Battle v. Central State Hosp.

• Decision Date: 12 April 1990
• Docket Number: No. 88-8851,88-8851
• Citation: 898 F.2d 126
• Parties: Terry L. BATTLE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CENTRAL STATE HOSPITAL, et al., Defendants-Appellees. Non-Argument Calendar.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 126

898 F.2d 126

Terry L. BATTLE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CENTRAL STATE HOSPITAL, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 88-8851

Non-Argument Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

April 12, 1990.

Terry L. Battle, Reidsville, Ga., pro se.

Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Ga., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before JOHNSON, ANDERSON and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Terry Le Battle appeals the district court's dismissal of his pro se in forma pauperis ("IFP") action. Battle is incarcerated in the custody of the Georgia State Prison. He filed the instant action under 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1983 against Central State Hospital and six doctors alleging that the defendants (1) committed medical malpractice, (2) "excessively prescrib[ed] medicine that was not needed or necessary," (3) committed "a false axiom without proof or any evidence," and (4) had a "lack of Black behavior and communication experience." Complaint at 3.

The district court conducted a frivolity determination under 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1915(d) and dismissed the complaint. The district court held that the plaintiff had failed to indicate that the actions of the defendants constituted deliberate indifference under the standards of Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). Consequently, the district court concluded that dismissal was proper because Battle's claims had "little or no chance of success." District Court Opinion at 1-2 (citing Harris v. Menendez, 817 F.2d 737, 740 (11th Cir.1987)).

On appeal, Battle argues that the district court erred in dismissing his complaint as frivolous. Because we find that a recent Supreme Court decision announced after the district court's action in this case substantially alters the standard governing when a district court may dismiss an in forma pauperis complaint prior to service, we reverse the judgment of the district court.

I.

As the Supreme Court has long recognized, the in forma pauperis statute, 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1915, serves as a statutory embodiment of a fundamental principle in American jurisprudence: it provides a means by which impecunious litigants may present their claims to the court in the same fashion as more wealthy litigants and receive "equal treatment before the bar." Coppedge v. United States, 369 U.S. 438, 447, 82 S.Ct. 917, 922, 8 L.Ed.2d 21 (1962). By according district courts the discretion to waive court fees for those individuals who cannot afford payment of costs, Congress sought to ensure equality of meaningful access to the federal courts. Adkins v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 335 U.S. 331, 342-43, 69 S.Ct. 85, 90-91, 93 L.Ed. 43 (1948).

Unfortunately, however, the statute has also provided a means by which some litigants can file a long line of repetitive and frivolous lawsuits. See, e.g., In Re McDonald, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 993, 103 L.Ed.2d 158 (1989) (per curiam); Procup v. Strickland, 792 F.2d 1069 (11th Cir.1986) (per curiam). In an attempt to control the level of litigant abuse of the in forma pauperis provisions while simultaneously maintaining the objective of equality of meaningful access to the federal courts for all, Congress provided the federal courts with the concomitant authority to dismiss a claim filed in forma pauperis "if the allegation of poverty is untrue, or if satisfied that the action is frivolous or malicious." 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1915(d). As construed by this court, Sec. 1915(d) allows a district court, upon determining that an in forma pauperis complaint falls to the level of being "frivolous or malicious", to dismiss a lawsuit prior to service on the defendants. See Phillips v. Mashburn, 746 F.2d 782, 784 (11th Cir.1984) (per curiam); Harmon v. Berry, 728 F.2d 1407, 1408 (11th Cir.1984) (per curiam).

Our prior precedents provided the lower courts with conflicting signals as to what constitutes a "frivolous or malicious" complaint for purposes of a Sec. 1915(d) dismissal. For example, in Phillips v. Mashburn, this court observed that its earlier precedents dictated that district courts should abide by the same standard governing Rule 12(b)(6) dismissals to determine whether a complaint was sufficient for Sec. 1915(d) purposes:

a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.

746 F.2d at 784 (quoting Pace v. Evans, 709 F.2d 1428, 1429 (11th Cir.1983)). However, in Harris v. Menendez, 817 F.2d 737, 740-41 (11th Cir.1987), this court suggested that a complaint that was sufficient for purposes of surviving a Rule 12(b)(6) motion for dismissal could nonetheless be dismissed as frivolous under Sec. 1915(d). In reaching this conclusion in Harris, we intimated that Sec. 1915(d) granted district courts the power to dismiss complaints in which "the plaintiff's realistic chances of ultimate success are slight," whether or not the plaintiff's complaint was legally and factually sufficient. Id., at 740.

Whether these two lines of case law are irreconcilably at odds with each other is not a discourse we need to engage in here. Part of the confusion surrounding the seemingly different interpretations as to the contours of Sec. 1915(d)'s frivolous and malicious standard can be traced to Congress's failure to provide guidance as to the meaning of the rather general statutory language. Recognizing the confusion caused by congressional inaction in delineating the permissible scope of Sec. 1915(d) dismissals, this past term the Supreme Court in Neitzke v. Williams, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989), determined that judicial guidance should be forthcoming to fill the void.

Neitzke arose, as does the present case, in the context of a district court's sua sponte dismissal under Sec. 1915(d) of an alleged eighth amendment claim. In dismissing the plaintiff's complaint, the district court construed the plaintiff's complaint as merely "describ[ing] a constitutionally noncognizable instance of medical malpractice." --- U.S. at ----, 109 S.Ct. at 1830. In so doing, the district court equated the frivolous standard under Sec. 1915(d) with the standard for dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). On appeal, the Seventh Circuit reversed this determination. "Although the complaint failed to allege the level of deliberate indifference necessary to survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), at this stage of the proceedings, the court stated, 'we cannot state with certainty that Williams is unable to make any rational argument in law or fact to support his claim for relief....' " Williams v. Faulkner, 837 F.2d 304, 308 (7th Cir.1988), quoted in Neitzke, --- U.S. at ----, 109 S.Ct. at 1830. ¹

A unanimous Supreme Court affirmed the Seventh Circuit's decision. The Court noted that when "a complaint raises an arguable question of law which the district court ultimately finds is correctly resolved against the plaintiff, dismissal on Rule 12(b)(6) grounds is appropriate but dismissal on the basis of frivolousness is not." Neitzke, --- U.S. at ----, 109 S.Ct. at 1833. In explaining the purpose for adopting a more restrictive standard in the area of permissible Sec. 1915(d) dismissals, the Court premised its distinction by looking to the underlying purpose to be served by Sec. 1915(d). The Court described Sec. 1915(d)'s function as being solely that of replicating the function that financial restraints in the form of filing fees and Rule 11 sanctions traditionally play in preventing paying litigants from filing inarguable claims in federal court. Id., at ----, 109 S.Ct. at 1832-33.

Because not all claims dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) are inherently frivolous, the Supreme Court noted that applying the dismissal standard governing Rule 12(b)(6) to the Sec. 1915(d) dismissal context would extend Sec. 1915(d) beyond its statutory purpose. According to the Court, Sec. 1915(d) is not designed to deter the filing of "arguably meritorious legal theories whose ultimate failure is not apparent at the outset." Id. These claims are more appropriately screened by a properly raised Rule 12(b)(6) motion.

In distinguishing between Sec. 1915(d) and Rule 12(b)(6) dismissals, the Neitzke Court focused on the crucial procedural distinction that differentiates Sec. 1915(d) and Rule 12(b)(6) dismissals. When a defendant files a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the plaintiff receives notice of the defendant's arguments and theories. This provides the plaintiff with the opportunity either to rebut the motion or to amend the complaint's allegations. Id., at ----, 109 S.Ct. at 1834. This adversarial process accords an integral due process protection: it alerts the plaintiff to the challenged inadequacies of the filed complaint and affords the plaintiff the opportunity both to explain to the court the distinguishing nature of the legal theories underlying the complaint and to amend the complaint to add sufficient factual allegations to state a claim for relief. Through this process, the actual issues at trial are crystallized and the plaintiff has the opportunity to expound upon his or her theory of the case. Id.

In contrast, a sua sponte dismissal of a complaint pursuant to Sec. 1915(d) offers none of these protections. By recognizing this procedural difference between Sec. 1915(d) and Rule 12(b)(6) and by differentiating between the standards of dismissal applicable to Sec. 1915(d) and Rule 12(b)(6), the Supreme Court sought to ensure that indigent plaintiffs are provided "the practical protections against unwarranted dismissal generally accorded paying plaintiffs under the Federal Rules." Id. To do otherwise--i.e., to allow for sua sponte dismissal of in forma pauperis cases that present arguable legal or factual questions--would be to condone differential judicial treatment of cases based solely...