Sanquez Deontra Bivens v. Officer Melanie Patterson

Summary

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama dismissed Sanquez Deontra Bivens’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Officer Melanie Patterson without prejudice for failure to exhaust available administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The court construed the exhaustion portion of the defendant’s summary-judgment motion as an unenumerated Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss and denied the remaining summary-judgment motion as moot. The court alternatively dismissed the action without prejudice for failure to prosecute and comply with court orders.

Holdings

1. The PLRA requires a prisoner to properly exhaust available administrative remedies before bringing an action concerning prison conditions under § 1983. Because the unrebutted record showed that Plaintiff did not use the available detention-facility grievance procedure before filing suit, dismissal without prejudice was required.
2. In the Eleventh Circuit, an exhaustion defense raised in a motion for summary judgment is treated as an unenumerated Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss.
3. Under Turner, the court must first consider the parties' factual allegations in the manner favorable to the prisoner and, if dismissal is not warranted at that step, make specific findings resolving exhaustion-related factual disputes before determining whether available remedies were exhausted.
4. A district court may dismiss an action without prejudice under its inherent authority and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) when a plaintiff fails to prosecute and disregards court orders.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff's § 1983 action was subject to dismissal for failure to exhaust available administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
2. Whether an exhaustion defense raised in a motion for summary judgment should be treated as an unenumerated Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss.
3. Whether the action should alternatively be dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute and failure to comply with court orders.

Disposition

dismissed