Sam Thurmond, Sr. v. Tim Ryals, No. 18-2743 (8th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Per Curiam - Before Benton, Bowman and Grasz, Circuit Judges Prisoner case - Prisoner civil rights. The district court did not err in granting defendants summary judgment on plaintiff's access-to-courts claim and its judgment is affirmed without comment. [ April 05, 2019
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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 18-2743 ___________________________ Sam Edward Thurmond, Sr. lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant v. Tim Ryals, Sheriff, Faulkner County Detention Facility; Gary Andrews, Lieutenant, Faulkner County Detention Facility; C. Reedmiller, Captain, Faulkner County Detention Facility lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Little Rock ____________ Submitted: March 29, 2019 Filed: April 8, 2019 [Unpublished] ____________ Before BENTON, BOWMAN, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. In this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, Arkansas inmate Sam Thurmond appeals the district court’s1 adverse grant of summary judgment on his access-to-courts claim. Upon careful de novo review, we conclude the district court did not err in its summary judgment decision. See Odom v. Kaizer, 864 F.3d 920, 921 (8th Cir. 2017) (standard of review); Hartsfield v. Nichols, 511 F.3d 826, 831-32 (8th Cir. 2008) (“To prove a violation of the right of meaningful access to the courts, a prisoner must establish the state has not provided an opportunity to litigate a claim challenging the prisoner’s sentence or conditions of confinement in a court of law, which resulted in actual injury, that is, the hindrance of a nonfrivolous and arguably meritorious underlying legal claim.”). Accordingly, we affirm the judgment. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________ 1 The Honorable Brian S. Miller, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, adopting the proposed findings and recommendations of the Honorable Jerome T. Kearney, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. -2-
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