L'Keith Irving v. Corporal Heath Dickson, No. 17-3246 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Per Curiam - Before Gruender, Murphy and Kelly, Circuit Judge] Prisoner case - Prisoner Civil Rights. The district court erred in dismissing this case under Younger; dismissal vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings. [ March 01, 2018
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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 17-3246 ___________________________ L'Keith Antwan Irving lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellant v. Corporal Heath Dickson; Officer Chris Bruno lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants - Appellees ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Hot Springs ____________ Submitted: February 13, 2018 Filed: March 2, 2018 [Unpublished] ____________ Before GRUENDER, MURPHY, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. In this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, L’Keith Irving appeals after the district court--in light of a then-pending proceeding in state court--dismissed Irving’s complaint preservice and without prejudice, based on abstention under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971). Irving also moves in this court for leave to amend his complaint. Upon careful review, we conclude that the dismissal based on Younger was improper. See Norwood v. Dickey, 409 F.3d 901, 903 (8th Cir. 2005) (abuse-ofdiscretion standard of review); cf. Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. v. Riney, 21 F.3d 793, 797 (8th Cir. 1994) (necessary predicate for Younger dismissal is the opportunity to raise and have timely decided by competent state tribunal the federal issues involved). We thus vacate the dismissal order and remand this case to the district court for further proceedings. We also deny Irving’s motion seeking this court’s permission to amend his complaint. ______________________________ -2-
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