UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-8263

ALVIN LUTHER JONES,

Plaintiff – Appellant,

v.

GENE M. JOHNSON, Dir. of Dept. of Corr. Va.; HARVARD 

STEPHENS, Chief Medical Officer for Dept. of Corr. Va.; G. 

K. WASHINGTON, Regional Dir. (Central Region) Va.; W. J. 

TOWNLEY, Warden/Supt. Halifax Corr. Field Unit #23; FRANK 

WRAY, M.D.-Doctor Halifax Corr. Cntr. #23; SANDRA VASS, 

R.N.--Head Nurse Halifax Corr. Unit #23; A. FIELDS, L.P.N.--

Nurse Halifax Corr. Unit #23; J.M.C. BROWN, Grievance 

Coordinator Halifax Corr. Unit #23,

Defendants – Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western 

District of Virginia, at Roanoke. Jackson L. Kiser, Senior

District Judge. (7:08-cv-00492-jlk-mfu)

Submitted: June 24, 2010 Decided: June 29, 2010

Before DUNCAN, AGEE, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Alvin Luther Jones, Appellant Pro Se. Mark R. Davis, Assistant 

Attorney General, Richmond, Virginia; Jeff W. Rosen, PENDER & 

COWARD, PC, Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellees.
2

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
3

PER CURIAM:

Alvin Luther Jones seeks to appeal the district 

court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the 

Defendants in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006) inmate civil rights 

action. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 

4(a)(1), a notice of appeal in a civil case must be filed with 

the district court within thirty days after judgment is entered. 

“[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). Therefore, the appeal must be dismissed if the 

notice of appeal is untimely. Washington v. Bumgarner, 882 F.2d 

899, 900 (4th Cir. 1989). The district court may extend the 

filing time if “a party so moves no later than 30 days after the 

time prescribed by . . . Rule 4(a) expires” and the party shows 

excusable neglect or good cause. Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5)(A)(i)-

(ii).

The district court granted Defendants’ motion for 

summary judgment on October 30, 2009. Therefore, Jones had 

thirty days, or until November 30, 2009, to file a notice of 

appeal. Jones filed his notice of appeal, at the earliest, on 

December 7, 2009, thirty-seven days after judgment was entered.*

 * For purposes of this appeal, we assume that the date 

appearing on the notice of appeal is the earliest date it could 

 

(Continued)
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In a letter accompanying the notice of appeal, Jones stated that 

he filed his original notice of appeal in the wrong court 

because the district court failed to inform him of his appeal 

rights or to which court he was required to send his notice of 

appeal.

We construe Jones’s letter as a timely request for an 

extension of the thirty-day appeal period. Therefore, we remand 

this case to the district court for the limited purpose of 

enabling the court to determine whether Jones has shown 

excusable neglect or good cause warranting an extension of time 

to appeal. The record, as supplemented, will then be returned 

to this court for further consideration. 

REMANDED

 

have been delivered to prison officials for mailing. See

Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988).