Smith v. Kansas Dept. of Corrections, No. 11-3124 (10th Cir. 2011)
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Pro se prisoner Plaintiff-Appellant Jerry Wayne Smith appealed a district court's dismissal of his civil rights action against Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) officials. Plaintiff was incarcerated from 1998 to September 2002. In May 2002, he filed the action against the defendants in state court. That action was dismissed because Plaintiff failed to pay costs. In November 2005, Plaintiff filed a civil rights action against the defendants in federal court. That action was dismissed with prejudice for his failure to prosecute the case in an orderly and timely fashion. During the pendency of the 2005 action, Plaintiff filed the complaint in this case in September 2007. His claims arose during his incarceration in the KDOC and the bulk of the allegations relate to events from 1998 through 2002. The district court sua sponte considered the timeliness of Plaintiff's complaint before it was served on defendants, and concluded that the applicable limitations period for bringing all of Plaintiff's claims was two years. Before dismissing the action, the district court reviewed Plaintiff's response to its show cause order and then dismissed the case with prejudice. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit agreed with the district court's reasoning in dismissing Plaintiff's case, and affirmed its decision.
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