FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
September 29, 2009
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
TENTH CIRCUIT
__________________________
JEFFREY SCOTT DURHAM,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v. No. 09-1100
(D. Colo.)
HARLEY G. LAPPIN; HARREL (D.Ct. No. 1:08-CV-02165-ZLW)
WATTS; MICHAEL K. NALLEY; J.
JONES; ROB BAUER; B.
GREENWOOD; S. NAFZIGER;
NORA GLADBACH; A. OSAGIE; Y.
FETTERHOFF,
Defendants - Appellees.
____________________________
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before HARTZ, McKAY, and O’BRIEN, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1. The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent. 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A). Citation
to orders and judgments is not prohibited. Fed. R. App. 32.1. But it is discouraged,
except when related to law of the case, issue preclusion or claim preclusion. Any citation
to an order and judgment must be accompanied by an appropriate parenthetical notation --
(unpublished). 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A).
Jeffrey Scott Durham, a federal prisoner appearing pro se, appeals from the
district court’s dismissal without prejudice of his civil rights complaint for failure
to abide by the court’s local rules. 1 We affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
On October 7, 2008, Durham filed a complaint pursuant to Bivens v. Six
Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971),
alleging various prison officials violated the Eighth Amendment by failing to
provide him adequate medical care, namely, a timely visit to an optometrist to
replace his lost eyeglasses. The complaint was not filed on a court-approved
prisoner complaint form as required by Local Rule 8.2(A) of the United States
District Court for the District of Colorado. 2 The magistrate judge directed
Durham to cure the deficiency within thirty days and warned him a failure to
timely cure the deficiency would result in dismissal of the case. The judge
directed the clerk to provide Durham a copy of the court-approved prisoner
1
Although a dismissal without prejudice is usually not a final decision, where the
dismissal finally disposes of the case so that it is not subject to further proceedings in
federal court, the dismissal is final and appealable. The critical determination as to
whether an order is final is whether plaintiff has been effectively excluded from federal
court under the present circumstances. Amazon, Inc. v. Dirt Camp, Inc., 273 F.3d 1271,
1275 (10th Cir. 2001) (citation and quotations omitted). Because the district court’s
dismissal without prejudice disposed of the entire case, effectively excluding it from
proceeding in federal court, it is final and appealable. See id.
2
Local Rule 8.2(A) provides: “A pro se prisoner shall use the forms established by
this court to file an action. Upon request, the clerk shall provide copies of the necessary
forms and instructions for filing an action.”
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complaint form.
Durham filed objections to the magistrate judge’s order. He said the action
could not be dismissed for failing to comply with the local rule because:
[He] substantially followed the court supplied form, and [he] would
have been prevented from including essential aspects of his claim
due to the wholly inadequate form the court supplies; [he] would
have been forced to attach pages in every section of the court
supplied form, which would have resulted in a very confusing
complaint, as opposed to the proper complaint [he] submitted.
Requiring [him] to use the court supplied form to submit the
complaint, when the court does not require attorneys or non-prisoners
to use the complaint forms violates [his] rights afforded by the Equal
Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
(R. Vol. 1 at 109 (quotations omitted).)
The district court overruled Durham’s objections. It said its local rules
require all pro se litigants to use court-approved forms and substantial compliance
with the rule was insufficient. The court found Durham’s claims could
adequately be presented using the court’s prisoner complaint form and the fact
Durham may have to attach pages to the form did not excuse his noncompliance.
It gave Durham an additional thirty days in which to file his complaint on a court-
approved form.
On December 31, 2008, Durham filed a complaint on the court-approved
prisoner complaint form. Most of the form was left blank, simply stating “SEE
CONTINUATION OF THIS SECTION,” obviously referring to the original
complaint. (Id. at 119-23.) He also filed a pleading entitled “Plaintiff Hereby
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Cures the Remaining Deficiency and Shows Good Cause as to Why the Court-
Approved Complaint Forms are Inadequate for Plaintiff to File a Legally
Effective Complaint.” (Id. at 126.) In this pleading, he alleged he had cured his
original complaint’s deficiency by filing a “supplement . . . utilizing the ‘court-
approved’ complaint forms . . . .” (Id.) He again objected to his having to use
the court-approved form. Durham claimed the fact attorneys are not required to
use the form demonstrates it is unnecessary and violates his Fifth Amendment
right to Equal Protection. He also said he should be excused from complying
with the local rule because his original complaint complied with the pleading
requirements of Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, contained all
information necessary to enable the court to adequately review his claims and
substantially followed the format of the court-approved prisoner complaint form.
He further asserted the court-approved form was inadequate because it contained
insufficient space and therefore he would have had to attach pages to it, making it
more confusing than his original complaint.
The magistrate judge determined the December 31 complaint did not
comply with the court’s previous orders. The judge also said Durham’s
arguments for why he should be excused from using the court-approved form had
already been rejected by the district court. He informed Durham a cursory review
of the original complaint revealed it did not comply with Rule 8’s pleading
requirements. Because his complaint could be significantly shorter, the judge
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concluded Durham would not be prejudiced by the enforcement of Local Rule
8.2(A). Despite Durham’s failure to abide by the court’s prior orders, the
magistrate judge provided him one final opportunity to file an amended complaint
on the court-approved prisoner complaint form. The judge warned that a failure
to timely file an amended complaint on the court-approved form would result in
dismissal of the action without further notice.
Durham again objected to the magistrate judge’s order repeating his
previous arguments. The district court overruled the objections and dismissed the
action without prejudice due to Durham’s failure to file an amended complaint on
the court-approved prisoner complaint form as he was directed to do.
II. DISCUSSION
We review for an abuse of discretion the district court’s dismissal of a case
for failure to comply with its local rules. See Murray v. Archambo, 132 F.3d 609,
610 (10th Cir. 1998). No abuse of discretion occurred. Although Durham’s pro
se pleadings are entitled to a liberal construction, “he nevertheless must follow
the same [local district court] rules of procedure that govern other litigants.” See
Green v. Dorrell, 969 F.2d 915, 917 (10th Cir. 1992); see also Brandenburg v.
Beaman, 632 F.2d 120, 122 (10th Cir. 1980). Rule 83(a)(2) of the Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure allows for the enforcement of local rules imposing form
requirements unless the failure to comply is “nonwillful.” See Daily v.
Municipality of Adams County, 117 Fed. Appx. 669, 671-72 (10th Cir. 2004)
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(unpublished). 3 Durham’s noncompliance was far from “nonwillful.” Rather, he
repeatedly refused to comply with the district court and magistrate judge’s orders.
His excuses for not complying with these orders are unacceptable. Compliance
was not onerous—he merely had to file an amended complaint on the court-
approved form. If more space was needed, Durham could have “use[d] extra
paper” as the form explains. (R. Vol. I at 118-22.)
The fact Local Rule 8.2(A) requires pro se prisoners to file their complaints
on a court-approved form does not violate Durham’s equal protection rights.
Prisoners are not suspect classes. Curley v. Perry, 246 F.3d 1278, 1285 n.5 (10th
Cir. 2001). Thus, the rule “need only bear a rational relation to some legitimate
end to comport with equal protection.” Id. at 1285 (quotations omitted). Local
Rule 8.2(A) rationally advances the legitimate goal of providing guidance to pro
se prisoners as to the legal requirements of a complaint. Indeed, Local Rule
8.2(A) is for the prisoner’s own benefit.
We also reject Durham’s claim on appeal that the district court failed to
consider his objection to the magistrate judge’s finding that his December 31
complaint did not comply with the court’s prior orders. The court did not address
this argument because he never raised it. Moreover, because the December 31
3
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent. 10th Cir. R. App. P. 32.1(A).
We mention Daily as we would opinions from another circuit, persuasive because of their
reasoned analyses.
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complaint was largely left blank and obviously was intended only to serve as a
supplement to Durham’s original complaint, it did not comply with the court and
magistrate judge’s prior orders.
AFFIRMED. We DENY Durham’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis
on appeal. He is directed to remit the full amount of the filing fee within twenty
days from the date of this Order and Judgment.
Entered by the Court:
Terrence L. O’Brien
United States Circuit Judge
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