Daye v. Bounds

• Decision Date: 02 June 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74--1374,74--1374
• Citation: 509 F.2d 66
• Parties: Lynward James DAYE, Jr., Appellant, v. Lee V. BOUNDS, Commissioner, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 66

509 F.2d 66

Lynward James DAYE, Jr., Appellant, v. Lee V. BOUNDS, Commissioner, et al., Appellees.

No. 74--1374.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Oct. 1, 1974.

Decided Jan. 16, 1975.

Certiorari Denied June 2, 1975.

See 95 S.Ct. 2404.

Frank R. Edrington, II, Third-year law student, and George K. Walker, Associate Professor of Law, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C. (court-appointed counsel) for appellant.

Jacob L. Safron, Asst. Atty. Gen. of N.C. (Robert Morgan, Atty. Gen. of N.C., on brief) for appellees.

Before BOREMAN and BRYAN, Senior Circuit Judges, and WARRINER, District Judge.

BOREMAN, Senior Circuit Judge:

This is a civil action, brought in forma pauperis, in which the appellant (hereafter Daye or plaintiff) seeks $10,000 in punitive and compensatory damages against the State of North Carolina and certain named North Carolina prison officials for an alleged denial of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. ¹ The defendants moved to dismiss the action and the district court, by memorandum opinion and order of February 7, 1972, dismissed the complaint. On appeal, this court, by memorandum decision of February 13, 1973, vacated the district court's order and remanded for factual investigation of the allegations in the complaint, indicating that certain allegations, if true, would state a cause of action.

On May 15, 1973, the district court held an evidentiary hearing pursuant to our remand order. The district court again found the plaintiff's contentions to be without merit and on August 15, 1973, ordered judgment for the defendants. While the motion of the defendants, which the district court sustained, was denominated a motion to dismiss, all the parties proceeded on the basis of a motion for summary judgment at the hearing on remand. They submitted documentary records from penal institutions, affidavits, and a transcribed tape recording, as well as live testimony. For all practical purposes, then, the motion was heard and disposed of as a motion for summary judgment and we treat the order disposing of it as the entry of summary judgment. So regarded, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.

There is yet another reason, to be explicated fully in this and following paragraphs, for sustaining the district court's disposition of this case. On October 4, 1973, the court concluded and stated that this action was frivolous, without merit, and not prosecuted in good faith, while denying leave to plaintiff to appeal the decision of August 15, in forma pauperis. However, we granted plaintiff leave to proceed on appeal a second time in forma pauperis for the limited purpose of determining whether the district court had complied fully with our order of remand. Our review of the proceedings below convinces us that the factual investigation undertaken on remand complies with our previous order, and supports the conclusion, stated on October 4, 1973, that this case is frivolous.

Title 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) ² provides that a district court may dismiss an action which has proceeded in forma pauperis 'if satisfied that the action is frivolous or malicious.' In applying that statute, especially broad discretion has been vested in federal district courts to deny state prisoners the privilege of proceeding in forma pauperis in civil actions against officials of the institution in which they are incarcerated. Shobe v. California, 362 F.2d 545, 546 (9 Cir.), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 887, 87 S.Ct. 185, 17 L.Ed.2d 115 (1966); Conway v. Fugge, 439 F.2d 1397 (9 Cir. 1971). Federal courts must be diligent in acting to prevent state prisoners from calling upon the financial support of the federal government to prosecute frivolous civil suits intended to harass state prison officials.

In exercising its discretion a district court may properly consider court records for the purpose of determining whether an action brought in forma pauperis must be dismissed as frivolous. Conway v. Oliver, 429 F.2d 1307, 1308 (9 Cir. 1970). In the instant case, the district court, in its initial order of dismissal, specifically referred to the record of Daye v. Department of Corrections, No. C--242--G--70 (M.D.N.C. Sept. 2, 1971), aff'd mem., No. 72--2019 (4 Cir. Oct. 11, 1973), and Daye v. Rice, No. 2237--Civil (E.D.N.C. Oct. 19, 1969), both of which contained allegations virtually identical to those presented in this action and both of which were dismissed as lacking in merit. The court in Daye v. Rice concluded that '(p)laintiff has clearly viewed the legal process as simply a device or plaything to be used as an instrument for his own entertainment and not as a means of redressing legitimate grievances . . ..' Upon consideration of these two dismissals, the district court concluded that the complaint in the case at bar appeared to be 'frivolous and harassing.' Thus, the court utilized official records of past actions brought by this plaintiff in determining that the allegations were without merit when it first considered the instant case.

We remanded that initial disposition because we were of the opinion that the allegations if proved would state a cause of action and that a summary dismissal was inappropriate. At that time it was unclear from the record whether the examination of the allegations by the...