Opinion ID: 171965
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Smith's Pro Se Status in the District Court

Text: At the outset, it is important to note Smith's pro se status in the district court. [A] pro se litigant's pleadings are to be construed liberally and held to a less stringent standard than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers. Garrett v. Selby Connor Maddux & Janer, 425 F.3d 836, 840 (10th Cir.2005) (internal quotation omitted). In Hall v. Bellmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir.1991), we stated: We believe that this rule means that if the court can reasonably read the pleadings to state a valid claim on which the plaintiff could prevail, it should do so despite the plaintiff's failure to cite proper legal authority, his confusion of various legal theories, his poor syntax and sentence construction, or his unfamiliarity with pleading requirements. This court, however, will not supply additional factual allegations to round out a plaintiff's complaint or construct a legal theory on a plaintiff's behalf. Whitney v. New Mexico, 113 F.3d 1170, 1173-74 (10th Cir.1997). We have on several occasions dismissed pro se complaints for failure to allege sufficient facts. See Hall, 935 F.2d at 1110 (citing cases).