Court Opinion

ID: 9471427
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:32:22.744101+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:24.495255
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent from the majority’s disposition of this case. I would adopt the reasoning of Judge Haynsworth, author of the majority opinion in Shah v. Hutto, 704 F.2d 717 (4th Cir.1983). In that case, in circumstances analogous to the case before us, the Fourth Circuit held that when a pro se prisoner files a notice of appeal more than thirty days after entry of judgment but within the subsequent thirty day period during which the district court might grant an extension of time to appeal under FRAP 4(a)(5),1 the notice of appeal shall include by implication a motion for an extension of time to appeal. As Judge Haynsworth observed,
There is no doubt, however, that the notice was a clear indication of their intention to appeal, and implicit in that is a wish to do and have done whatever was necessary to preserve and protect their rights. If someone in the clerk’s office had informed them of the delay and of the appropriateness of a motion for an extension of time, there is little doubt but that they would have embraced the suggestion. Unless the notice of appeal is given such a construction, the rule becomes a trap for the unwary, [footnote omitted] • ■
Accordingly, I would remand this case to the district court to permit Campbell to amend his implied motion for extension of time by filing a written motion, to be deemed filed nunc pro tunc as of the date of the late notice of appeal, and to permit the district court to rule on that request.

. See majority opinion, at 645 n. 2.