Morris v. Livingston, No. 12-50848 (5th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, challenging the constitutionality of Texas Government Code 501.063, which provides that inmates must pay a $100 annual health are service fee when they receive medical treatment in the prison system. After affirming the dismissal of Governor Perry because he was not a proper defendant, the court turned to the merits of the case. The court concluded that the complaint did not state sufficient facts to support an Eighth Amendment claim under the theory that defendant was denied medical care or that the fee required him to decide between obtaining medical care or basic necessities; plaintiff's due process claims failed where the notice provided was constitutionally adequate and the discrepancy between the posted notice and the statute did not render the notice inadequate; plaintiff failed to show that the taking of funds from his inmate trust fund account to pay for his medical care was unreasonable in light of the goal of controlling the prison budget and, therefore, plaintiff's claims under the Fourth Amendment failed; and plaintiff waived his ex post facto claim, as well as his other miscellaneous claims. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's grant of defendant's motion to dismiss.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on January 20, 2014.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on February 10, 2014.
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