United States Fourth Circuit

In a prisoner's suit against employees of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) and others, alleging that the food served to him at the Kershaw Correctional Institution, a prison managed by the SCDC, was so deficient as to violate his Eighth Amendment rights, the District Court's dismissal of the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), on res judicata grounds, is reversed where,as a nonparty to the earlier suit, plaintiff is not precluded from pursuing the same claims on his own behalf in the instant action unless the state defendants are able to demonstrate that at least one of the six exceptions to the general rule against nonparty preclusion applies.

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/04/25

Judges

• NIEMEYER

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel