Lay v. Stalder

• Decision Date: 31 March 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99 CA 0402.,99 CA 0402.
• Citation: 757 So.2d 916
• Parties: Richard LAY v. Richard STALDER, Richard Peabody, Individual/Official Capacity Richard Ieyoub.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

757 So.2d 916

Richard LAY v. Richard STALDER, Richard Peabody, Individual/Official Capacity Richard Ieyoub.

No. 99 CA 0402.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 31, 2000.

Rehearing Denied May 25, 2000.

Richard Lay, Angola, for Plaintiff/Appellant, Pro Se.

Richard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General, Baton Rouge, By Andre Charles Castaing, Assistant Attorney General, for Defendants/Appellees, Richard Stalder, et al.

Before: CARTER, PETTIGREW, and CLAIBORNE,¹ JJ.

CARTER, J.

This is an appeal by an inmate from a judgment dismissing his petition for judicial review pursuant to LSA-R.S. 15:1184 B and assessing a "strike" against the inmate in accordance with LSA-R.S. 15:1187.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On November 13, 1997, Richard Lay, an inmate at Angola State Penitentiary, was allegedly involved in an incident wherein he disobeyed a sergeant's orders for Lay to return to his cell. According to the sergeant, Lay was out of his cell to make a legal call. However, Lay behaved loudly and caused problems on the tier, causing the sergeant to order Lay back into his cell. Lay allegedly refused all orders and uttered vulgar statements to the sergeant. Lay allegedly refused to follow several additional orders by the sergeant to return to his cell, so the sergeant notified Lieutenant Thomas of the incident. When the incident was written up in a Disciplinary Report, Lay refused to sign the report, and he pled not guilty to the charges.

After a disciplinary hearing on November 17 and 24, 1997, the disciplinary officer found merit to the report and sentenced Lay to a loss of phone privileges for four weeks. The disciplinary officer's reasons for finding merit to the report included that: 1) the report was clear and precise; 2) the lack of a credible defense/little or no defense; 3) the officer's version was deemed to be more credible than the inmate's; and 4) that Lay's only defense was denying the contents of the report. The particular sentence was imposed because of the seriousness of the offense and the need to protect the institution, employees, or others.

On the same day as the hearing, November 24, Lay filed a disciplinary appeal from the decision and sentence. On December 9, 1997, Lay was sent an Acknowledgement of Appeal of Disciplinary Decision. Subsequently, on January 8, 1998, Lay was sent notice that the response to his disciplinary appeal had been delayed beyond the thirty-day period because of the large volume of disciplinary appeals and requests for administrative remedy.

On January 26, 1998, Lay was sent a decision regarding his disciplinary appeal. The decision notified Lay that his appeal had been denied. The decision also notified Lay that because of the particular sentence, loss of phone privileges for four weeks, the decision constituted the final administrative decision of the agency. Accordingly, it advised Lay that his remedy was to request judicial review in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court within thirty days of receipt of the decision. Lay received the decision on January 28, 1998.

On February 20, 1998, Lay filed a Petition for Judicial Review in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court. Lay named Richard Stalder, Richard Peabody and Richard leyoub as defendants in the petition. On September 17, 1998, a commissioner for the Nineteenth Judicial District issued a written recommendation to the trial judge that Lay's suit should be dismissed with prejudice at Lay's costs under LSA-R.S. 15:1184 B, and that a "strike" be assessed against Lay pursuant to LSA-R.S. 15:1187 for filing a frivolous appeal. A copy of the commissioner's written recommendation was mailed to Lay on September 17, along with written notice that Lay had ten days in which to traverse the commissioner's findings. On October 8, 1998, there was no traversal by Lay filed into the record, and the trial judge signed a judgment dismissing Lay's suit with prejudice at his costs and assessing a "strike" against Lay in accordance with LSA-R.S. 15:1187. The judgment was mailed to Lay on October 9, 1998.

On January 5, 1999, Lay filed a document entitled "2nd Request For Leave To Appeal As Pauper." This is the only request for leave to appeal in the record. The only notice of appeal that appears in the record is dated January 13, 1999. This notice provides that "on January 13, 1999, upon motion of plaintiff, pro se; ... an order of appeal was entered granting a devolutive appeal from the judgment of October 8, 1998 ...." On March 3, 1999, the defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss Appeal for Lack of Jurisdiction and as Frivolous Under LSA-R.S. 15:1186 C, asserting Lay's appeal should be dismissed as untimely and as frivolous. The defendants' motion also sought a "strike" against Lay under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 15:1187. On the same day, the defendants also filed an answer to Lay's appeal, asserting virtually the same legal arguments: 1) this court lacked jurisdiction over the appeal because the appeal was taken after expiration of the appeal delays set forth in LSA-C.C.P. art. 2087 A; 2) the appeal should be dismissed as frivolous pursuant to LSA-R.S. 15:1186 C; and 3) this court should assess a "strike" against Lay under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 15:1187.

Lay filed his original brief on March 16, 1999. However, he attached several documents to the brief that were not a part of the record on appeal. Among these attachments were a Notice of Appeal dated "October ____, 1998." There was no filing date on this notice, nor was there any evidence that this document was ever sent to the Nineteenth Judicial District Clerk of Court. These attachments also included a traverse from the commissioner's decision. The traverse was dated September 28, 1998, but again, there was no evidence that the traverse was mailed to the commissioner or to the Nineteenth Judicial District Clerk of Court.

On May 19, 1999, Lay filed a reply brief wherein he again alleged that he gave his original appeal to prison officials for mailing in October 1998, and that he gave the traverse to prison officials for mailing in September 1998. Lay also sought sanctions against defendants' counsel for raising the issue of the timeliness of Lay's appeal.

On September 21, 1999, Lay filed a Request for Judicial Notice that the Nineteenth Judicial District Clerk of Court refused to accept for filing Lay's motion to supplement the appellate record. Through the motion to supplement, Lay sought to attach documents that allegedly established the timely filing of his original appeal and his traversal of the commissioner's recommendation. However, the Nineteenth Judicial District Clerk of Court refused to accept the filing of this motion because a Prisoners' Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) stay order was in...