Court Opinion

ID: 9388594
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-21 00:00:35.104549+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:21.233902
License: Public Domain

Case: 21-51218   Document: 00516719977   Page: 1    Date Filed: 04/20/2023

          United States Court of Appeals
               for the Fifth Circuit
                                                            United States Court of Appeals
                                                                     Fifth Circuit
                            No. 21-51218
                          Summary Calendar                         FILED
                                                               April 20, 2023
                                                              Lyle W. Cayce
   John Desmarais,                                                 Clerk

                                                   Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                versus

   Bell County Justice Complex; Sheriff Eddy Lange;
   Fansy Jesek; David Barfield; Ginese Gilbert; Henry
   Garza,

                                               Defendants—Appellees,

   ______________________________

   John Desmarais,

                                                   Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                versus

   Bell County Justice Complex; Ken Kalafut; Dr. Frank
   A. Pugliese; Fansy Jezek; Sandra McCloud Wright;
   Michael Waldman; Stephen J. DeBye,

                                               Defendants—Appellees.
Case: 21-51218         Document: 00516719977            Page: 2     Date Filed: 04/20/2023

                                         No. 21-51218

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                           for the Western District of Texas
                               USDC No. 6:21-CV-1086
                               USDC No. 6:21-CV-1087

   Before Smith, Dennis, and Southwick, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*
          John Desmarais, Texas prisoner # 2314327, filed two civil rights
   complaints related to his pretrial detention at the Bell County Justice
   Complex beginning in February 2016.                  The district court granted
   Desmarais’s motion to consolidate the two actions. It determined that
   Desmarais’s claims are time-barred, and it dismissed the consolidated
   complaint as frivolous pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e). See Gonzales v.
   Wyatt, 157 F.3d 1016, 1019-20 (5th Cir. 1998). Our review is for an abuse of
   discretion. See id. at 1019.
          Desmarais has argued the merits of his constitutional claims only. The
   time-bar issue is unbriefed, and Desmarais has not shown that the district
   court abused its discretion. See id.; see also Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222,
   224-25 (5th Cir. 1993) (noting that, although pro se briefs are afforded liberal
   construction, even pro se litigants must brief arguments in order to preserve
   them, and issues which are not adequately briefed are waived); Brinkmann v.
   Dallas Cnty. Deputy Sheriff Abner, 813 F.2d 744, 748 (5th Cir. 1987) (stating
   that this court “will not raise and discuss legal issues” that an appellant “has
   failed to assert”). Because the appeal is frivolous, it is DISMISSED. See
   5th Cir. R. 42.2.
          The district court’s dismissal of Desmarais’s consolidated complaints
   as frivolous and this court’s dismissal of Desmarais’s appeal count as two

          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.

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Case: 21-51218      Document: 00516719977           Page: 3   Date Filed: 04/20/2023

                                     No. 21-51218

   strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). See Adepegba v. Hammons, 103 F.3d 383,
   387 (5th Cir. 1996), abrogated in part on other grounds, Coleman v. Tollefson,
   575 U.S. 532, 537 (2015). Desmarais has at least one other civil action that
   was dismissed as frivolous. See Desmarais v. State of Tex. Med. Bd., No. 6:21-
   CV-1283-ADA (dismissed as frivolous Feb. 7, 2022). That decision also
   counts as a strike under § 1915(g). Because Desmarais has at least three
   strikes, he is now subject to the § 1915(g) filing bar and, accordingly, may not
   proceed IFP in any civil action or appeal filed while he is incarcerated or
   detained in any facility unless he is under imminent danger of serious physical
   injury. See § 1915(g).
          APPEAL DISMISSED; § 1915(g) BAR IMPOSED.

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