Court Opinion

ID: 9364605
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-19 19:00:21.216649+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:39.349428
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-10729         Document: 00516616238             Page: 1      Date Filed: 01/19/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit                                     United States Court of Appeals
                                      ____________                                    Fifth Circuit

                                                                                      FILED
                                        No. 22-10729                          January 19, 2023
                                      ____________                              Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                                     Clerk
   Priscilla A. Ellis,

                                                                    Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                             versus

   United States of America; Michael Caravajal, Federal
   Bureau of Prisons Director,

                                               Defendants—Appellees.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Northern District of Texas
                                USDC No. 4:21-CV-992
                      ______________________________

   Before Elrod, Graves, and Ho, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Priscilla A. Ellis, federal prisoner # 03260-180, moves to proceed in
   forma pauperis (IFP) on appeal following the district court’s denial of her
   Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) motion and her motion to reconsider
   the denial of the Rule 60(b) motion. These motions were filed following the
   dismissal of her civil rights action for failure to timely comply with the district
   court’s order to file an amended complaint using the court’s prisoner civil
          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-10729      Document: 00516616238          Page: 2    Date Filed: 01/19/2023

                                    No. 22-10729

   rights form. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b). Ellis’s IFP motion challenges the
   district court’s determination that the appeal is not taken in good faith. See
   Baugh v. Taylor, 117 F.3d 197, 202 (5th Cir. 1997). This court’s inquiry into
   whether the appeal is taken in good faith “is limited to whether the appeal
   involves ‘legal points arguable on their merits (and therefore not
   frivolous).’” Howard v. King, 707 F.2d 215, 220 (5th Cir. 1983) (citation
   omitted).
          In her appellate filings, Ellis largely discusses the merits of her
   constitutional claims and mentions that she did not file an amended
   complaint because she did not receive the order requiring her to do so.
   However, even assuming her allegation to be true, Ellis had ample
   opportunity to seek to comply with the district court’s order when she
   learned of it shortly after the court imposed deadline. However, she did not
   seek to comply then or in the ensuing 10 months leading to this appeal. Ellis
   does not make the requisite showing that she has a nonfrivolous issue for
   appeal. See Howard, 707 F.2d at 220. Accordingly, her motion to proceed
   IFP is DENIED, and her appeal is DISMISSED as frivolous. See Baugh,
   117 F.3d at 202 n.24; 5th Cir. R. 42.2.
          The dismissal of this appeal as frivolous counts as a strike under 28
   U.S.C. § 1915(g). See Adepegba v. Hammons, 103 F.3d 383, 388 (5th Cir.
   1996), abrogated in part on other grounds by Coleman v. Tollefson, 575 U.S. 532,
   537 (2015). Ellis is WARNED that if she accumulates three strikes, she will
   not be permitted to proceed IFP in any civil action or appeal filed while
   incarcerated or detained in any facility unless she is under imminent danger
   of serious physical injury. See § 1915(g).

                                          2