Case ID: f-appx_76/html/0280-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "McCONNELL, Circuit Judge.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Louie M. ACEVEDO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO., Defendant-Appellee.
    No. 03-4140.
    United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
    Oct. 2, 2003.
    Louie M. Acevedo, Draper, UT, pro se.
    Before TACHA, Chief Judge, McKAY and McCONNELL, Circuit Judges.
   ORDER AND JUDGMENT

McCONNELL, Circuit Judge.

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). This case is therefore submitted without oral argument.

Louie M. Acevedo, a prisoner in the custody of the State of Utah, filed this civil rights complaint against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. According to his complaint, he started smoking at the age of 11, and recently, at the age of 47, suffered severe health problems relating to his continued and heavy tobacco use.

The district court dismissed his suit on the ground that R.J. Reynolds is a private entity, not liable under § 1983 in the absence of proof that the company acted under color of state law. In his handwritten brief in this Court, where he appears pro se, Mr. Acevedo offers no argument in response to the district court’s reasoning, in the apparent misapprehension that his suit was dismissed for failure to pay filing fees.

Seeing no error in the district court’s analysis, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court. 
      
       This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.