ALFONSO DETROY PONTON, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL W. MOORE, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed dismissal of mandamus petition challenging prison discipline, holding that an inmate's timely delivery of required documents to prison officials invokes the mailbox rule and requires an evidentiary hearing.
An inmate who timely delivers required insolvency documents to prison officials for processing is entitled to the mailbox rule protection, and dismissal for failure to file must be reconsidered upon remand.
[1] A prisoner invoking the mailbox rule by timely delivering documents to prison officials for processing is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to establish compliance befor…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“pleading deemed filed when inmate turns document over to prison officials for processing”
Haag v. State, establishing the mailbox rule for prisoners
Ponton, a prisoner, filed a mandamus petition challenging a prison disciplinary proceeding but failed to comply with a case management order requiring…
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PER CURIAM.
Alfonso Detroy Ponton appeals a final order dismissing his petition for writ of mandamus which challenged a prison disciplinary proceeding. The trial court dismissed appellant’s petition because appellant failed to comply with a case management order mandating the filing of the indigency affidavit and related papers required by section 57.085, Florida Statutes (Supp.1996). Attaching correspondence from prison officials, appellant contends he timely turned the required documents over to prison officials, but for reasons unknown to him, the papers were not forwarded to the court.
As a prisoner, appellant is entitled to the benefits of the “mailbox rule.” Haag v. State, 591 So. 2d 614, 617 (Fla.1992)(pleading deemed filed when inmate turns document over to prison officials for processing). Accordingly, this cause is remanded to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether appellant timely delivered his insolvency documents to prison officials, see Hett v. Madison Mut. Ins. Co., Inc., 621 So. 2d 764, 766 n. 2 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993), and, if the required documents were timely delivered to prison officials, to afford appellant an opportunity to re-file the required insolvency papers. See Masiello v. Moore, 739 So. 2d 1196 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999); Marquart v. Florida Parole Comm’n, 701 So. 2d 674 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997).
REVERSED and REMANDED.
WEBSTER, DAVIS AND VAN NORTWICK, JJ., CONCUR.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- State v. Thurston McCLAIN, 591 So. 2d 614 (Fla. 1992)
- Haag v. State, 591 So. 2d 614 (Fla. 1992)
- Masiello v. Moore, 739 So. 2d 1196 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)
- Hett v. Madison Mut. Ins. Co., Inc., 621 So. 2d 764 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993)
- Rinker Materials Corp. & Crawford & Co. v. Rodriguez, 701 So. 2d 674 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
- Fulfer v. State, 701 So. 2d 674 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)