In The
Court of Appeals
Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont
____________________
NO. 09-16-00199-CV
____________________
CHARLES ANTHONY ALLEN SR., Appellant
V.
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE INSTITUTIONAL
DIVISION, Appellee
_________________________________ ______________________
On Appeal from the 258th District Court
Polk County, Texas
Trial Cause No. CIV29859
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MEMORANDUM OPINION
Charles Anthony Allen Sr., an inmate housed with the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice Institutional Division (“TDCJ”), filed a pro se lawsuit against
TDCJ. Allen sought to proceed in forma pauperis in the suit. According to Allen’s
petition, his cellmate threatened his life and thereafter, he left his cell to report the
threat to a sergeant. Allen further alleged that the sergeant then refused to allow
Allen to return to his cell so that he could retrieve his property. Allen’s suit
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complains that employees of the prison were negligent because they failed to
secure his property and allowed it to be handled by other inmates.
After Allen filed suit, the trial court ordered the Texas Attorney General’s
Office to review Allen’s pleadings and the various exhibits included with them to
determine whether they complied with Chapter 14 of the Texas Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, the statutes that govern inmate litigation. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.
Code Ann. §§ 14.001-.014 (West 2002 & Supp. 2016). In response to the trial
court’s request, the Attorney General argued that Allen failed to comply with
Chapter 14’s procedural requirements, and suggested that Allen’s claim should be
dismissed. Subsequently, the trial court dismissed Allen’s suit because Allen had
not complied with the requirements of Chapter 14.
Allen filed a notice of appeal, but did not file an appellate brief.
Subsequently, we informed Allen that we would consider the appeal on the clerk’s
record alone. 1 Having considered the appeal on the record that is before us, we
affirm the trial court’s judgment.
We review a trial court’s dismissal of an inmate’s suit for abuse of
discretion. See Hickson v. Moya, 926 S.W.2d 397, 398 (Tex. App.—Waco 1996,
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In an amicus response, the Attorney General contended that Allen’s motion
to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal and his affidavit of indigency do not meet
the requirements of Rule 20 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. See Tex.
R. App. P. 20.
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no pet.). Under Chapter 14, an indigent inmate must file an affidavit or declaration
that contains a certified copy of the statement on the inmate’s trust account. Tex.
Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 14.004(c) (West Supp. 2016). Additionally,
Chapter 14 requires inmates who file a declaration or affidavit asserting they are
unable to pay costs to file a separate affidavit or declaration that:
(1) identif[ies] each action, other than an action under the Family
Code, previously brought by the person and in which the person was
not represented by an attorney, without regard to whether the person
was an inmate at the time the action was brought; and
(2) describ[es] each action that was previously brought by:
(A) stating the operative facts for which relief was sought;
(B) listing the case name, cause number, and the court in which
the action was brought;
(C) identifying each party named in the action; and
(D) stating the result of the action, including whether the action
or a claim that was a basis for the action was dismissed as frivolous or
malicious under Section 13.001 or Section 14.003 or otherwise.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 14.004(a) (West Supp. 2016). Further,
Chapter 14 requires the inmate filing the suit to demonstrate that he exhausted the
administrative remedies available to him for grievances when his complaint is
subject to the inmate grievance system, and to provide the trial court with a copy of
the written decision on the grievance. Id. §§ 14.005, 14.005(a) (West 2002).
Additionally, the inmate filing suit is required to file a certified copy of the
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statement on his inmate trust account with the trial court. Id. § 14.006(f) (West
2002). The filings required under Chapter 14 are “‘an essential part of the process
by which courts review inmate litigation.’” Amir-Sharif v. Mason, 243 S.W.3d 854,
857 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2008, no pet.) (quoting Hickson, 926 S.W.2d at 399).
The record evidences that Allen failed to comply with Chapter 14 in a
number of respects. For example, the complaints he raises in his petition suggest
that his property was damaged or lost, but Allen failed to provide the trial court
with a copy of the decision that resulted from his grievance. Instead, Allen’s
petition asserts his grievance had not yet been addressed. See Tex. Civ. Prac. &
Rem. Code Ann. §§ 14.004(c); 14.005(a). The record also reflects that Allen failed
to provide the trial court with a certified copy of the statement on his inmate trust
account. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 14.006(f). Furthermore, Allen’s
affidavit of previous filings fails to describe the operative facts regarding his
previous lawsuits, which is another document an inmate must file under the
requirements of Chapter 14. See id. § 14.004(a)(2)(A). When an inmate does not
comply with the affidavit requirements of Chapter 14, the trial court may assume
the suit is substantially similar to another of the inmate’s prior suits and that the
pending suit before the court is frivolous. Bell v. Tex. Dep’t of Criminal Justice-
Institutional Div., 962 S.W.2d 156, 158 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998,
pet. denied).
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Allen’s failure to file a copy of the written grievance decision, a certified
copy of his inmate trust account statement, and an affidavit of previous filings that
contained all of the information required by Chapter 14 justified the trial court’s
dismissal of his lawsuit. See Amir-Sharif, 243 S.W.3d at 857 (Because Chapter
14’s filing requirements “enable the court to determine whether an indigent
inmate’s suit should be dismissed, . . . the failure to file the affidavit with the
required information or the inmate trust account statement can result in
dismissal[.]”). We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by
dismissing Allen’s lawsuit against TDCJ based on Allen’s failure to comply with
the requirements of Chapter 14. See id.; see also Bell, 962 S.W.2d at 158. We
affirm the trial court’s judgment.
AFFIRMED.
________________________________
HOLLIS HORTON
Justice
Submitted on November 9, 2016
Opinion Delivered November 17, 2016
Before McKeithen, C.J., Kreger and Horton, JJ.
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