Timothy Paul Martin v. Gary Johnson David Doughty and Richard Thompson

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: April 16, 2003
• Docket: 04-02-00292-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION No. 04-02-00292-CV Timothy Paul MARTIN, Appellant v. Gary L. JOHNSON, et al., Appellees From the 172nd Judicial District Court, Jefferson County, Texas Trial Court No. E-166,055 Honorable Donald Floyd, Judge Presiding

Opinion by: Paul W. Green, Justice

Sitting: Catherine Stone, Justice

Paul W. Green, Justice

Phylis J. Speedlin, Justice

Delivered and Filed: April 16, 2003

AFFIRMED

Timothy Paul Martin ("Martin") appeals an order dismissing as frivolous his complaint against prison officials for a violation of his civil rights. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

Martin filed a law suit pro se and in forma pauperis against various employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The trial court dismissed Martin's lawsuit as frivolous in accordance with Chapter 14 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code ("Code").

We review a dismissal with prejudice of an inmate's claim pursuant to Chapter 14 of the Code under an abuse of discretion standard. Hickman v. Adams, 35 S.W.3d 120, 123 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.). A trial court abuses its discretion if it dismisses a claim without regard to guidelines, principles, or rules. Id. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Martin's claim, because Martin's claim failed to meet the following requirements of Chapter 14:

1. Martin's affidavit of previous filings listed only cases he had filed in state courts, omitting two cases filed in federal courts. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 14.004(a)(1) (Vernon 2002) (requiring every pro se suit by claimant to be listed).

2. Martin did not list all of the parties to his previous cases. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 14.004(a)(2)(C) (Vernon 2002).

3. The affidavit failed to give sufficient operative facts for which relief was sought in the prior cases to enable the trial court to determine if the claims asserted in the underlying lawsuit arose from the same operative facts. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 14.004(a)(2)(A) (Vernon 2002); Obadele v. Johnson, 60 S.W.3d 345, 348 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2001, no pet.).

The trial court's order is affirmed.