Walker v. Perry

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedOctober 14, 2022
Docket1:20-cv-00302
StatusUnknown

This text of Walker v. Perry (Walker v. Perry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walker v. Perry, (S.D. Miss. 2022).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI SOUTHERN DIVISION

DEMARIO DONTEZ WALKER § PLAINTIFF § § v. § Civil No. 1:20cv302-HSO-BWR § § GLORIA PERRY, et al. § DEFENDANTS

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER OVERRULING PLAINTIFF DEMARIO DONTEZ WALKER’S OBJECTIONS [106], [107], [110]; ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION [101]; REVOKING PLAINTIFF’S IN FORMA PAUPERIS STATUS; IMPOSING SANCTIONS; AND DISMISSING CASE WITHOUT PREJUDICE

BEFORE THE COURT are Plaintiff Demario Dontez Walker’s Objections [106], [107], [110] to the Report and Recommendation [101] of United States Magistrate Judge Robert H. Walker, which was entered in this case on July 8, 2022. After conducting a hearing on April 28, 2022, and based upon a review of the parties’ submissions, the record, and relevant legal authority, the Magistrate Judge recommended that Plaintiff’s in forma pauperis status be revoked. See R.&R. [101] at 11. Plaintiff has submitted three separate Objections [106], [107], [110] to the Report and Recommendation [101]. After thoroughly reviewing the record and relevant legal authority, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s Objections [106], [107], [110] should be overruled, that the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation [101] should be adopted in its entirety, and that Plaintiff’s in forma pauperis status should be revoked. This civil action will be dismissed without prejudice, and Plaintiff will be sanctioned. I. BACKGROUND On September 23, 2020, Plaintiff Demario Dontez Walker (“Plaintiff” or “Walker”), an inmate in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections

(“MDOC”), filed the Complaint [1] in this case, advancing claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 arising out of her1 incarceration at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (“CMCF”). See Compl. [1] at 3; Mot. [4] at 1. The Complaint named as Defendants Dr. Gloria Perry, Dr. William T. Brazier, Dr. Ronald Woodall, and Nurse Practitioner Angela Brown. See id. at 3-4. According to Walker, she is a preoperative transgender inmate who has been diagnosed with “intense Gender Identity Disorder” (“GID”). Id. at 7. The Complaint alleged that MDOC has failed

to provide any medical or psychological treatment for this condition, which led to suicide attempts and self-mutilation. See id. It is beyond dispute that “Walker has already been informed that he has accumulated three strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g)” and “is no longer able to proceed in forma pauperis in any civil action or appeal filed while he is incarcerated or detained in any facility unless he is under imminent danger of serious physical

injury.” Walker v. Miss. Parole Bd., 333 F. App’x 843, 845 (5th Cir. 2009) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g)). Walker nevertheless filed a Motion [4] for Leave to Proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”). In an effort to circumvent the three-strikes bar and obtain IFP status in this case, Walker claimed that she was in “imminent danger.” See,

1 Plaintiff has referred to herself as “she” at times, Pl.’s Obj. [68] at 1, and “he” at others, Compl. [1] at 2. e.g., Compl. [1] at 2; Resp. [6] at 1. Specifically, Plaintiff alleged that she was at risk of serious danger or injury. Because he is subject to sucicide [sic] risk due to untreated GID and or extreme or severe additional mental deteriation [sic] of his mind and mental state, especially due to the severe risk based on Plaintiff sucicidal [sic] tendecies [sic], these tendecies [sic] will greatly increase and the risk of sucicide [sic] is severe especially when mental health care is being withheld because some doctors in Mississippi consider GID treatment “controversial” despite it being an actual medical/mental health condition recognized by medical professionals and the court systems.

Compl. [1] at 2. Plaintiff asserted that MDOC had failed to provide psychological treatment, and that such “failure lead[s] to sucicide [sic] attempts and self mutilation.” Id. at 7; see also id. at 8 (claiming Plaintiff has been suicidal and “exhibiting disruptive and oppositional behavior, not limited to but including self mutilation of his body and genital area”). On April 29, 2021, the Court entered an Order [8] finding that, “[a]t this stage in the proceedings, the Court cannot definitively state that Walker does not meet the [imminent danger] exception provision” to § 1915(g). Order [8] at 1. The Court provisionally granted Walker’s Application [4] to proceed IFP at the screening stage and imposed a payment schedule. Id. at 1-2. Following a lengthy procedural history that need not be detailed here, the Court ordered the Magistrate Judge to conduct a hearing to determine whether Walker was in fact in imminent danger of serious physical injury at the time of the filing of the Complaint [1] or Application [4] to proceed IFP, and whether Walker’s IFP status should be revoked. See Order [88] at 7. The Magistrate Judge conducted a hearing on April 28, 2022, see Min. Entry, Apr. 28, 2022, and entered the Report and Recommendation [101] on July 8, 2022, that Walker’s IFP status be revoked, see R.&R. [101] at 11. The Magistrate Judge found that “Walker’s testimony undermine[d] the credibility of her imminent danger assertion,” and

“Walker’s imminent danger assertion is inconsistent with her medical records.” Id. at 7. The Magistrate Judge also concluded that Defendants’ alleged acts or omissions concerning Walker’s medical treatment were insufficient to meet the threshold requirement of imminent danger of serious physical injury. Id. Walker has submitted three separate Objections [106], [107], [110] to the Report and Recommendation [101], two of which are plainly untimely, and will be overruled as such.2 Defendants responded to the timely first Objection [109], to

which Walker filed a Response [112]. In her timely Objection [106], Walker objects to the Magistrate Judge’s credibility determinations and factual findings. Obj. [106] at 2, 5-9. Walker also argues that the Magistrate Judge should have recused from the case, that he improperly excluded certain exhibits and witness testimony at the hearing, that Defendants failed to put forth any evidence to establish that

2 Any objection to the Report and Recommendation [101] was due by July 25, 2022. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(d); Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(2); L.U. Civ. R. 72(a)(3). Walker’s second Objection [107] was purportedly signed July 22, 2022, but it does not state when Walker delivered it to prison authorities, see Obj. [107] at 21, meaning the prison mailbox rule would not apply, see generally, e.g., Brown v. Taylor, 829 F.3d 365, 368 (5th Cir. 2016) (explaining under the mailbox rule a filing is timely if it is deposited in the institution’s internal mail system on or before the applicable deadline). The second Objection [107] was date-stamped “APPROVED LEGAL MAIL” on July 26, 2022, which was after the objection deadline. See Envelope [107-2] at 1. The third Objection [110] is in large part identical to the second Objection [107]. It bears the same signature date and does not state when it was deposited with prison officials. See Obj. [110] at 25. The envelope containing the third Objection [110] was marked “APPROVED LEGAL MAIL” on August 4, 2022, well after the objection deadline. See Envelope [110-4] at 1.

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Bluebook (online)
Walker v. Perry, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walker-v-perry-mssd-2022.