Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca4-14-07547/USCOURTS-ca4-14-07547-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 

---

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-7547

JAMES C. PLATTS,

Petitioner - Appellant,

v.

TERRY O’BRIEN, Warden,

Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern 

District of West Virginia, at Clarksburg. Irene M. Keeley, 

District Judge. (1:13-cv-00257-IMK-RWT)

Submitted: December 16, 2014 Decided: December 19, 2014

Before DUNCAN and DIAZ, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior 

Circuit Judge.

Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

James C. Platts, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Appeal: 14-7547 Doc: 8 Filed: 12/19/2014 Pg: 1 of 2
2

PER CURIAM:

James C. Platts, a federal prisoner, appeals the 

district court’s order adopting the magistrate judge’s amended 

recommendation and denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (2012) 

petition. Parties in a civil action in which the United States 

or an officer or agency of the federal government is a party are 

accorded sixty days after the entry of the district court’s 

final judgment or order to note an appeal. Fed. R. App. P. 

4(a)(1)(B). “[T]he timely filing of a notice of appeal in a 

civil case is a jurisdictional requirement.” Bowles v. Russell, 

551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007).

Because Platts is incarcerated, the notice of appeal 

is considered filed on the date it was properly delivered to 

prison officials for mailing to the court. Fed. R. App. P. 

4(c)(1); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988). The record 

does not conclusively reveal when Platts delivered the notice of 

appeal to prison officials for mailing. Accordingly, we remand 

the case for the limited purpose of allowing the district court 

to obtain this information from the parties and to determine 

whether the filing was timely under Fed. R. App. P. 4(c)(1) and 

Houston v. Lack. The record, as supplemented, will then be 

returned to this court for further consideration.

REMANDED

Appeal: 14-7547 Doc: 8 Filed: 12/19/2014 Pg: 2 of 2