Court Opinion

ID: 9407701
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-08 00:01:12.663247+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:39.706895
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-30026         Document: 00516813659             Page: 1      Date Filed: 07/07/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                                United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 23-30026
                                     Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                     ____________                                     July 7, 2023
                                                                                  Lyle W. Cayce
   Ashraf Khalil,                                                                      Clerk

                                                                     Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                             versus

   Department of Corrections; Dustin Bickham; Patricia
   Williams,

                                               Defendants—Appellees.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Middle District of Louisiana
                                USDC No. 3:21-CV-466
                      ______________________________

   Before Higginbotham, Graves, and Ho, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Ashraf Khalil, former Louisiana prisoner # 729221, appeals the
   district court’s sua sponte dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights
   complaint for failure to exhaust administrative remedies pursuant to 42
   U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Khalil contends that the district court erred by sua sponte
   dismissing his complaint because it relied on information elicited by the form
          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-30026        Document: 00516813659         Page: 2     Date Filed: 07/07/2023

                                     No. 23-30026

   § 1983 complaint in determining that he failed to exhaust his claims. He also
   argues that the district court erred by failing to consider his allegation that he
   could not exhaust administrative remedies regarding the instant claims due
   to the inadequacies in the prison administrative review process.
          This court reviews a district court’s dismissal for failure to exhaust
   administrative remedies de novo. Coleman v. Sweetin, 745 F.3d 756, 763 (5th
   Cir. 2014). Although it appears that Khalil is no longer in custody, his appeal
   is not moot to the extent his suit seeks monetary damages. See Cruz v. Estelle,
   497 F.2d 496, 499 (5th Cir. 1974).
          As the district court concluded, Khalil was required under § 1997e(a)
   of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) to exhaust administrative
   remedies before filing suit. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S.
   199, 202 (2007). However, in Jones, 549 U.S. at 216, the Supreme Court held
   that an inmate’s failure to exhaust is an affirmative defense under the PLRA
   and that “inmates are not required to specially plead or demonstrate
   exhaustion in their complaints.” Furthermore, “a district court cannot by
   local rule sidestep Jones by requiring prisoners to affirmatively plead
   exhaustion.” Carbe v. Lappin, 492 F.3d 325, 328 (5th Cir. 2007). We have
   interpreted Jones and Carbe to prohibit using form complaints to elicit
   exhaustion information from prisoners. See Coleman, 745 F.3d at 763 n.5
   (citing cases); see also Torns v. Miss. Dep’t of Corrs., 301 F. App’x 386, 389
   (5th Cir. 2008).
          While the district court acknowledged the holding in Jones, the
   district court nonetheless relied upon Khalil’s responses to the form
   complaint’s questions to determine that his claims were unexhausted. The
   district court therefore erred by sua sponte dismissing Khalil’s complaint for
   failure to exhaust.

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Case: 23-30026    Document: 00516813659        Page: 3   Date Filed: 07/07/2023

                                No. 23-30026

         We therefore VACATE the judgment of the district court and
   REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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