Filed: Mar. 17, 2004
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS March 17, 2004 FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 03-20214 Summary Calendar ANTHONY F. HOUSTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus JAMES R. ZELLER; MELVIN BROCK; WALTER LONG, Doctor; WILLIAM H. REINKINS; ROCHELLE MCKINNEY, Defendants-Appellees. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. H-00-CV-3461 - Before JOLLY, WIENER, and PICKERING, Circu
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS March 17, 2004 FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 03-20214 Summary Calendar ANTHONY F. HOUSTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus JAMES R. ZELLER; MELVIN BROCK; WALTER LONG, Doctor; WILLIAM H. REINKINS; ROCHELLE MCKINNEY, Defendants-Appellees. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. H-00-CV-3461 - Before JOLLY, WIENER, and PICKERING, Circui..
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United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS March 17, 2004
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 03-20214
Summary Calendar
ANTHONY F. HOUSTON,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
JAMES R. ZELLER; MELVIN BROCK; WALTER LONG, Doctor;
WILLIAM H. REINKINS; ROCHELLE MCKINNEY,
Defendants-Appellees.
--------------------
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. H-00-CV-3461
--------------------
Before JOLLY, WIENER, and PICKERING, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Anthony F. Houston, Texas prisoner # 719384, appeals the
dismissal on summary judgment of his civil rights complaint filed
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Houston argues that prison
officials and medical care providers at the Ferguson Unit of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) violated the Eighth
Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment by
showing deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs.
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
No. 03-20214
-2-
Houston alleges that the medical providers Dr. Walter Long
and William H. Reinkins withheld needed medications from him and
failed to restrict his prison work assignments; however, Long and
Reinkins were never served with the complaint and have not
appeared in the suit. Houston also named as defendants the head
warden James R. Zeller, the assistant warden Melvin Brock, and
Rochelle McKinney, the TDCJ’s regional medical administrator
(collectively, the defendants), asserting that these supervisory
prison officials refused to take proper action on his grievances
to remedy the constitutional violations. Houston seeks
injunctive and monetary relief.
Houston’s claims against the defendants in their official
capacities fail as a matter of law because a state official sued
in his or her official capacity is not a “person” who can be sued
for purposes of liability under § 1983. See Will v. Michigan
Dep’t of State Police,
491 U.S. 58, 71 (1989).
Houston has not shown that the defendants or his medical
providers “refused to treat him, ignored his complaints,
intentionally treated him incorrectly, or engaged in any similar
conduct that would clearly evince a wanton disregard for [his]
serious medical needs.” See Domino v. Texas Dep’t of Criminal
Justice,
239 F.3d 752, 756 (5th Cir. 2001) (internal quotation
marks and citation omitted). At most, Houston has established
that he disagreed with the prison physician’s choice of
medications for him and the physician’s judgment that he was not
No. 03-20214
-3-
restricted medically as to job assignments; such disagreements
cannot support a claim of cruel and unusual punishment. See
Varnado v. Lynaugh,
920 F.2d 320, 321 (5th Cir. 1991).
Thus, Houston’s claims against the defendants in their
individual capacities and for injunctive relief, while cognizable
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, also fail because Houston has not shown
that there exists any genuine issue of material fact regarding
whether the defendants either were personally involved in any
constitutional violation or whether there was a causal connection
between the defendants’ conduct and any constitutional violation.
See Thompkins v. Belt,
828 F.2d 298, 304 (5th Cir. 1987).
Consequently, the district court’s dismissal of Houston’s
complaint is AFFIRMED.