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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 16-17048
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 1:15-cv-23036-FAM
HARRY A. NAIL,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
versus
OFFICER COLLADO, Dade C.I.,
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER LESTER, Dade C.I.,
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER VALINTINE, Dade C.I.,
SARGEANT PEIERE, Dade C.I.,
NURSE SMYTHE, Dade C.I., et al.,
Defendants - Appellees.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
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(June 14, 2018)
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Before JULIE CARNES, JILL PRYOR and HULL, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Harry Nail appeals the dismissal of his pro se 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint
for failure to prosecute. After careful consideration, we vacate the district court’s
order dismissing Nail’s case for failure to prosecute and remand to the district
court.
I.
In August 2015, Nail filed a complaint against Officer Collado, Officer
Lester, Officer Valintine, Sergeant Peiere, Nurse Smythe and Nurse Mathurin.
Nail alleged that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical
needs in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.
After the defendants filed their answers to the complaint, on March 3, 2016,
a pretrial scheduling order was entered. That order required Nail to file a pretrial
statement by August 23, 2016. Following the district court’s pretrial scheduling
order, Nail filed a motion to compel discovery, which the district court granted on
August 12, 2016.
On August 22, 2016, the day before Nail’s pretrial statement was due, Nail
filed a motion to extend the deadline, arguing that he was awaiting information
from the defendants that he had sought in his motion to compel discovery. The
district court denied the motion, stating that if Nail’s discovery requests were
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unanswered, he should file a motion to compel compliance with his requests. The
district court failed to mention Nail’s earlier motion to compel or its order granting
that motion. In the same order, the district court reminded Nail of his “obligation
to actively litigate this action.” Doc. 86 at 1. 1 The defendants complied with the
court order requiring them to respond to Nail’s request for production on
September 12, 2016, and Nail filed his pretrial statement on September 27, 2016—
after the district court’s deadline.
While the parties were filing motions related to discovery, on August 9,
2016, Smythe and Mathurin moved for summary judgment. 2 The following day,
the court instructed Nail that he was required to respond to the defendants’
summary judgment motion by September 9, 2016. On September 2, 2016, Nail
delivered to prison officials his response to the defendants’ motion for summary
judgment. His response was docketed on September 13, 2016.
On September 22, 2016, the magistrate judge issued a report and
recommendation (R&R) recommending that the case be dismissed for failure to
prosecute because Nail had failed to respond timely to the defendants’ motion for
summary judgment and because he had failed to file timely a pretrial statement.
The district court construed Nail’s pretrial statement, which was filed on
1
Citations to “Doc. #” refer to the numbered entries on the district court’s docket.
2
Nail voluntarily dismissed with prejudice his claims against defendants Collado,
Valintine, Peiere, and Lester.
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September 27, 2016, as objections to the R&R and reviewed the magistrate judge’s
decision de novo. 3 The district court adopted the R&R over Nail’s objections,
dismissing Nail’s suit without prejudice. This is Nail’s appeal.
II.
We review dismissals for failure to prosecute for an abuse of discretion.
Gratton v. Great Am. Commc’ns,
178 F.3d 1373, 1374 (11th Cir. 1999).4
“Discretion means the district court has a range of choice, and that its decision will
not be disturbed as long as it stays within that range and is not influenced by any
mistake of law.” Zocaras v. Castro,
465 F.3d 479, 483 (11th Cir. 2006) (internal
quotation marks omitted). We construe pro se filings liberally. Lorisme v. I.N.S.,
129 F.3d 1441, 1444 n.3 (11th Cir. 1997).
III.
A district court has the inherent authority to manage its docket and thus may
dismiss an action sua sponte for failure to prosecute. Betty K Agencies, Ltd. v. M/V
MONADA,
432 F.3d 1333, 1337 (11th Cir. 2005). A district court’s power to do so
stems from the authority “necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs.”
Link v. Wabash R.R. Co.,
370 U.S. 626, 630 (1962). That being said, such an order
3
Nail attempted to object to the R&R by submitting his objections to prison officials for
mailing on October 11, 2016, after the 14-day deadline for objections had expired.
4
The defendants argue that we should review Nail’s arguments for plain error rather than
an abuse of discretion because Nail failed to file timely objections to the magistrate judge’s
recommendation. Because the district court construed Nail’s pretrial statement as a timely
objection to the magistrate judge’s R&R, however, we do the same here.
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will “stand on appeal” only if it remains “within the permissible range of the
court’s discretion.”
Id. at 633.
The district court abused its discretion in dismissing Nail’s action without
prejudice because its decision was influenced by a mistake of law. In explaining
its decision, the district court noted that Nail had failed to file a timely response to
the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. According to the district court’s
instruction, however, the response to the motion for summary judgment had to be
filed by September 9, 2016. Nail complied with this deadline, submitting his
response to prison authorities for mailing on September 2, 2016. See Daker v.
Comm’r, Ga. Dep’t of Corr.,
820 F.3d 1278 (11th Cir. 2016) (“Under the ‘prison
mailbox rule,’ a pro se prisoner’s court filing is deemed filed on the date it is
delivered to prison authorities for mailing.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
The district court therefore could not base its dismissal on Nail’s untimely
response to the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Because the district
court was “influenced by [a] mistake of law,” it abused its discretion in dismissing
Nail’s complaint for failure to prosecute.
Zocaras, 465 F.3d at 483.5
5
Although the district court also referenced Nail’s failure to file a timely pretrial
statement, it did not indicate the weight it assigned to that reason in its decision to dismiss the
case for failure to prosecute. We therefore cannot determine whether Nail’s failure to file a
timely pretrial statement independently supported the district court’s decision to dismiss the
action, and we cannot affirm on that basis.
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IV.
For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s order dismissing Nail’s
complaint is vacated and remanded.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
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