Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-90-03317/USCOURTS-ca10-90-03317-0/pdf.json

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

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t FILED 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

Utiiced States Court of Appeals 

Tenth Cirruit 

JUL 2 3 1991 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

RAYMOND H. LADD, ) 

) 

Plaintiff-Appellant, ) 

) 

v. ) 

) 

STEVEN J. DAVIES, ) 

) 

Defendant-Appellee. ) 

) 

and ) 

) 

SHIPMANT; GERALD MADDEN; JOHN COL-) 

LISON; LT. SMITH and L. V. MOORE, ) 

) 

Defendants. 

RAYMOND H. LADD, ) 

) 

Plaintiff-Appellant, ) 

) 

V • ) 

) 

RAYMOND ROBERTS, LINDEN G. APPLE, ) 

DOUGLAS FRIESZ, DAVID CASTELLO, ) 

BUFORD, J. T. MILLS, CHIN, and ) 

STEVEN J. DAVIES, ) 

) 

Defendants-Appellees. ) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

No. 90-3317 

(D.C. No. 90-3109-S) 

(D. Kansas) 

No. 90-3360 

(D.C. No. 90-3438-S) 

(D. Kansas) 

Before LOGAN, MOORE, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges. 

* 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 estoppal. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 90-3317 Document: 010110129440 Date Filed: 07/23/1991 Page: 1 
• 

• 

This matter is before the court on plaintiff-appellant 

Raymond H. Ladd's motions for leave to proceed on appeal without 

prepayment of costs or fees. Plaintiff appeals the dismissal with 

prejudice of his two 42 u.s.c. § 1983 complaints seeking monetary 

damages against various prison officials. 

Plaintiff is a prisoner serving a sentence in the Kansas 

state penitentiary. His first § 1983 complaint arose out of 

charges by one of the defendant officers, Gerald J. Madden, that 

he disobeyed an order to report to a prison work project and that 

he stole a note pad from Madden's office. At the ensuing prison 

disciplinary hearing plaintiff was found guilty of disobeying the 

order, but acquitted of the theft charge. Plaintiff's other 

§ 1983 complaint stems from defendant J. T. Mill's refusal to allow him access to the law library during a two and one-half hour 

period on one particular day because of scheduled training. 

Plaintiff asserts that his constitutional due process rights 

were violated by (1) the disciplinary board's refusal to allow him 

to call a witness who observed officer Madden coming to 

plaintiff's cell, accusing him of stealing the note pad, and cursing him; and (2) officer Mill's refusal to allow plaintiff access 

to the law library. The district court dismissed the defendants 

on various grounds, including lack of participation and official 

immunity. 

We need not reach the questions of the immunity and the 

individual roles of particular defendants in this case. Clearly 

the individual act of defendant Madden in cursing the plaintiff in 

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Appellate Case: 90-3317 Document: 010110129440 Date Filed: 07/23/1991 Page: 2 
• 

• 

I plaintiff's cell is not a constitutional violation. Nor is 

plaintiff's constitutional right violated by the disciplinary 

board's refusal to allow a fellow prisoner to testify on Madden's 

actions; that evidence is irrelevant to the only charge on which 

plaintiff was convicted, a refusal to obey an order to report to a 

prison job. Likewise, we find that denying plaintiff access to 

the law library for a period of two and one-half hours on one 

particular day does not constitute a deprivation of constitutional 

rights. 

We therefore conclude that the appellant can make no 

reasoned, nonfrivolous argument on the law and facts in support of 

the issues he has raised on appeal. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a); 

Coppedge v. United States, 369 U.S. 438, 445 (1962); Ragan v. Cox, 

305 F.2d 58, 59-60 (10th Cir. 1962). Therefore, plaintiff's motions for leave to proceed on appeal without prepayment of costs 

or fees are denied, and his appeals are dismissed. 

The mandate shall issue forthwith. 

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Entered for the Court 

James K. Logan 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 90-3317 Document: 010110129440 Date Filed: 07/23/1991 Page: 3