UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 17-1292
JOHN R. ZSIGRAY,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
COUNTY COMMISSION OF LEWIS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA; LEWIS
COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT; JAMES H. MCATEE,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia,
at Elkins. John Preston Bailey, District Judge. (2:16-cv-00064-JPB)
Submitted: August 21, 2017 Decided: January 12, 2018
Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, and AGEE and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
William B. Summers, SUMMERS & ASSOCIATES, Parkersburg, West Virginia, for
Appellant. Sylvester A. Hill, Jr., CIPRIANI & WERNER, Charleston, West Virginia, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
John R. Zsigray appeals the district court’s order dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983
(2012) action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). We affirm.
Zsigray alleged in his complaint that, as he was leaving a courthouse in Lewis
County, West Virginia, Defendant McAtee, a security officer, grabbed him and shoved
him against a wall. Zsigray asserted that McAtee’s actions were unjustified and violated
both his federal constitutional rights and state law. Notably, Zsigray stated several times
in his complaint that a video recording of the incident supported his version of the facts.
The district court granted the Defendants’ motion to dismiss. The court reviewed
the video and described it in considerable detail in its order. The court observed that,
contrary to the allegations in the complaint, Zsigray and McAtee had no “semblance of a
physical altercation.” The court’s conclusion that McAtee failed to state a claim for relief
was based primarily on its review of the video.
Zsigray contends on appeal that the district court erred by considering the video
when it ruled on the motion to dismiss. However, “in reviewing a Rule 12(b)(6)
dismissal, we are not confined to the four corners of the complaint.” United States ex rel.
Oberg v. Pennsylvania Higher Educ. Assistance Agency, 745 F.3d 131, 136 (4th Cir.
2014). “We may also consider [materials] incorporated into the complaint by reference .
. . so long as they are integral to the complaint and authentic.” Id. (internal quotation
marks and citation omitted). We review de novo a dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6).
Woods v. City of Greensboro, 855 F.3d 639, 646 (4th Cir. 2017).
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We hold that the district court’s consideration of the video was permissible. The
video, to which Zsigray referred several times to authenticate his version of events, was
integral to the complaint. Further, the authenticity of the video was not in question.
We therefore affirm. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before us and argument would not
aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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