Byrd v. United States of America et al.

Filing 9

MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by District Judge Claude M. Hilton on 11/29/10. (klau, )

Byrd v. United States of America et al.

Doc. 9

IN T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S D I S T R I C T C O U R T F O R T H E

EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA

p
Alexandria Division

11

L

E

Dwight Devane Byrd,
Plaintiff,

f

NOV 2 9 2010

s

CLERK, U.S. DISTRICT C O U R T ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA

l:09cv!208(CMH/JFA)
United States of America, et ah,
Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Dwight Devane Byrd, a federal inmate confined in the Eastern District o f Virginia and proceeding pro se, has filed a complaint on the form for use in civil rights actions pursuant to 42

U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that defendants failed to protect him from a racially-motivated assault by

a fellow inmate at FCI Beckley on April 26,2007. Plaintiff has paid the statutory filing fee. Because

the defendants are federal entities, plaintiffs constitutional claim will be construed as brought
p u r s u a n t to Bivens v. Six U n k n o w n N a m e d A g e n t s o f Federal B u r e a u o f Narcotics. 403 U.S. 388

(1971), which extends § 1983 liability to federal officials.1 It appears that plaintiff also intends to
assert a claim against the named defendants, the United States o f America and the Federal Bureau o f Prisons ("BOP"), pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1 3 4 6 , 2 6 7 1 ,
e t s e q . A f t e r r e v i e w i n g p l a i n t i f f s c o m p l a i n t , the B i v e n s c l a i m a g a i n s t d e f e n d a n t s m u s t be d i s m i s s e d

pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915 A(b)(l) for failure to state a claim,2 and the claim underthe FTCAwill
xIt is noted that plaintiff has utilized a form complaint captioned "Form to be Used by
P r i s o n e r s in F i l i n g a C o m p l a i n t U n d e r t h e C i v i l R i g h t s A c t , 4 2 U . S . C . § 1 9 8 3 , In t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s District C o u r t for the M i d d l e D i s t r i c t o f N o r t h C a r o l i n a . " C o m p l . at 1. B e c a u s e the c o m p l a i n t was m a i l e d to this C o u r t for filing, it is a s s u m e d in light o f p l a i n t i f f s p r o se s t a t u s t h a t the reference to N o r t h C a r o l i n a in the c a p t i o n is a s c r i v e n e r ' s error.

2 Section 1915A provides: (a) S c r e e n i n g . -- T h e court shall review, before docketing, i f feasible or, in any event,

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