Porter v. Dormire, No. 13-2729 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseA guard found a letter near Porter’s former cell, addressed to the Missouri Governor. It had Porter’s name on the return address and said it contained anthrax. An inmate near the cell had threatened “to get” Porter. An investigation concluded that a different inmate wrote the letter. Officials took no further action. Three months later, Porter filed an unrelated 42 U.S.C. 1983 case. Officials then wrote a conduct violation against Porter for the anthrax threat despite the investigation months earlier. Porter timely filed a grievance, but never received a response. Porter had a second disciplinary hearing on the anthrax charge and was found “Not Guilty” with a recommendation to dismiss and expunge. The warden overruled the recommendation, reinstating his administrative segregation. Porter submitted a timely grievance, claiming retaliation for his unrelated section 1983 case. Porter was not released from segregation until he served five months. More than 14 months after Porter filed his grievance, the new warden confirmed the dismissal and expungement and apologized. Porter filed suit for retaliation under 42 U.S.C. 1983. The district court dismissed for failure to exhaust remedies. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The delays in responding to Porter were unjustified, but did not prevent him from using follow-up procedures.
Court Description: Prisoner case - Prisoner civil rights. Plaintiff failed to exhaust his medical treatment claims through the Department's grievance procedure and the district court did not err in dismissing the action; because dismissal is mandatory, the district court erred in granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment, and the summary judgment order is vacated and the case is remanded for dismissal without prejudice.
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