United States Court of Appeals
                          FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
                                   ___________

                                   No. 02-2098
                                   ___________

Jerome E. Watts-El,                 *
                                    *
            Appellant,              *
                                    * Appeal from the United States
      v.                            * District Court for the Southern
                                    * District of Iowa.
John Mathes, Warden; Jim            *
Helling, Deputy Warden; John        *
Emmitt, Security Director, and      *       [UNPUBLISHED]
any known or unknown defendants,    *
                                    *
            Appellees.              *
                               ___________

                         Submitted: October 2, 2002
                             Filed: November 19, 2002
                                  ___________

Before WOLLMAN, MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, and MELLOY, Circuit
      Judges.
                        ___________

PER CURIAM.

      Iowa inmate Jerome E. Watts-El appeals from the district court’s dismissal of
his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action without prejudice to the right to pursue state tort
remedies. Having carefully reviewed the record and the arguments presented on
appeal, see Atkinson v. Bohn, 

, 1128-29 (8th Cir. 1996) (per curiam) (de
novo review of dismissal for failure to state claim; pro se complaint liberally
construed), we conclude that dismissal of the due process claim was proper as there
were adequate postdeprivation remedies available, see Hudson v. Palmer, 

, 533 (1984); Iowa Code Ann. §§ 669.2, 669.4 (1998 & Supp. 2002).

       We reverse and remand to the district court, however, for further development
of the record as to whether Watts-El can establish an actual injury with respect to a
claim of denial of access to the courts. See Lewis v. Casey, 

, 349-52
(1996) (inmate must establish actual injury for court-access claim); Goff v. Nix, 

, 892 (8th Cir. 1997) (taking of inmate’s legal papers “can be a constitutional
violation when it infringes his right of access to the courts”).

      Accordingly, we affirm the dismissal of the due process claim, reverse the
dismissal of the court-access claim, and remand for further proceedings consistent
with this opinion.

      A true copy.

             Attest:

                     CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.




                                          -2-