Court Opinion

ID: 9889587
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-10 19:00:52.346734+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:19.056807
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-40330        Document: 00516924905             Page: 1      Date Filed: 10/10/2023

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

                                      No. 23-40330
                                                                                       FILED
                                                                                 October 10, 2023
                                     ____________
                                                                                     Lyle W. Cayce
   Roger Soliz, Jr.,                                                                      Clerk

                                                                    Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                            versus

   Doctor M. D. Hague; Doctor Marcus Hinkle; Joy
   Onougu, Nurse Practioner; Shelly or Sheryl LNU, Nurse at
   UTMB Hospital Galveston; Terry Speers, Nurse Practioner; Nurse
   Nwachukwu Uguru; Betsy Zachariah, Senior Practice Manager;
   Doctor Phillip Singer; Mark Foreman, Orthopedic Surgeon;
   Lateishal P. Cherry, TDCJ Officer; Salazar, TDCJ Officer;
   Angela N. Chevalier, Assistant Warden; Powers, Assistant
   Warden,

                                              Defendants—Appellees.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Southern District of Texas
                               USDC No. 3:21-CV-66
                     ______________________________

   Before Smith, Southwick, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-40330      Document: 00516924905          Page: 2     Date Filed: 10/10/2023

                                    No. 23-40330

          Roger Soliz, Jr., Texas prisoner # 01622355, has filed a motion to
   proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) in this appeal from the dismissal of his civil
   rights complaint.     Soliz’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).
          The district court concluded that the defendants were entitled to
   immunity from any claim for monetary damages against them in their official
   capacities. Moreover, the court determined that Soliz’s allegations failed to
   state a claim that any of the defendants were deliberately indifferent to his
   serious medical needs. Because Soliz fails meaningfully to brief any challenge
   to the district court’s reasons for dismissing his civil rights action, any such
   issues are abandoned. See Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222, 225 (5th Cir. 1993);
   Brinkmann v. Dallas Cnty. Deputy Sheriff Abner, 813 F.2d 744, 748 (5th Cir.
   1987). Further, we do not consider Soliz’s allegation that his surgeon was
   negligent and that his operation resulted in disfigurement and nerve damage,
   as Soliz raises those allegations for the first time on appeal. See Leverette v.
   Louisville Ladder Co., 183 F.3d 339, 342 (5th Cir. 1999).
          Soliz does not make the requisite showing that he has a nonfrivolous
   issue for appeal. See Howard, 707 F.2d at 220. Accordingly, his motion to
   proceed IFP is DENIED, and his appeal is DISMISSED as frivolous. See
   Baugh, 117 F.3d at 202 n.24; 5th Cir. R. 42.2. His motion for the
   appointment of counsel is also DENIED.
          The district court’s dismissal of the suit under 28 U.S.C.
   §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b) and our dismissal of this appeal as frivolous
   each count as a strike under § 1915(g). See Prescott v. UTMB Galveston Tex.,

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Case: 23-40330      Document: 00516924905           Page: 3    Date Filed: 10/10/2023

                                     No. 23-40330

   73 F.4th 315, 319 (5th Cir. 2023); 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). Soliz is WARNED that if he accumulates three strikes,
   he will not be permitted to proceed IFP in any civil action or appeal filed while
   incarcerated or detained in any facility unless he is under imminent danger of
   serious physical injury. See § 1915(g).

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