Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-90-03116/USCOURTS-ca10-90-03116-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 

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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

W. FOSTER SELLERS, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

FI LED 

United States Court of Appeals 

T',.nth Cirr:uic 

OCT 16 1990 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

v. 

G.C. WILKINSON; JERRY A. 

O'BRIEN, Warden; D. ROMINE; 

L. REVELLA; OFFICER EVANS; 

OFFICER AUNGST; OFFICER BECK; 

and J. PRATHER, IDC Members, 

No. 90-3116 

(D.C. No. 86-3204-D) 

(D. Kansas) 

Defendants-Appellees. 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Submitted on the Briefs: 

Before MCKAY, MOORE, and BRORBY, Circuit Judges. 

This is an appeal from a summary judgment granted defendants 

in a prose Civil Rights Action. We affirm. 

*This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case, 

res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 90-3116 Document: 010110059644 Date Filed: 10/16/1990 Page: 1 
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• 

Plaintiff, a prisoner in the federal penitentiary at Marion, 

Illinois, filed a complaint against the defendants alleging they 

conspired against him to deny his civil rights. On appeal, 

plaintiff asserts the statutory predicate for his action is 42 

u.s.c. § 1985(3), but he did not make that fact evident in his 

complaint. Nonetheless, § 1985(3) provides for redress of 

injuries for a conspiracy driven by "some racial or otherwise 

class based animus." Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 102 

(1971); Dixon v. City of Lawton, 898 F.2d 1443, 1449 (1990). The 

complaint fails to allege either the requisite animus or 

plaintiff's membership in a protected class. Consequently, it is 

without legal foundation. Id. 

Notwithstanding the basic legal fallacy of the complaint, we 

have reviewed the record in light of the seriousness of the facts 

asserted by plaintiff. After doing so, we are in agreement with 

the trial court's analysis, even assuming plaintiff attempted to 

assert a complaint under some statute other than 42 u.s.c. 

§ 1985(3). 

AFFIRMED. The mandate shall issue forthwith. 

Entered for the Court 

John P. Moore 

Circuit Judge 

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Appellate Case: 90-3116 Document: 010110059644 Date Filed: 10/16/1990 Page: 2