Court Opinion

ID: 9397300
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-24 21:01:50.383446+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:23.241732
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 21-7709      Doc: 10         Filed: 04/01/2022    Pg: 1 of 2

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 21-7709

        AMOS JACOB ARROYO,

                            Plaintiff - Appellant,

                     v.

        SUPERINTENDENT JOHN DOE; NS SUPERINTENDENT JOHN DOE; MAJOR
        JOHN BARNES; CAPTAIN JOHN DOE; HAMPTON ROADS REGIONAL JAIL;
        THE CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS,

                            Defendants - Appellees.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at
        Norfolk. Arenda L. Wright Allen, District Judge. (2:21-cv-00313-AWA-RJK)

        Submitted: March 29, 2022                                         Decided: April 1, 2022

        Before HARRIS, QUATTLEBAUM, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges.

        Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        Amos Jacob Arroyo, Appellant Pro Se.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 21-7709      Doc: 10         Filed: 04/01/2022      Pg: 2 of 2

        PER CURIAM:

               Amos Jacob Arroyo seeks to appeal the district court’s order dismissing without

        prejudice his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action for failure to comply with a court order. In civil

        cases, parties have 30 days after the entry of the district court’s final judgment to note an

        appeal, Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), unless the district court extends the appeal period under

        Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5) or reopens the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6). “[T]he

        timely filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case is a jurisdictional requirement.” Bowles

        v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007).

               The district court’s order was entered on August 11, 2021. Arroyo filed his notice

        of appeal, at the earliest, on December 2, 2021, well after the appeal and excusable neglect

        periods expired. * In his notice of appeal, however, Arroyo indicated that he had not been

        receiving legal mail, implied that he never received the court’s dismissal order, and asked

        that his appeal be granted. We therefore construe the notice of appeal as a motion to reopen

        the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6). Accordingly, we remand this case to the

        district court for the limited purpose of determining whether Arroyo is entitled to a

        reopening of the appeal period. The record, as supplemented, will then be returned to this

        court for further proceedings.

                                                                                       REMANDED

               *
                For the purpose of this appeal, we assume that the date appearing on the notice of
        appeal is the earliest date it could have been properly delivered to prison officials for
        mailing to the court. Fed. R. App. P. 4(c); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988).

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