Amos Arroyo v. John Doe ( 2023 )

USCA4 Appeal: 21-7709 Doc: 10 Filed: 04/01/2022 Pg: 1 of 2
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 21-7709
AMOS JACOB ARROYO,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
SUPERINTENDENT JOHN DOE; NS SUPERINTENDENT JOHN DOE; MAJOR
JOHN BARNES; CAPTAIN JOHN DOE; HAMPTON ROADS REGIONAL JAIL;
THE CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at
Norfolk. Arenda L. Wright Allen, District Judge. (2:21-cv-00313-AWA-RJK)
Submitted: March 29, 2022 Decided: April 1, 2022
Before HARRIS, QUATTLEBAUM, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges.
Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Amos Jacob Arroyo, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 21-7709 Doc: 10 Filed: 04/01/2022 Pg: 2 of 2
PER CURIAM:
Amos Jacob Arroyo seeks to appeal the district court’s order dismissing without
prejudice his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action for failure to comply with a court order. In civil
cases, parties have 30 days after the entry of the district court’s final judgment to note an
appeal, Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), unless the district court extends the appeal period under
Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5) or reopens the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6). “[T]he
timely filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case is a jurisdictional requirement.” Bowles
v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007).
The district court’s order was entered on August 11, 2021. Arroyo filed his notice
of appeal, at the earliest, on December 2, 2021, well after the appeal and excusable neglect
periods expired. * In his notice of appeal, however, Arroyo indicated that he had not been
receiving legal mail, implied that he never received the court’s dismissal order, and asked
that his appeal be granted. We therefore construe the notice of appeal as a motion to reopen
the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6). Accordingly, we remand this case to the
district court for the limited purpose of determining whether Arroyo is entitled to a
reopening of the appeal period. The record, as supplemented, will then be returned to this
court for further proceedings.
REMANDED
*
For the purpose of this appeal, we assume that the date appearing on the notice of
appeal is the earliest date it could have been properly delivered to prison officials for
mailing to the court. Fed. R. App. P. 4(c); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988).
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