Michael Garrett v. William Stephens

675 F. App'x 444
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 12, 2017
Docket16-40354 Summary Calendar
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 675 F. App'x 444 (Michael Garrett v. William Stephens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Michael Garrett v. William Stephens, 675 F. App'x 444 (5th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: *

Michael Garrett, Texas prisoner # 697364, appeals the dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint as frivolous and for failure to state a claim under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915A and 1915(e)(2)(B). We review the dismissal de novo. See Geiger v. Jowers, 404 F.3d 371, 373 (5th Cir. 2005).

Garrett does not challenge the district court’s determination that the confiscation of his property was not cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Therefore, that claim is abandoned. See Hughes v. Johnson, 191 F.3d 607, 613 (5th Cir. 1999).

Garrett claims that Candace Moore filed disciplinary charges against him and confiscated his property in retaliation for his filing of administrative grievances and his attempt to add her as a defendant in an *446 other lawsuit. But Garrett does not address the district court’s reliance on Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994), to dismiss this claim. By failing to address the legal basis of the district court’s decision, it is the same as if Garrett had not appealed. See Brinkmann v. Dallas Cty. Deputy Sheriff Abner, 813 F.2d 744, 748 (5th Cir. 1987).

Garrett contends that the disciplinary officer violated his due-process rights by not allowing him to call witnesses and present evidence at the disciplinary hearing. The record belies this claim, however, and shows that prison officials satisfied all due-process requirements. See Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 564-66, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974). Because the claim is not plausible on its face, the court did not err in dismissing it under §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b)(1), See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

Relying on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUI-PA”), Garrett asserts that the confiscation of his property by Moore forced him to modify his daily religious practices. He has failed to state a claim under RLUIPA because he has not alleged a government regulation or policy infringing his right to free exercise of religion. See Adkins v. Kaspar, 393 F.3d 559, 567 (6th Cir. 2004). Moore did not seize Garrett’s religious items under a state' policy but, instead, as part of an investigation into an alleged violation of state law. Because this claim has no arguable basis in the law and is not plausible on its face, the court did not err in dismissing it under §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b)(1). See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Morris v. McAllester, 702 F.3d 187, 189 (5th Cir. 2012).

Garrett maintains that the confiscation of his property violated his due-process process rights and that the district court erroneously applied the Parratt/Hudson doctrine. He asks this court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over this claim. Under the Parratt/Hudson doctrine, the deprivation of a constitutionally protected property interest caused by a state actor’s random, unauthorized conduct does not give rise to a § 1983 procedural-due-process claim unless the state fails to provide an adequate post-deprivation remedy. Allen v. Thomas, 388 F.3d 147, 149 (5th Cir. 2004) (citing Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 541-44, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981), overruled in part by Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986), and Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 533, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984)).

Texas’s tort of conversion provides adequate state post-deprivation remedies to prisoners who claim due-process violations based on deprivation of their property. See Murphy v. Collins, 26 F.3d 541, 543-44 (5th Cir. 1994); see also Peters v. Klevenhagen, 1995 WL 581581, at *1 (6th Cir. 1995) (unpublished); Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 501.007, 501.008. The circumstances do not call for the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3); see also Rhyne v. Henderson Cty., 973 F.2d 386, 395 (5th Cir. 1992).

Garrett contends that the seizure of his property has impeded his right to access the courts. This claim is directly belied by the fact that Garrett has filed several pro se suits and accompanying appeals. Given the lack of evidence that he has been denied access, Garrett has not shown that the district court erred in dismissing this claim. See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Morris, 702 F.3d at 189.

Addressing the ruling that he cannot sue the defendants in their official capacities for money damages, Garrett claims that he should be able to sue them in their individ *447 ual capacities and that the record evidence establishes that their conduct violated his constitutional rights. As noted in the magistrate judge’s recommendation, Garrett did not specifically state whether he was suing Moore and Stephens in their individual or official capacities, so we assume he is pursuing both avenues. The district court determined only that Garrett could not sue the defendants in their official capacities for money damages under the Eleventh Amendment; it made no adverse ruling regarding Garrett’s ability to sue them in their individual capacities. Given that he complains of a determination that does not exist, Garrett has not shown error.

Garrett posits that William Stephens breached his affirmative duty as former director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (“TDCJ”) when he ignored Garrett’s administrative grievances. Garrett contends that Stephens’s deliberate indifference to those grievances violated the Eighth Amendment.

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Bluebook (online)
675 F. App'x 444, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/michael-garrett-v-william-stephens-ca5-2017.