Court Opinion

ID: 9590953
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:00:29.270112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:53:17.273384
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-20014        Document: 00516866340             Page: 1      Date Filed: 08/21/2023

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

                                     ____________                                     FILED
                                                                                August 21, 2023
                                      No. 23-20014                               Lyle W. Cayce
                                    Summary Calendar                                  Clerk
                                    ____________

   Tommy Willis,

                                                                    Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                            versus

   Anthony Howard, Jr., Lieutenant; Neil Hinson, Lieutenant;
   Gabriel Mendoza, Sergeant; UTMB at Galveston; TDCJ-ID
   Transportation; Tanisha Austin, Captain; James T.
   McCllean, Captain; Geri Washington, Sergeant,

                                              Defendants—Appellees.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Southern District of Texas
                              USDC No. 4:17-CV-1594
                     ______________________________

   Before Higginbotham, Stewart, and Elrod, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         This appeal stems from a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights case initiated in
   2017 by Tommy Willis, former Texas prisoner # 794591. In his complaint,
   Willis raised the following claims: (1) the defendants assaulted him, using

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-20014     Document: 00516866340           Page: 2   Date Filed: 08/21/2023

                                    No. 23-20014

   unnecessary and excessive force; and (2) the defendants denied him medical
   treatment following the assault. Following a four-day trial, the jury returned
   a verdict in favor of the defendants on the excessive force claim.
          Willis argues on appeal that the district court erred in dismissing the
   medical care claim during pretrial 28 U.S.C. § 1915 screening and in failing
   to afford him an opportunity to amend his complaint prior to that dismissal.
   After considering these arguments, including the cited pretrial order and the
   totality of the record, we are not persuaded that the district court dismissed
   Willis’s medical care claim during pretrial screening.
          AFFIRMED.

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