Damone E. Flowers v. Warden Perry Phelps; Mrs. Caroll Powell; Correctional Officer Kenneth Hedges, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 4149 (3rd Circuit 2013)

Prisoner's claim under the First Amendment right to access the courts fails as plaintiff failed to allege his claims were not previously adjudicated.

The plaintiff, an inmate in a state correctional institute, filed a complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C.S. § 1983, alleging that prison defendants violated his First Amendment right to access the courts by failing to timely deliver his notice of appeal to his criminal conviction. The court found that the inmate failed to state a claim against the warden because the complaint failed to establish that the warden personally directed the alleged violation or had actual knowledge at the time it occurred. The access to courts claim failed because his complaint failed to allege that the claims were not previously adjudicated, despite the inmate's allegations that the delay in mailing his notice of appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court caused him to lose the opportunity to pursue challenges to his conviction.

Case Law Alerts - 2nd Quarter 2013