - Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:14-CV-1698 Case: 18-20402 Document: 00514766167 Page: 2 Date Filed: 12/18/2018

No. 18-20402 Before DENNIS, CLEMENT, and OWEN, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* James Meeks is a prisoner currently incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He appeals the district court’s dismissal of his motion to intervene in this lawsuit and challenges the district court’s approval of the class settlement agreement. After reviewing the briefs, we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of Meeks’s motion to intervene for the reasons stated in the district court’s order issued on May 3, 2018. We also DISMISS his challenge to the class settlement agreement for want of jurisdiction: Meeks is not a member of the class, and the settlement agreement does not in any way prohibit him from pursuing his own claims independently. See United States v. Fletcher, 805 F.3d 596, 602 (5th Cir. 2015) (“It is a central tenet of appellate jurisdiction that a party who is not aggrieved by a judgment of the district court has no standing to appeal it.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.