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Fernandez v. T.D.C.J., et al

Appellant's claims center around the alleged wrongful confiscation by Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees of numerous packages of food from his personal storage locker. Appellant brought six issues on appeal. He argues: 1. His suit is not barred by the U.S. Supreme Court decision Heck v. Humphrey (1994); 2. the trial court violated the open-courts provision of Texas Constitution Article I, �13 by dismissing his claims, rather than permitting him to have a jury trial; 3. the trial court erred in dismissing his suit to the extent that dismissal was based on the defendants' assertion that he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies; 4. the trial court abused its discretion by failing to rule on his motion for leave to amend his complaint to correct defects; 5. The trial court abused its discretion by dismissing his suit with prejudice; and 6. The trial court erred by dismissing his suit as frivolous. The court of appeals sustained issues one and three; sustained in part issues five and six; and overruled issues two and four. Waco Court of Appeals, No. 10-08-00389-CV, 12-22-2010

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OPINION

Fernandez’s claims center around the alleged wrongful confiscation by TDCJ employees of numerous packages of food from his personal storage locker. He alleged in his original “complaint” that, during a “necessities shakedown” in his cell block at the Wynne Unit, Reid seized these items because Fernandez could not produce commissary receipts to show that he had purchased every package of food in his possession. Fernandez claims that he tried to show Reid all of his receipts but Reid demanded to see “only two (2) receipts showing that you bought all of this.” Because the two receipts Fernandez produced did not account for all of the food in his locker, Reid seized every package, including: 15 pot roasts, 47 packages of tuna, 19 packages of coffee, 21 packages of chili with beans, 11 packages of chili without beans, 3 packages of refried beans, 20 summer sausages, 2 packages of party mix, and 8 holiday pies. Reid also seized 60 stamped envelopes and a pair of nail clippers.*fn1 Reid directed Barkin to fill out a confiscation form and to “write up” Fernandez for the disciplinary violation of possession of contraband, namely, possession of commissary items without proof of ownership.

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