DANIELS v. KNIGHT

Filing 16

Entry Granting Respondent's Motion to Dismiss - Respondent's motion to dismiss, dkt. 14 , is granted. Judgment consistent with this Entry shall now issue. (See Entry.) Copy to Petitioner via U.S. Mail. Signed by Judge Tanya Walton Pratt on 6/9/2017. (JLS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION
RAMAR DANIELS,
Petitioner,
v.
WENDY KNIGHT,
Respondent.

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No. 1:16-cv-03538-TWP-DKL

Entry Granting Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss
Ramar Daniels filed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging prison disciplinary
proceeding No. CIC 16-09-0009, in which he lost 30 days of good time credits. Before the case
could be fully briefed, the Indiana Department of Correction reviewed the disciplinary case and
vacated the guilty verdict, rescinded all sanctions including the earned credit time loss, and set the
matter for a new hearing. Respondent now moves to dismiss the action, contending that it is moot.
The motion to dismiss was filed May 8, 2017. Petitioner has not responded.
A case becomes moot, and the federal courts lose subject matter jurisdiction, when a
justiciable controversy ceases to exist between the parties. See Church of Scientology of Cal. v.
United States, 506 U.S. 9, 12 (1992) (“if an event occurs while a case is pending . . . that makes it
impossible for the court to grant ‘any effectual relief whatever’ to a prevailing party, the [case]
must be dismissed.”) (quoting Mills v. Green, 159 U.S. 651, 653 (1895)); Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S.
305, 317 (1988) (grounding mootness doctrine in the Constitution’s Article III requirement that
courts adjudicate only “actual, ongoing cases or controversies”).

The uncontroverted attachments to respondent’s motion show that the disciplinary
sanctions at issue in Case No. CIC 16-09-0009 were vacated. There is therefore no case or
controversy for this Court to resolve.
Respondent’s motion to dismiss, dkt. [14], is granted. Judgment consistent with this Entry
shall now issue.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

Date: 6/9/2017

Distribution:
RAMAR DANIELS
104542
PENDLETON - CIF
CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIAL FACILITY
Inmate Mail/Parcels
5124 West Reformatory Road
PENDLETON, IN 46064
All Electronically Registered Counsel