Martinez v. Singletary

• Decision Date: 04 April 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-1270,96-1270
• Citation: 691 So.2d 537
• Parties: 22 Fla. L. Weekly D883 Julio Cesar MARTINEZ, Appellant, v. Harry K. SINGLETARY, Jr., Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 537

691 So.2d 537

22 Fla. L. Weekly D883

Julio Cesar MARTINEZ, Appellant, v. Harry K. SINGLETARY, Jr., Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Appellee.

No. 96-1270.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

First District.

April 4, 1997.

Appellant pro se.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Sandra C. Upchurch, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

MICKLE, Judge.

Julio C. Martinez, an inmate in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections, appeals from an order denying, as moot, his petition for writ of habeas corpus/mandamus. Having concluded that the appellee, as the party claiming mootness, failed to meet its burden under County of Los Angeles v. Davis, 440 U.S. 625, 631, 99 S.Ct. 1379, 1383, 59 L.Ed.2d 642 (1979), and Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts, 467 U.S. 561, 569-601, 104 S.Ct. 2576, 2583-2600, 81 L.Ed.2d 483 (1984), to show that the case actually was moot, we reverse the order and remand for further proceedings addressing the petition.

In his petition, Martinez alleged a number of due-process violations in 1994 arising from the Department of Corrections' transferring him to another wing of the Florida State Prison. He sought, inter alia, 1) the restoration of 60 days of lost gain-time arising from a disputed disciplinary infraction (disobeying a prison officer's verbal order), 2) protection from other inmates who purportedly were conspiring to harm him, 3) the expungement of the disciplinary report, and 4) his removal from assignment in close management. While his petition was pending in the lower tribunal, Martinez was removed from the Florida State Prison and was transferred to a mental health institution. According to Martinez's statement of facts (with which the appellee generally agreed), after his January 23, 1996, discharge from the Corrections Mental Health Institution, Martinez was returned to the Florida State Prison and was assigned again to close management, the classification from which he had sought relief. On February 28, 1996, the trial court denied the petition as moot.

The Supreme Court of Florida has stated that "[a]n issue is moot when the controversy has been so fully resolved that a judicial determination can have no actual effect," and "[a] case is 'moot' when it presents no actual controversy or when the issues have ceased to exist." Godwin v. State, 593 So.2d 211, 212 (Fla.1992). Generally, an inmate's grievance regarding the conditions of his confinement at a certain institution becomes moot upon his transfer to another facility. Spears v. Thigpen, 846 F.2d 1327, 1328 (11th Cir.1988) (inmate's claims regarding conditions of administrative segregation at correctional facility from which he had been transferred were moot for lack of "a case or controversy"), cert. den., 488 U.S. 1046, 109 S.Ct. 876, 102 L.Ed.2d 999 (1989). Similarly, a claim may become moot if officials give the petitioner the relief sought. Alston v. Robinson, 791 F.Supp. 569, 578 (D.Md.1992) (reinstatement to work release mooted claim of improper removal from work release). Despite the general rule set forth in Spears, supra, short-lived violations of law that are over before they can be fully challenged in court are not considered moot if they are capable of repetition yet evade judicial review, or if their recurrence upon the complainant is a reasonable expectation. Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 318...