Samuel Taylor v. Paula Phillips

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 15-2764 ___________________________ Samuel Lewis Taylor lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellant v. Paula Huffman Phillips, Function Unit Manager; John Hoskins, Correctional Officer; Michael McGill, Correctional Officer; John Roach, Correctional Officer; Unknown Wilheight, Correctional Officer; Darlene Wansing, Financial Officer; Jody Arnold, Correctional Officer lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants - Appellees ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - Cape Girardeau ____________ Submitted: March 21, 2016 Filed: March 24, 2016 [Unpublished] ____________ Before LOKEN, BYE, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Missouri inmate Samuel Lewis Taylor appeals following the district court’s1 adverse grant of summary judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. We find that Taylor’s claims of access to the courts, conspiracy, and due process were properly dismissed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), see Moore v. Sims, 200 F.3d 1170, 1171 (8th Cir. 2000) (per curiam) (de novo review), because Taylor’s complaint contained insufficient facts to support such claims, see Stone v. Harry, 364 F.3d 912, 914 (8th Cir. 2004) (pro se complaints must be liberally construed, but must allege sufficient facts to support claims advanced). Further, we find that summary judgment was properly granted on Taylor’s remaining First Amendment retaliation claims. See Holt v. Howard, 806 F.3d 1129, 1132 (8th Cir. 2015) (de novo review); Santiago v. Blair, 707 F.3d 984, 991 (8th Cir. 2013) (elements of retaliation claim).2 Finally, we find no error in the denial of Taylor’s motion to compel. See Heart of Am. Grain Insp. Serv., Inc. v. Mo. Dep’t of Agric., 123 F.3d 1098, 1107 (8th Cir. 1997) (gross-abuse- of-discretion standard of review). The judgment of the district court is affirmed. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________ 1 The Honorable Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. 2 We need not address the district court’s dismissal of the claims against John Hoskins and Unknown Wilheight when service was returned unexecuted, because the summary judgment record showed that Taylor would not have prevailed on these claims. -2-