Higgins v. Beyer

• Decision Date: 12 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. 99-5556.,99-5556.
• Citation: 293 F.3d 683
• Parties: Vincent M. HIGGINS, Appellant, v. Howard L. BEYER, Department of Corrections; William F. Plantier; Grace Rogers; James Dooley; Thomas Moran; Daniel Barrajas; Lillyanne D. Yeager; Linda Cook; Frank Bruno; Anselm Jeeveratnam; Margaret C. Zorsky; Brenda Gibb; Gwinn Goode; Joseph Doe, (last name a fictitious name), in their individual capacity, jointly, severally or in the alternative.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

293 F.3d 683

Vincent M. HIGGINS, Appellant, v. Howard L. BEYER, Department of Corrections; William F. Plantier; Grace Rogers; James Dooley; Thomas Moran; Daniel Barrajas; Lillyanne D. Yeager; Linda Cook; Frank Bruno; Anselm Jeeveratnam; Margaret C. Zorsky; Brenda Gibb; Gwinn Goode; Joseph Doe, (last name a fictitious name), in their individual capacity, jointly, severally or in the alternative.

No. 99-5556.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued April 5, 2002.

Filed June 12, 2002.

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S. William Livingston, Jr., Jennifer E. Schwartz (argued), Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, for appellant.

John J. Farmer, Jr., Attorney General of New Jersey, Michael J. Hass, Jeffrey K. Gladden (argued), Trenton, New Jersey, for appellees.

Before: SLOVITER, BARRY, and ALARCON,^* Circuit Judges.

ALARCON, Circuit Judge.

Vincent M. Higgins appeals from the dismissal of his federal civil rights claim that Howard L. Beyer, the Assistant Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, and 13 employees of the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center ("ADTC employees") violated 38 U.S.C. § 5301(a) by seizing money derived from a veteran's disability benefits check from his inmate account to pay a state court-ordered fine, and that he was deprived of his constitutional right to due process because his request for a predeprivation hearing was ignored. He also seeks reversal of the dismissal of his claim, on the ground of mootness, that prison employees retaliated against him for exercising constitutionally protected rights.

We reverse because we conclude that Higgins's pro se complaint, when liberally construed, stated sufficient facts to state a cause of action for a violation of a federal right under § 5301(a), and a deprivation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to notice and hearing prior to the deprivation of his property interest in the proceeds of his veteran's benefits. We also hold that the district court erred in dismissing his claim that the prison officials retaliated against him for asserting his rights under the Due Process Clause.

I

Higgins alleged the following facts in his complaint. Higgins served in the United States Army from 1974 to 1978. While in the Army, Higgins injured his left hand, leaving him partially disabled. This partial disability qualified Higgins to receive disability benefits from the Veteran's Administration ("VA") for the remainder of his life.

In 1992, Higgins pled guilty to the crime of First Degree Aggravated Sexual Assault in the Superior Court of New Jersey. The court sentenced Higgins to a 10-year term of imprisonment to be served at the ADTC in Avenel, New Jersey. The court also imposed a Victims of Crime Compensation Board ("VCCB") fine in the amount of $1,000, pursuant to section 2C:43-31 of the New Jersey Statutes Annotated. N.J.Stat.Ann. § 2C:43-3.1 (West 1995). Section 2C:43-3.1 expressly requires a New Jersey Superior Court to order the Department of Corrections to collect a VCCB fine from the personal account of an inmate if the assessment was not paid at the time of sentencing.¹ At the time of sentencing, Higgins had not yet received any disability benefits from the VA.

On April 7, 1993, Higgins was transferred from the Monmouth County Correctional Center Facility to the ADTC. On or about April 1, 1998, he received a notification from the VA that his claim for benefits for partial disability had been approved. He was advised that he would receive a check for benefits due from January 1, 1991 to March 31, 1998.

On May 29, 1998, a United States Treasury Department check in the amount of $7,608, made out to Higgins as the payee, arrived at the ADTC. On the same date, Higgins was notified during mail call by an ADTC employee that the check had arrived. He was not handed the check nor did he authorize any prison employee to deposit it in his inmate account. The standard procedure at the ADTC when a check is received is to request the inmate to sign a form acknowledging receipt of the check and then endorse it "For Deposit Only." The ADTC employees did not follow this procedure.

Later that day, Higgins wrote four "business remits," which instructed prison employees to forward money in the amounts of $5,000, $2,000, and two for $200 apiece to various persons. A "business remit" is the term used at the ADTC for an inmate's authorization that money be deducted from his account.

On May 31, 1998, Higgins asked the social worker assigned to his wing to find out what had happened to his check. The social worker informed Higgins that ADTC employees intended to use part of the proceeds of the VA disability benefits check to pay the outstanding VCCB fine ordered by the New Jersey Superior Court. On the same date, Higgins filed a written complaint addressed to ADTC Superintendent William F. Plantier in which Higgins stated that a VA disability benefits check is not attachable pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5301.

On June 2, 1998, ADTC Assistant Superintendent Grace Rogers sent a letter to Higgins in which she stated that Higgins's VA disability benefits check had been received and would be deposited in his inmate account. On June 3, 1998, Higgins received written confirmation that his check had been deposited in his inmate account. On June 9, 1998, Linda Cook, an ADTC social worker, notified Higgins that none of the checks that he had authorized would be sent out until he signed a business remit authorizing the withdrawal of $1,000 to pay the VCCB fine. Higgins refused on the ground that a VA disability benefits check is not attachable pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5301. He also stated that under the terms of his plea bargain, he was only required to pay an assessment of $30 and that he had filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the imposition of a VCCB fine in the amount of $1,000. Ms. Cook informed Higgins that only a portion of the checks he had authorized would be sent out so that there would be sufficient funds in his inmate account to satisfy the VCCB fine.

On June 10, 1998, Daniel Barrajas, ADTC's Assistant Mail Supervisor, asked Higgins to endorse the VA disability benefits check. Higgins refused. On the same date, Higgins wrote to Superintendent Plantier requesting a written explanation of the disposition of his VA disability benefits check. Higgins also stated that if he did not receive a written explanation by June 12, 1998, he would file an action in the United States District Court. Superintendent Plantier did not reply. Sometime thereafter, ADTC employees deducted $1,000 from Higgins's inmate account to pay the VCCB fine ordered by the New Jersey Superior Court.

II

Higgins filed this § 1983 action on August 4, 1998. Prior to filing an answer, the ADTC employees moved to dismiss the complaint on October 14, 1998, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, asserting that Higgins had failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Higgins filed his opposition to the Rule 12(b)(6) motion on November 9, 1998.

While the motion to dismiss was pending, Higgins filed a pro se pleading styled as a "NOTICE OF MOTION IN SUPPORT OF AFFIDAVIT/DEPOSITION TO CONSOLIDATE THESE ARGUMENTS WITH THE ABOVE DOCKET CASE AND/OR ORDER OF PROTECTION/INJUNCTION." In this motion, Higgins alleged that ADTC employees brought false charges against him, resulting in his confinement in administrative segregation for 365 days and the denial of his access to the courts, in retaliation for the filing of this action for damages for the deprivation of his rights pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5301(a) and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

On June 10, 1999, without the benefit of oral argument, the district court granted the ADTC employees' motion to dismiss this action, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In a footnote to its memorandum opinion, the district court stated: "In light of this Court's granting of the motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint as to the fourteen individual defendants, the later-filed motion of pro se plaintiff Vincent Higgins for a preliminary injunction shall be denied as moot." The court did not explain how Higgins's discrete claim that ADTC employees retaliated against him for asserting his right to access to the courts was rendered moot by his alleged failure to state a claim for the deprivation of his property in violation of § 5301(a) and his constitutional right to a predeprivation hearing.

Higgins has timely appealed the district court's final judgment in this § 1983 action. Accordingly, we have jurisdiction over this appeal. 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

III

Higgins contends that the district court erred in ruling that he failed to allege sufficient facts to demonstrate that the ADTC employees violated § 1983. He argues that the complaint alleges sufficient facts to state a claim under § 1983 either for depriving him of money derived from a VA disability benefits check in violation of § 5301(a), or for denying him his constitutional right to a predeprivation hearing to challenge the threat to remove funds derived from his VA disability benefits check from his inmate account.

Our review of the dismissal of an action pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) is plenary. Nami v. Fauver, 82 F.3d 63, 65 (3d Cir. 1996). This Court has described the nature of our review as follows:

We must determine whether, under any reasonable reading of the pleadings, the plaintiffs may be entitled to relief, and we must accept as true the factual allegations in the complaint and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom. The complaint will be deemed to have alleged sufficient facts if it adequately put the defendants on notice of the essential elements of the plaintiffs' cause of action. Since this is a § 1983 action, the plaintiffs are entitled to relief if their complaint sufficiently alleges deprivation of any right secured by the Constitution. In considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, we do...