Bates v. Day , 12 F. App'x 625 ( 2001 )

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
MAR 29 2001
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
ALLEN DWAYNE BATES,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
No. 00-1517
v.
(D.C. No. 00-Z-1486)
(District of Colorado)
GREGORY DAY; AL HERRERA,
Defendants - Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before EBEL, KELLY and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-appellant Allen Bates, a federal prisoner appearing pro se, filed a
civil rights action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and Bivens v. Six Unknown
Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics , 403 U.S. 388 (1971), alleging
deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth
Amendment. The district court dismissed the action for failure to exhaust
administrative remedies. Bates challenges that decision, arguing that no
*
The case is unanimously ordered submitted without oral argument
pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2) and 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). This order and
judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case,
res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The Court generally disfavors the citation of
orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under the
terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
exhaustion requirement applies to his suit. Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
Bates’s jaw was injured in a fight with another inmate, and he was brought
to defendant Gregory Day, a dentist, for treatment that included surgery and two
follow-up appointments. Bates still suffers from pain and numbness in his jaw,
which he claims are due to inadequacies in Day’s treatment. Bates also claims he
informed Al Herrera, the warden of F.C.I. Florence (where Bates is incarcerated),
of the problems with his jaw. Alleging that Day and Herrera failed to provide
him with adequate medical treatment, Bates filed this action seeking
compensatory damages, punitive damages, and a court order requiring prison
officials to provide him with appropriate dental treatment. In his complaint,
Bates acknowledged that he had not exhausted the available administrative
remedies. Upon receiving the complaint, the district court issued an order for
Bates to show cause why his lawsuit “should not be dismissed for failure to
exhaust administrative remedies.” (R. Doc. 10 at 1.) After Bates filed a response
to the show cause order, the district court noted that he sought both money
damages and injunctive relief and, citing 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), dismissed his
action without prejudice for failure to exhaust his remedies relating to his claim
for injunctive relief.
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Section 1997e(a) states that “[n]o action shall be brought with respect to
prison conditions under . . . any . . . Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any
jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are
available are exhausted.” As the district court noted, federal prison regulations
establish an administrative scheme through which “inmates may seek formal
review of an issue which relates to any aspect of their confinement.” 28 C.F.R.
§ 542.10. We have previously determined that the administrative remedies
available in 28 C.F.R. §§ 542.10–542.19 do not include monetary relief. See
Garrett v. Hawk , 127 F.3d 1263, 1266 (10th Cir. 1997) (“The government
concedes that if an inmate seeks purely monetary damages under the procedures
provided for in 28 C.F.R. § 542.10, the institution staff will reject the claim as
constituting improper subject matter for administrative review . . . .”). Because
monetary relief is not available under the applicable administrative review
scheme, “no exhaustion of administrative remedies is required” for Bates’s claims
for compensatory and punitive damages. Id. at 1267.
Although recognizing Garrett ’s holding excused exhaustion as to Bates’s
claims for monetary damages, the district court dismissed Bates’s suit because he
also sought injunctive relief—for which administrative exhaustion pursuant to
§ 1997e(a) is required. In so holding, the district court failed to consider Miller
v. Menghini , 213 F.3d 1244 (10th Cir. 2000), in which a prisoner brought a civil
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rights complaint seeking both monetary and injunctive relief. In Miller , we held
that under those circumstances a district court should not dismiss the entire
action, but rather should dismiss only the portion of the suit seeking injunctive
relief. See id. at 1246.
In light of Miller , we REVERSE the district court’s dismissal of Bates’s
claims for monetary relief and REMAND those claims for further proceedings.
We AFFIRM the dismissal of Bates’s claim for injunctive relief.
The mandate shall issue forthwith.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Carlos F. Lucero
Circuit Judge
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