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Christopher John MARTIN v. Mark W. SIAS

96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5017, 96 Daily Journal D.A.R. 8047 Christopher John Martin v. Mark W. Sias

Martin v. Sias, 88 F.3d 774 (9th Cir. 1996)
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Court
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · U.S. Courts of Appeals
Decided
July 3, 1996
Docket
No. 95-36118
Judges
Noonan, Leavy, Tashima
Citations
88 F.3d 77496 Daily Journal DAR 80471996 WL 36884096 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 50171996 U.S. App. LEXIS 15878

Opinion

ORDER Federal prisoner Christopher John Martin appeals pro se the district court’s dismissal, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915 (d), of his Bivens 1

action for damages alleging that United States Probation Officer Mark W. Sias acted outside his authority in supervising Martin’s parole. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

We review a district court’s dismissal pursuant to section 1915(d) for abuse of discretion.

Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33 , 112 S.Ct. 1728, 1733-34 , 118 L.Ed.2d 340 (1992);

Trimble v. City of Santa Rosa, 49 F.3d 583, 584 (9th Cir.1995).

If a complaint filed by a prisoner proceeding in forma pauperis is frivolous, a federal district court may dismiss the action pursuant to section 1915(d). A complaint “is frivolous where it lacks an arguable basis in either law or in fact.”

Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 , 109 S.Ct. 1827, 1831-32 , 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989);

Cato v. United States, 70 F.3d 1103, 1106 (9th Cir.1995).

In Heck v. Humphrey, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 2364 , 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994), the Supreme Court held “that, in order to recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, or for other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a conviction or sentence invalid, a § 1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been” previously invalidated.

Id.

at -, 114 S.Ct. at 2372 (footnote omitted). Although Heck involved a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , and Martin brought a Bivens action, this court has stated that “[ajctions under § 1983 and those under Bivens are identical save for the replacement of a state actor under § 1983 by a federal actor under Bivens.”

Van Strum v. Lawn, 940 F.2d 406, 409 (9th Cir.1991).

We join the other federal circuits that have addressed this issue, and hold that the rationale of Heck applies to Bivens actions.

Cf. Williams v. Hill, 74 F.3d 1339, 1340 (D.C.Cir.1996) (per curiam);

Abella v. Rubina, 63 F.3d 1063, 1065 (11th Cir.1995) (per curiam);

Tavarez v. Reno, 54 F.3d 109, 110 (2d Cir.1995) (per curiam);

Stephenson v. Reno, 28 F.3d 26, 27 (5th Cir.1994) (per curiam). Accordingly, because a judgment in favor of Martin would necessarily imply the invalidity of his sentence, and because Martin did not show that his sentence has been invalidated, the district court properly dismissed this action.

AFFIRMED.

1

.

Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 , 91 S.Ct. 1999 , 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971).

How later courts describe this case

Explanatory parentheticals written by citing courts — 30 in all; the most informative distinct ones are shown.

Cited by 97 cases

View all citing references →
1997: 51998: 22001: 42002: 22003: 22004: 22005: 22006: 12009: 22011: 42015: 12016: 32017: 12018: 12019: 32020: 142021: 82022: 62023: 92024: 82025: 92026: 819972026peak 2020 · 14

Relies on it most ⓘ

  1. Harris v. White113 F.3d 1241 (9th Cir. 1997)
  2. Most v. Bersin145 F.3d 1339 (9th Cir. 1998)
  3. Joelson v. United StatesNo. 3:20-cv-01568 (S.D. Cal. Nov. 3, 2020)
  4. Gerald W. Clemente v. Troy Allen120 F.3d 703 (7th Cir. 1997)
  5. Ruff v. Runyon258 F.3d 498 (6th Cir. 2001)
  6. United States v. Eileen Crowell374 F.3d 790 (9th Cir. 2004)

Citing references are not a citator: they show that a later opinion cites this case, not whether it followed, distinguished, or overruled it. Check negative history before relying on this case.

Authorities cited 11

DepthCaseCited by
Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) 15,277
Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319 (1989) 23,403
Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) 17,038
Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25 (1992) 10,447
Cato v. United States, 70 F.3d 1103 (9th Cir. 1995) 2,373
Trimble v. City of Santa Rosa, 49 F.3d 583 (9th Cir. 1995) 506
Carol Van Strum Paul E. Merrell v. Lawn, 940 F.2d 406 (9th Cir. 1991) 299
Abella v. Rubino, 63 F.3d 1063 (11th Cir. 1995) 195
Tavarez v. Reno, 54 F.3d 109 (2d Cir. 1995) 153
Williams v. Hill, 74 F.3d 1339 (D.C. Cir. 1996) 118
Obadiah Stephenson, Sr. v. Reno, 28 F.3d 26 (5th Cir. 1994) 116

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