Thomas Carroll Cooper, III v. Director Greenville County Detention Center

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina adopts, as modified, a magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation concerning a pro se pretrial detainee’s petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court dismisses the petition without prejudice and without requiring the respondent to file a return, and declines to issue a certificate of appealability.

Holdings

1. When a party fails to file timely and specific objections to a magistrate judge's Report and Recommendation, the district court need not conduct de novo review and need only determine whether the record contains clear error before adopting the recommendation.
2. The court would not adopt the recommendation to dismiss based on Petitioner's failure to bring the case into proper form because the proper-form order had been returned as undeliverable.
3. The Petition was dismissed without prejudice and without requiring Respondent to file a return.
4. A certificate of appealability should not issue because Petitioner failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.

Questions Presented

1. What standard of review applies when a party fails to file specific objections to a magistrate judge's Report and Recommendation?
2. Whether the Petition should be dismissed without prejudice without requiring Respondent to file a return.
3. Whether dismissal could properly rest on Petitioner's failure to bring the case into proper form when the proper-form order had been returned as undeliverable.
4. Whether a certificate of appealability should issue.

Disposition

dismissed