Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-04-03498/USCOURTS-ca8-04-03498-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 

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United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 04-3498

___________

George Poole, *

*

Appellant, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* Western District of Missouri.

Darlene Wansing; Gary Kempker; *

George Lombardi; David Terry; *

Michael Bowersox; Arlene O’Brien; *

Bobby Weber; Guard Anders; South * [UNPUBLISHED]

Central Correctional Center, Mailroom *

Staff, *

*

Appellees. *

___________

Submitted: May 16, 2005

Filed: May 19, 2005

___________

Before WOLLMAN, FAGG, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

Former Missouri inmate George Poole appeals from the district court’s order

granting defendant’s motion to dismiss his civil rights and tort complaint against

various prison officials. We grant Poole leave to proceed in forma pauperis, and

dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

Appellate Case: 04-3498 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/19/2005 Entry ID: 1904586
-2-

The judgment was not a final, appealable order, because it did not dispose of

all of Poole’s claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (creating appellate jurisdiction over final

decisions of district courts); Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b) (“order or other form of decision,

however designated, which adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and

liabilities of fewer than all the parties shall not terminate the action as to any of the

claims or parties”). Poole’s complaint stated that defendant Missouri Department of

Corrections Director Gary Kempker improperly refused him release money and other

funds, and that some of the other defendants in various ways violated his First,

Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Poole expanded on his

claims in his objections to the magistrate’s report and recommendation, stating that

defendants opened and kept his legal mail, searched his cell in the middle of the

night, and kept him naked in a cold cell for 23 hours. The court’s order from which

Poole seeks to appeal addressed only a due process claim relating to the state court’s

refusal to waive a service-of-process fee. 

Therefore, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Thomas v.

Basham, 931 F.2d 521, 522-24 (8th Cir. 1991) (appellate courts have obligation to

raise jurisdictional issues sua sponte “when there is an indication that jurisdiction is

lacking”; appeal was “clearly premature” where some claims were still pending). 

______________________________

Appellate Case: 04-3498 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/19/2005 Entry ID: 1904586