(DOWNLOAD) "Gordon V. Leeke" by United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Gordon V. Leeke
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Release Date : January 06, 1978
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
Because these appeals both concern the duty of a district court to assist a pro se prisoner-litigant in presenting a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, we consolidated them for briefing and argument, and we decide them together. In No. 77-1137 (the South Carolina case), the plaintiff sought injunctive relief and money damages for alleged mistreatment by fellow inmates, acquiesced in by prison guards. He sued the warden and a commissioner of the Department of Correction. The district court required the defendants to supplement their pleadings and permitted plaintiff to supplement his, in an effort to determine if plaintiff had a meritorious cause of action. On the expanded pleadings and affidavits, the district court granted summary judgment for the defendants. In No. 77-1194 (the Maryland case), plaintiff sued the warden for damages for the loss of a watch allegedly stolen during a shakedown search. The district court permitted the filing of plaintiff's pro se complaint, but granted the defendants' motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), F.R. Civ. P. It denied a subsequent motion for leave to amend.