Court Opinion

ID: 9949761
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-12 16:00:42.131684+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:28:45.330131
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                          For the Eighth Circuit
                      ___________________________

                              No. 23-3139
                      ___________________________

                               Alana S. Phillips

                     lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant

                                        v.

 Dr. Carlos Rocha, Mena Regional Health System Hospital Commission Member;
  Michael Myers, Mena Regional Health System Hospital Commission Member;
Leon Philpot, Mena Regional Health System Hospital Commission Member; Paula
 Brotherton, Mena Regional Health System Hospital Commission Member; John
 Maddox, Mena Regional Health System Hospital Commission Member; Phillip
  Hensley, Mena Regional Health System Hospital Commission Member; David
      Gilbert, Mena Regional Health System Hospital Commission Member

                    lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees
                                     ____________

                  Appeal from United States District Court
               for the Western District of Arkansas - Ft. Smith
                               ____________

                           Submitted: March 7, 2024
                            Filed: March 12, 2024
                                [Unpublished]
                                ____________

Before SHEPHERD, KELLY, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.
                           ____________

PER CURIAM.
       Alana Phillips appeals the district court’s1 adverse grant of summary judgment
in her pro se 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging constitutional violations based on a
municipal hospital’s COVID-19 visitation policy. Upon careful de novo review, we
conclude that Phillips lacked standing to bring this action. See Bernbeck v. Gale, 829
F.3d 643, 646 (8th Cir. 2016) (even if not raised by parties, standing is jurisdictional
prerequisite that this court is obligated to scrutinize; standard of review). Phillips
sought only injunctive and declaratory relief to redress her past injury of denied
visitation at the hospital, and did not allege that she had concrete or imminent plans
to return the hospital and again be subjected to the purportedly unconstitutional
policy. See TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413, 423 (2021) (standing
requires plaintiff to show that she suffered actual or imminent injury, that defendant
likely caused injury, and that injury would likely be redressed by judicial relief); Frost
v. Sioux City, 920 F.3d 1158, 1162 (8th Cir. 2019) (plaintiff lacked standing to
pursue declaratory and injunctive relief where she alleged only past injuries, and
could not show ongoing or immediate threat of injury). Her requests for fees, costs,
and “other or further relief as the Court deems just, proper, and equitable,” were also
insufficient to confer standing. See Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, 141 S. Ct. 792, 801
(2021) (request for fees or costs cannot establish standing, because those awards are
merely byproduct of suit); Frost, 920 F.3d at 1162 n.1 (8th Cir. 2019) (plaintiff could
not base standing on claim for attorneys’ fees alone, and boilerplate request for “all
other relief” was insufficient to state claim for damages and establish standing). We
modify the dismissal of Phillips’s claims to be without prejudice. See Cnty. of Mille
Lacs v. Benjamin, 361 F.3d 460, 464-65 (8th Cir. 2004).

      The judgment is affirmed as modified. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.
                     ______________________________

      1
       The Honorable P.K. Holmes, III, United States District Judge for the Western
District of Arkansas.

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