Filed: Sep. 29, 2020
Latest Update: Sep. 29, 2020
Summary: Case: 19-12871 Date Filed: 09/29/2020 Page: 1 of 3 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 19-12871 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cv-00149-TFM-B EMOGENE R. BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus DR. LLYAS SHALKH, Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama _ (September 29, 2020) Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, ROSENBAUM and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Emogene Brown ap
Summary: Case: 19-12871 Date Filed: 09/29/2020 Page: 1 of 3 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 19-12871 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cv-00149-TFM-B EMOGENE R. BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus DR. LLYAS SHALKH, Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama _ (September 29, 2020) Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, ROSENBAUM and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Emogene Brown app..
More
Case: 19-12871 Date Filed: 09/29/2020 Page: 1 of 3
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 19-12871
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cv-00149-TFM-B
EMOGENE R. BROWN,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
DR. LLYAS SHALKH,
Defendant-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Alabama
________________________
(September 29, 2020)
Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, ROSENBAUM and ANDERSON,
Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Emogene Brown appeals pro se the sua sponte dismissal without prejudice
of her second amended complaint against Dr. Llyas Shalkh and her postjudgment
Case: 19-12871 Date Filed: 09/29/2020 Page: 2 of 3
motion for pain and suffering. The district court dismissed Brown’s complaint and
her motion for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3). We
affirm the dismissal of Brown’s motion, and we dismiss for lack of jurisdiction the
part of her appeal challenging the dismissal of her second amended complaint.
We are obligated sua sponte to inquire into our jurisdiction whenever it may
be lacking. Trichell v. Midland Credit Mgmt., Inc.,
964 F.3d 990, 996 (11th Cir.
2020). We review de novo the dismissal of a complaint for lack of subject-matter
jurisdiction. Dixon v. Hodges,
887 F.3d 1235, 1237 (11th Cir. 2018). “[A]lthough
we . . . give liberal construction to the pleadings of pro se litigants, we nevertheless
. . . require[] them to conform to procedural rules.” Albra v. Advan, Inc.,
490 F.3d
826, 829 (11th Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted).
We lack jurisdiction to review the dismissal of Brown’s second amended
complaint because she failed to timely appeal the ruling. An appellant must file a
written notice of appeal in a civil case “within 30 days after entry of the judgment
or order appealed from.” Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A). “[T]imely filing of a notice of
appeal is ‘mandatory and jurisdictional.’” Advanced Estimating Sys., Inc. v. Riney,
77 F.3d 1322, 1323 (11th Cir. 1996) (quoting Griggs v. Provident Consumer Disc.
Co.,
459 U.S. 56, 61 (1982)). After the district court dismissed Brown’s second
amended complaint on June 17, 2019, she waited 39 days, until July 26, 2019, to
file her notice of appeal. Brown did not seek to extend the deadline. Her
2
Case: 19-12871 Date Filed: 09/29/2020 Page: 3 of 3
postjudgment motion for pain and suffering does not mention her second amended
complaint, much less request an extension of time to appeal its dismissal. See Fed.
R. Civ. P. 4(a)(5). And Brown’s motion, in which she requests compensation
because the doctor “worked on [her] arm” instead of treating her “neck injury
[that] happen[ed] 20 year[s] ago,” is not a postjudgment motion that tolls the 30-
day deadline. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(4)(A). We dismiss the part of Brown’s
appeal that challenges the dismissal of her second amended complaint.
The district court correctly dismissed Brown’s postjudgment motion for lack
of jurisdiction. As the district court explained in its orders instructing Brown to
amend her original and amended complaints, she had to allege facts establishing
that her civil action either “ar[ose] under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the
United States,” 28 U.S.C. § 1331, or involved “citizens of different States” and an
amount in controversy that exceeded $75,000
, id. § 1332(a)(1). Brown’s action for
medical malpractice does not involve a federal question, see
id. § 1331, and her
allegation that she and the doctor reside in Mobile, Alabama, defeats jurisdiction
based on diversity of citizenship, see
id. § 1332.
We AFFIRM the dismissal of Brown’s second amended complaint.
3