Romeo Anderson Lee v. Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division, et al--Appeal from 5th District Court of Bowie County

In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
______________________________
No. 06-06-00072-CV
______________________________
ROMEO ANDERSON LEE, Appellant
V.
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE-INSTITUTIONAL
DIVISION, ET AL., Appellees
On Appeal from the 5th Judicial District Court
Bowie County, Texas
Trial Court No. 05C1933-005
Before Morriss, C.J., Ross and Carter, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss
MEMORANDUM OPINION

Romeo Anderson Lee is an inmate within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division. After being transferred from another unit, it appears (taking the allegations contained in his original petition as true) that he was not allowed to keep the packing case to his typewriter once he arrived at the Telford Unit in New Boston, Bowie County, Texas. Lee filed several grievances regarding the failure of the property department to release the typewriter case to him. The record before us suggests Lee's most recently filed "Step-2" grievance regarding the typewriter case was denied by the administrative hearing official January 18, 2005, which Lee received notice of by February 5, 2005. Lee then filed a civil suit against several officials within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The date of filing of his original petition is December 29, 2005. Lee apparently signed the petition December 11, 2005, and mailed it to the local district clerk's office December 27, 2005. The trial court dismissed Lee's lawsuit May 22, 2006, on the basis that Lee had not timely filed his original petition. Lee now appeals.

Chapter 14 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code governs lawsuits filed by inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. 14.002 (Vernon 2002). A trial court in this State must dismiss an inmate's lawsuit if the record before the court shows the inmate failed to adequately exhaust his or her administrative remedies, or if the record reveals the inmate failed to file his or her claim in the trial court within thirty-one days of having exhausted all administrative remedies. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. 14.005(a), (b) (Vernon 2002).

The trial court dismissed Lee's lawsuit after finding that Lee failed to file this lawsuit within thirty-one days of exhausting his administrative remedies. The record on appeal supports the trial court's conclusion: Lee apparently waited more than ten months between the time he was notified of the disposition of his last "Step-2" grievance and the time he filed the instant lawsuit. Thus, the trial court properly dismissed Lee's lawsuit. Accord; Sanders v. Palunsky, 36 S.W.3d 222 (Tex. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 2001, no pet.); Wallace v. TDCJ-ID, 36 S.W.3d 607, 610 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, pet. denied).

We affirm the trial court's judgment.

 

Josh R. Morriss, III

Chief Justice

 

Date Submitted: September 28, 2006

Date Decided: December 5, 2006