Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
Sidney Finnels v. Larry Fields and Leroy Young
Citations: 60 F.3d 837; 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 25581; 1995 WL 377136Docket: 94-7155
Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; June 16, 1995; Federal Appellate Court
Sidney Finnels, an inmate at the John Lilley Correctional Center in Oklahoma, filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants Larry Fields and Leroy Young, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief as well as nominal damages for alleged civil rights violations under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Finnels contended that the defendants failed to remove false information from his personnel file. The district court dismissed the case, confirming that while inmates have limited rights to review their files, they do not possess a constitutional right to dictate the contents of those files without specific identification of inaccuracies or demonstration of harm. The review indicated that some information had been removed at Finnels’ request, but he did not specify which additional information he deemed false, nor did he prove any resulting injury. Consequently, the court deemed Finnels' claims as vague and lacking a legal basis. The Tenth Circuit upheld the district court’s dismissal, affirming that the defendants' motion to dismiss was granted for reasons largely consistent with the district court's findings. The dismissal was authorized under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 for cases deemed to lack merit. The judgment is not considered binding precedent, except under certain doctrines.