Court Opinion

ID: 9556508
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-17 16:00:55.428412+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:02:23.607170
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                          For the Eighth Circuit
                      ___________________________

                              No. 22-3250
                      ___________________________

                             Robert William Avery

                      lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant

                                         v.

                             Stringfellow Dentistry

                           lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant

          Jessica Jackson Breedlove, Dentist, Stringfellow Dentistry

                     lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellee

 Wellpath Health Care; Vesta Mullins, Health Services Administrator, Wellpath
              Health Care, now known as Vesta Mullins Blanks

                           lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants
                                   ____________

                   Appeal from United States District Court
                 for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Central
                                 ____________

                           Submitted: August 3, 2023
                            Filed: August 17, 2023
                                [Unpublished]
                                ____________

Before COLLOTON, SHEPHERD, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.
                         ____________
PER CURIAM.

       Inmate Robert Avery appeals following the district court’s1 adverse grant of
summary judgment in his pro se 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Jessica Jackson
Breedlove, D.D.S. Upon careful de novo review, we affirm. See Hancock v. Arnott,
39 F.4th 482, 486 (8th Cir. 2022) (standard of review). We find that the district court
properly dismissed Avery’s claims regarding his dental treatment after July 8, 2020,
as he did not exhaust his administrative remedies as to those claims before filing this
action. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) (prisoner shall not bring § 1983 action until he has
exhausted available administrative remedies); Hammett v. Cofield, 681 F.3d 945,
947, 948-49 (8th Cir. 2012) (per curiam) (inmate satisfies § 1997e(a) by pursuing
prison grievance process to its final stage to adverse decision on merits; grievance
that violated prison’s rule against duplicate complaints was not properly exhausted).

       We also find that summary judgment for Dr. Breedlove on the merits of
Avery’s exhausted claims was proper, as Avery did not show that he had a serious
medical need with respect to the cavity in tooth #11 before July 8, 2020, or that Dr.
Breedlove actually knew of his abscessed #5 tooth before that date. See Hancock, 39
F.4th at 486 (to establish deliberate indifference, plaintiff must show that he suffered
from objectively serious medical need, and that defendant had actual knowledge of
that need but deliberately disregarded it); Holden v. Hirner, 663 F.3d 336, 342-43
(8th Cir. 2011) (toothache was not serious medical need where it had no outward
signs of bleeding or swelling, and there was no evidence that medical professional
diagnosed it as requiring treatment or that delay in treatment negatively impacted
prognosis).

      1
       The Honorable D.P. Marshall Jr., Chief Judge, United States District Court for
the Eastern District of Arkansas, adopting the report and recommendations of the
Honorable Jerome T. Kearney, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District
of Arkansas.

                                          -2-
The judgment is affirmed. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.
               ______________________________

                            -3-