Russell J. Berger v. Correctional Medical

17 F. App'x 503

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: August 28, 2001
• Docket: 01-1125
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Prisoner Russell Berger appeals the district court’s 1 judgment dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in which he had claimed medical negligence and denial of access to the courts. Upon a thorough review' of the record and the parties’ briefs, we agree with the district court that dismissal of the access-to-courts claim was proper based on absolute quasi-judicial immunity, see Martin v. Hendren, 127 F.3d 720, 721 (8th Cir.1997), and failure to state a constitutional violation. The district court also properly refused to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over the pendent negligence claim, which it dismissed without prejudice. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3). So that Berger may pursue whatever state law claims he might have against Vera Reynolds — against whom he asserted the denial-of-access claim for allegedly refusing to file certain papers — we modify Reynolds’s dismissal to be without prejudice also.

Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court as modified. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.

1 . The Honorable William R. Wilson, Jr., United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas.