Court Opinion

ID: 9907179
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-05 21:00:31.197649+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:56:34.952970
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 23-6086      Doc: 18         Filed: 12/04/2023    Pg: 1 of 3

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 23-6086

        DAVID N. FIREWALKER-FIELDS,

                            Plaintiff - Appellant,

                     v.

        CHADWICK DOTSON, Director of Virginia Department of Corrections; MR.
        DAVID NEWCOMER, Warden, Augusta Corr. Center,

                            Defendants - Appellees.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at
        Roanoke. Michael F. Urbanski, Chief District Judge. (7:22-cv-00596-MFU-JCH)

        Submitted: November 7, 2023                                  Decided: December 4, 2023

        Before GREGORY, THACKER, and RICHARDSON, Circuit Judges.

        Dismissed and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion. Judge Richardson dissented.

        David Nighthorse Firewalker-Fields, Appellant Pro Se.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 23-6086       Doc: 18          Filed: 12/04/2023      Pg: 2 of 3

        PER CURIAM:

               David N. Firewalker-Fields seeks to appeal the district court’s order dismissing

        without prejudice his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint. This court may exercise jurisdiction

        only over final orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and certain interlocutory and collateral orders, 28

        U.S.C. § 1292; Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b); Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541,

        545-46 (1949). “Ordinarily, a district court order is not final until it has resolved all claims

        as to all parties.” Porter v. Zook, 803 F.3d 694, 696 (4th Cir. 2015) (internal quotation

        marks omitted).

               Our review of the record reveals that the district court did not adjudicate all of the

        claims alleged in Firewalker-Fields’ complaint. Id. at 696-97. Specifically, the district

        court never resolved Firewalker-Fields’ claim that defendant Harold W. Clarke—who has

        since been replaced by Chadwick Dotson—had violated his Fifth Amendment rights by

        refusing to allow him to transfer money in his inmate trust account to a bank. * We thus

        conclude that the order Firewalker-Fields seeks to appeal is neither a final order nor an

        appealable interlocutory or collateral order. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack

               *
                 Firewalker-Fields’ complaint alleged a Fifth Amendment claim with two parts:
        (1) Clarke unlawfully retained the interest earned on funds in Firewalker-Fields’ inmate
        trust account, and (2) Clarke unlawfully refused Firewalker-Fields’ request to transfer the
        money in his inmate trust account to a bank. The district court considered the first part but
        not the second part. Although Firewalker-Fields’ complaint dedicated much more attention
        to the first part, the complaint clearly alleged the second part. Firewalker-Fields even
        attached prison grievances to his complaint concerning his inability to transfer the money
        in his inmate trust account to a bank.

                                                       2
USCA4 Appeal: 23-6086      Doc: 18         Filed: 12/04/2023     Pg: 3 of 3

        of jurisdiction and remand to the district court for consideration of the unresolved claim.

        Id. at 699.

               We also deny as moot Firewalker-Fields’ motion for a preliminary injunction and

        deny Firewalker-Fields’ petition for an initial hearing en banc. We dispense with oral

        argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

        before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                  DISMISSED AND REMANDED

                                                    3