UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 09-8263
ALVIN LUTHER JONES,
Plaintiff – Appellant,
v.
GENE M. JOHNSON, Dir. of Dept. of Corr. Va.; HARVARD
STEPHENS, Chief Medical Officer for Dept. of Corr. Va.; G.
K. WASHINGTON, Regional Dir. (Central Region) Va.; W. J.
TOWNLEY, Warden/Supt. Halifax Corr. Field Unit #23; FRANK
WRAY, M.D.-Doctor Halifax Corr. Cntr. #23; SANDRA VASS,
R.N.--Head Nurse Halifax Corr. Unit #23; A. FIELDS, L.P.N.--
Nurse Halifax Corr. Unit #23; J.M.C. BROWN, Grievance
Coordinator Halifax Corr. Unit #23,
Defendants – Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke. Jackson L. Kiser, Senior
District Judge. (7:08-cv-00492-jlk-mfu)
Submitted: June 24, 2010 Decided: June 29, 2010
Before DUNCAN, AGEE, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Alvin Luther Jones, Appellant Pro Se. Mark R. Davis, Assistant
Attorney General, Richmond, Virginia; Jeff W. Rosen, PENDER &
COWARD, PC, Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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PER CURIAM:
Alvin Luther Jones seeks to appeal the district
court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the
Defendants in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006) inmate civil rights
action. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure
4(a)(1), a notice of appeal in a civil case must be filed with
the district court within thirty days after judgment is entered.
“[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). Therefore, the appeal must be dismissed if the
notice of appeal is untimely. Washington v. Bumgarner, 882 F.2d
899, 900 (4th Cir. 1989). The district court may extend the
filing time if “a party so moves no later than 30 days after the
time prescribed by . . . Rule 4(a) expires” and the party shows
excusable neglect or good cause. Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5)(A)(i)-
(ii).
The district court granted Defendants’ motion for
summary judgment on October 30, 2009. Therefore, Jones had
thirty days, or until November 30, 2009, to file a notice of
appeal. Jones filed his notice of appeal, at the earliest, on
December 7, 2009, thirty-seven days after judgment was entered. *
*
For purposes of this appeal, we assume that the date
appearing on the notice of appeal is the earliest date it could
(Continued)
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In a letter accompanying the notice of appeal, Jones stated that
he filed his original notice of appeal in the wrong court
because the district court failed to inform him of his appeal
rights or to which court he was required to send his notice of
appeal.
We construe Jones’s letter as a timely request for an
extension of the thirty-day appeal period. Therefore, we remand
this case to the district court for the limited purpose of
enabling the court to determine whether Jones has shown
excusable neglect or good cause warranting an extension of time
to appeal. The record, as supplemented, will then be returned
to this court for further consideration.
REMANDED
have been delivered to prison officials for mailing. See
Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 276 (1988).
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