Omran v. USA et al
Filing
3
ORDER re 1 Complaint filed by Mohamed Admed Hassan Abdallah Omran: IT IS ORDERED that Omran is DENIED permission to file the instant Complaint. The Clerk of Court is therefore instructed to STRIKE the Complaint and CLOSE the case. Signed by Chief Judge S Maurice Hicks, Jr on 3/21/2018. (crt,Dauterive, C)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
SHREVEPORT DIVISION
MOHAMED ABDALLAH OMRAN
CIVIL ACTION NO. 18-0352
VERSUS
JUDGE S. MAURICE HICKS, JR.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
ET AL.
MAGISTRATE JUDGE HORNSBY
ORDER
Before this Court is a request for permission to file a Bivens claim by pro se
Plaintiff, Mohamed Abdallah Omran (“Omran”), filed March 16, 2018. See Record
Document 1. A Bivens claim is “[a]n action alleging that a federal government actor
committed constitutional violations . . . .” Doe v. Robertson, 751 F.3d 383, 387 (5th Cir.
2014) (citing Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S.
388, 395, 91 S. Ct. 1999, 2004 (1971)).
Omran names the United States of America, Officer Hartnet, the Immigration and
Enforcement Officer, David Cole, the Warden of LaSalle Parish Detention Center
(“LPDC”), Ms. Shepard, the supervisor of the mail clerk and member of the grievance
committee at LPDC, Kelsey Villemarette, the mail clerk at LPDC, and Gary Cloud, the
employee responsible for the handling of grievances at LPDC, as Defendants. Omran
requests declaratory relief that the Defendants violated his constitutional rights, an
injunction ordering the Defendants to pay all court costs, an injunction ordering the
Defendants to pay for Omran’s legal mail as long as Omran is indigent, and any other
relief the Court deems just and proper.
Omran is no stranger to filing lawsuits within this jurisdiction and because he is a
three strikes plaintiff pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), the Fifth Circuit has “barred [Omran]
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from proceeding in forma pauperis in any civil action or appeal filed while he is
incarcerated or detained in any facility unless he is under imminent danger of serious
physical injury.” Omran v. United States, 668 F. App'x 131, 133 (5th Cir. 2016).
Furthermore, Omran was sanctioned by this Court in an Order requiring the Clerk of Court
to decline to file any civil complaint submitted by Omran unless the complaint has been
presented first to a district judge of this court and the judge has specifically authorized in
writing that the complaint may be filed. See 17-cv-00064, Record Document 15.
Additionally, the Court ordered that any motion to proceed in forma pauperis that
accompanies such a complaint be referred to a district judge for action. See id.
In the complaint now before this Court, Omran contends that the Defendants
deprived him of his Fifth Amendment due process right of access to court by failing to
provide the necessary postage to mail his legal document to the United States Supreme
Court. See Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 821, 97 S. Ct. 1491, 1494 (1977). Omran
made the same legal argument in a Motion for Writ of Mandamus in his criminal matter,
United States v. Hassan, No. 1:14-CR-00035-01, 2017 WL 2267197, at *1 (W.D. La. Feb.
15, 2017), aff'd sub nom. United States v. Omran, 712 F. App'x 441 (5th Cir. 2018). Both
the district court and the Fifth Circuit rejected this argument. See id., Record Documents
138, 144 & 175. The Fifth Circuit reasoned:
Omran asserts the detention center’s providing him with several number-10
envelopes instead of a single, larger envelope deprived him of meaningful
access to the courts in violation of his constitutional rights, making his
petition for writ of certiorari impracticable. E.g., Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S.
817, 824–25 (1977) (“indigent inmates must be provided . . . with paper and
open to draft legal documents . . . and with stamps to mail them”).
Nevertheless, the detention center provided him with mailing materials and
postage sufficient to mail his petition to the Court, and he successfully filed
his petition for writ of certiorari, although it was denied. Omran v. United
States, 137 S.Ct. 699 (2017). In short, the envelopes were a satisfactory
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method to obtain relief, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in
denying his petition. Denson, 603 F.2d at 1146.
Record Document 175 at 3. The Fifth Circuit noted that a writ of mandamus was not the
proper procedural device for the relief sought by Omran, stating that his request for relief
should have been brought under Bivens. See id. Nonetheless, the constitutional violation
alleged by Omran in the present Complaint and those alleged in his Motion for Writ of
Mandamus are identical. The Fifth Circuit held no constitutional violation occurred and
resubmitting his request under Bivens does not nothing to change such outcome.
Moreover, Omran argues that he has a due process right to receive a response to
his grievances filed with the grievance committee at LPDC. See Record Document 1 at
6. However, in Geiger v. Jowers, the Fifth Circuit held that a “[prisoner] does not have a
federally protected liberty interest in having . . . grievances resolved to his satisfaction.”
404 F.3d 371, 374 (5th Cir. 2005). Therefore, the Court finds that Omran’s complaint is
duplicative and Omran has not shown a compelling reason why this Court should allow
the current complaint to be filed because even accepting his allegations as true, no
constitutional violation occurred. 1
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that Omran is DENIED permission to file the instant Complaint.
The Clerk of Court is therefore instructed to STRIKE the Complaint and CLOSE the case.
1
See Riggs v. Jordan, No. 3:17-CV-473, 2018 WL 774039, at *5 (W.D. La. Jan. 4, 2018),
report and recommendation adopted, No. 3:17-CV-0473, 2018 WL 752356 (W.D. La. Feb.
7, 2018) (finding that an indigent inmate is not entitled to unlimited free postage, but only
that he not be denied a reasonably adequate amount of postage to present his claimed
violations of fundamental constitutional rights to the courts); see also Geiger v. Jowers,
404 F.3d 371, 374 (5th Cir. 2005).
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THUS DONE AND SIGNED, in Shreveport, Louisiana on this 21st day of March,
2018.
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