The opinion
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 15-1875
ELDER DEFORRORRA LOCUST,
Plaintiff – Appellant,
v.
ABC BOARD; BILL JOHNSON, Director, City of Kinston
Department of Public Safety; CITY OF KINSTON PUBLIC SAFETY,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Greenville. Louise W. Flanagan,
District Judge. (4:15-cv-00061-FL)
Submitted: February 25, 2016 Decided: February 29, 2016
Before SHEDD and HARRIS, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Elder Deforrorra Locust, Appellant Pro Se. Scott Christopher
Hart, SUMRELL, SUGG, CARMICHAEL, HICKS & HART, PA, New Bern,
North Carolina; Timothy Patrick Carraway, James P. Cauley, III,
CAULEY PRIDGEN, PA, Wilson, North Carolina, for Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Elder Deforrorra Locust seeks to appeal the district
court’s order granting Defendants’ motions to dismiss Locust’s
civil suit for failure to state a claim. We dismiss the appeal
for lack of jurisdiction because the notice of appeal was not
timely filed.
Parties are accorded 30 days after the entry of the
district court’s final judgment or order to note an appeal, Fed.
R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), unless the district court extends the
appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5), or reopens the
appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6). “[T]he timely
filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case is a jurisdictional
requirement.” Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007).
The district court’s order was entered on the docket on
August 12, 2015. The notice of appeal was filed on
September 24, 2015. * Because Locust failed to file a timely
notice of appeal or to obtain an extension or reopening of the
appeal period, we grant Appellee’s motion to dismiss the appeal.
We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
*For the purpose of this appeal, we assume that the date
appearing on the notice of appeal is the earliest date it could
have been properly delivered to prison officials for mailing to
the court. Fed. R. App. P. 4(c); Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266
(1988). We note that Locust also filed a premature appeal on
August 4, 2015. This appeal is dismissed as interlocutory.
2
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before
this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
3