Tyrone Peele v. Ulli Klemm

663 F. App'x 127
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedOctober 17, 2016
Docket16-1722
StatusUnpublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 663 F. App'x 127 (Tyrone Peele v. Ulli Klemm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tyrone Peele v. Ulli Klemm, 663 F. App'x 127 (3d Cir. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION *

PER CURIAM

Tyrone Peele appeals the District Court’s dismissal of his complaint. We will summarily affirm.

I.

In July 2013, Appellant Tyrone Peele, proceeding pro se, filed a complaint in the Western District of Pennsylvania against Ulli Klemm, the Religion, Volunteer, and Recreational Services Administrator for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (“DOC”). Peele alleged that his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion, the First Amendment Establishment Clause, and his rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (“RLUIPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq., were violated as a result of DOC Policy DC-819 (“DC-819”), which places restrictions on the rights of Muslim inmates to attend the two feasts of the Ramadan holiday—Eid-al-Fitr and Eidal-Adha. 1 Peele subsequently filed an amended complaint in November 2013, substantially identical to the original complaint. 2

In December 2013, Klemm filed a motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, motion for a more definite statement. The District Court 3 issued an Opinion & Order granting Klemm’s motion to dismiss Peele’s First Amendment claims and RLUIPA claim insofar as it sought to recover monetary damages. However, Klemm’s motion to dismiss was denied as to Peele’s RLUIPA claim for injunctive relief. The District Court also granted Klemm’s motion for a more definite statement, ordering Peele to file a second amended complaint containing only those allegations relating to his RLUIPA claim for injunctive relief and specifically stating the ways in which he personally had been allegedly restricted from practicing his religious beliefs as a result of DC-819.

After Peele failed to file a second amended complaint in accordance with the District Court’s order, the District Court issued a Show Cause Order, requiring Peele to file the required amendment or suffer dismissal for failure to prosecute. In June 2015, Peele filed , a “Supplemental Complaint,” which was construed as a second amended complaint. In July 2015, Klemm filed a motion to dismiss the supplemental complaint, and in March 2016, the District Court granted Klemm’s motion to dismiss, finding that Peele’s supplemental complaint failed to include a more definitive statement of his RLUIPA claim, despite having had nine months to do so.

Peele appeals. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Because Peele has been granted in forma pauperis status pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, we review this appeal for possible dismissal pursuant *130 to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). We may summarily affirm under Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6 if the appeal lacks substantial merit.

We will summarily affirm the order of the District Court because no substantial question is presented by this appeal, Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6. We exercise plenary review of the District Court’s order granting Klemm’s motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. See Allen ex rel. Martin v. LaSalle Bank, N.A., 629 F.3d 364, 367 (3d Cir. 2011). In reviewing the dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6), “we accept all factual allegations as true [and] construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Warren Gen. Hosp. v. Amgen Inc., 643 F.3d 77, 84 (3d Cir. 2011) (quoting Pinker v. Roche Holdings, Ltd., 292 F.3d 361, 374 n.7 (3d Cir. 2002)). A court may grant a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) “only if, accepting all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint as true and viewing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, [it] finds that [the] plaintiffs claims lack facial plausibility.” Id. (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). Pro se pleadings, “however inartfully pleaded,” must be held to “less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Haines v. Kemer, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). However, “pro se litigants still must allege sufficient facts in their complaints to support a claim.” Mala v. Crown Bay Marina, Inc., 704 F.3d 239, 245 (3d Cir. 2013).

We agree with the analysis, of the District Court that Peele’s First Amendment elaims do not survive the Rule 12(b)(6) standard. Prisoners have a First Amendment right to practice their religion. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 545, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). However, this constitutional right is limited by valid penological objectives. O’Lone v. Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 348, 107 S.Ct. 2400, 96 L.Ed.2d 282 (1987) (finding “limitations on the exercise of constitutional rights arise both from the fact of incarceration and from valid peno-logical objectives-including deterrence of crime, rehabilitation of prisoners, and institutional security”). Evaluation of these objectives is best “committed to the considered judgement of prison administrators, ‘who are actually charged with and trained in the running of the particular institution under examination.’ ” Id. at 349, 107 S.Ct. 2400 (quoting Bell, 441 U.S. at 562, 99 S.Ct. 1861). In Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89-91, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987), the Supreme Court outlined four factors that are relevant in determining the reasonableness of a prison regulation: (1) “there must be a valid, rational connection between the prison regulation and the legitimate governmental interest”; (2) whether the inmate has an “alternative means of exercising the right” at issue; (3) the burden that the accommodation would impose on prison resources; and (4) “the absence of ready alternatives.”

Here, Peele failed to provide any factual support for his First Amendment claims beyond general conclusory allegations that DC-819 was inimical to his and possibly other inmates First Amendment rights. Peele failed to plead what if any restrictions were placed on his or any Muslim’s ability to fast during Ramadan or if he or other inmates were personally affected by DC-819. See Mala, 704 F.3d at 245.

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Bluebook (online)
663 F. App'x 127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tyrone-peele-v-ulli-klemm-ca3-2016.