Filed: Jun. 30, 2020
Latest Update: Sep. 22, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-7265 CECIL GUY TRUMAN, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. MR. FRYE, Sergeant; MR. MCDOUGAL, Correctional Officer; MR. FARLEY, Correctional Officer, Defendants - Appellees, and MR. HEATH, Magistrate, Defendant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Leonie M. Brinkema, District Judge. (1:18-cv-00963-LMB-IDD) Submitted: June 18, 2020 Decided: June 30, 2020 Before WYNN, THACKER
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-7265 CECIL GUY TRUMAN, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. MR. FRYE, Sergeant; MR. MCDOUGAL, Correctional Officer; MR. FARLEY, Correctional Officer, Defendants - Appellees, and MR. HEATH, Magistrate, Defendant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Leonie M. Brinkema, District Judge. (1:18-cv-00963-LMB-IDD) Submitted: June 18, 2020 Decided: June 30, 2020 Before WYNN, THACKER,..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 19-7265
CECIL GUY TRUMAN,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
MR. FRYE, Sergeant; MR. MCDOUGAL, Correctional Officer; MR. FARLEY,
Correctional Officer,
Defendants - Appellees,
and
MR. HEATH, Magistrate,
Defendant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at
Alexandria. Leonie M. Brinkema, District Judge. (1:18-cv-00963-LMB-IDD)
Submitted: June 18, 2020 Decided: June 30, 2020
Before WYNN, THACKER, and RUSHING, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Cecil Guy Truman, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Cecil Guy Truman seeks to appeal the district court’s orders granting Appellees’
motion to dismiss his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2018) complaint for failure to state a claim and
denying Truman’s motion for reconsideration. Although “[t]he parties to this appeal have
not questioned our jurisdiction . . . , we have an independent obligation to verify the
existence of appellate jurisdiction” and may exercise jurisdiction only over final orders and
certain interlocutory and collateral orders. Porter v. Zook,
803 F.3d 694, 696 (4th Cir.
2015) (internal quotation marks omitted); see 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (2018); Fed. R. Civ. P.
54(b); Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp.,
337 U.S. 541, 545-46 (1949). “Ordinarily,
a district court order is not final until it has resolved all claims as to all parties.”
Porter,
803 F.3d at 696 (emphasis and internal quotation marks omitted). “Regardless of the label
given a district court decision, if it appears from the record that the district court has not
adjudicated all of the issues in a case, then there is no final order.”
Id.
In this case, the district court failed to address Truman’s claims that Jordan
McDougal violated his rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the
Fourteenth Amendment. Because the district court did not rule on those claims, it “never
issued a final decision” in this matter.
Id. at 699. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for
lack of jurisdiction and remand to the district court for consideration of Truman’s
remaining claims. We express no opinion on the ultimate disposition of those claims, and
we deny Truman’s motion to appoint counsel. We dispense with oral argument because
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the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court
and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED AND REMANDED
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