Opinion ID: 70412
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: McRae

Text: 16 Appellee M.O. McRae was a shift captain at MCI in late 1990. Appellant's complaint appears to hold McRae at least partially responsible for the acts of Ostrout. Appellant also alleges that McRae deprived him of liberty without due process by suspending his recreation in conjunction with the Ostrout incident. McRae denies taking any action against Appellant for improper reasons and claims to be unaware of any incidents in which Ostrout abused Appellant or used racist language. 17 The district court correctly dismissed Appellant's claims against McRae. There is no respondeat superior liability under Sec. 1983. Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690-92, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2036, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); LaMarca v. Turner, 995 F.2d 1526, 1538 (11th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1189, 127 L.Ed.2d 539 (1994). Although Appellant's pro se complaint need not plead that McRae personally participated in the actions against him, he must at least allege some reason for holding McRae liable beyond the fact that McRae was the superior of another defendant. See Swint, 51 F.3d at 999 (section 1983 requires an affirmative causal connection between an official's acts and the alleged constitutional deprivation). 18 Reading Appellant's complaint liberally, the only allegation against McRae which does not rely upon some variation of respondeat superior is the allegation that McRae deprived Appellant of procedural due process by his participation in suspending Appellant's recreational privileges. Nevertheless, because Appellant does not deny that he was provided notice of the disciplinary charges against him and an opportunity to respond to Ostrout's charges, we have no difficulty in concluding that Appellant received all the process he was due. See, e.g., Zinermon v. Burch, 494 U.S. 113, 127-28, 110 S.Ct. 975, 984, 108 L.Ed.2d 100 (1990). If Appellant is alleging that the bias of McRae and others deprived him of his right to due process of the law, then his claim is barred by the doctrine of Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981), and its progeny. See McKinney v. Pate, 20 F.3d 1550, 1562-63 (11th Cir.1994) (en banc), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 898, 130 L.Ed.2d 783 (1995). The district court correctly dismissed Appellant's claim against McRae because Appellant's complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.