Eleventh Circuit: District Court Erred in Dismissing BOP Prisoner’s Medical Claim, Finds Prison Officials Made Administrative Remedies Unavailable
by David Reutter
On August 6, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s medical Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and Eighth Amendment claims for the failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The district court erred in finding the prisoner responsible for prison officials’ failure to complete administrative duties under governing procedures. The district court also erred in finding an administrative remedy was available where it imposes a requirement that is unknowable by the opaqueness of the procedures.
BOP Prisoner Terri McGuire-Molica was transferred in September 2016 to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Aliceville, Alabama. One month later, McGuire-Molica was diagnosed with a noninflammatory disorder of the uterus, abnormal uterine and vaginal bleeding, and iron deficiency anemia. At that time, McGuire-Molica had a fibroid measuring six centimeters long that she alleged “could have been removed laparoscopically, with minimal invasiveness.”
In the ensuing years, Dr. Richard Griffin, Dr. Xinyu Li, and Nurse Sharon Bailey denied McGuire-Molica’s requests for treatment, including medication and surgery. The denials persisted despite the recommendation of two outside specialists. At the time of the Eleventh Circuit’s review, McGuire-Molica’s fibroid measured 20 centimeters and weighed 20 pounds. Surgery intervention now entailed removal of McGuire-Molica’s “entire uterus … and possibly other organs.”
On October 31, 2019, McGuire-Molica filed an informal resolution form with FCI Aliceville concerning the denial of treatment. It was denied the next day. On December 4, 2019, McGuire-Molica filed an administrative remedy on a BP-9 form raising the denial of care. On June 23, 2020, the acting warden responded that McGuire-Molica was scheduled to see an OB/GYN specialist. On June 26, 2020, she filed an appeal on a BP-10 form that requested to see a surgeon. The regional director denied that appeal on December 21, 2020. While that appeal was pending, McGuire-Molica on October 1, 2020, sent via certified mail an appeal on a BP-11 form to BOP’s General Counsel. On October 27, 2020, McGuire-Molica filed a complaint alleging violations of the FTCA and the Eighth Amendment.
After the district court winnowed the named defendants and an amended complaint was filed, the parties agreed to a magistrate judge adjudicating the case. The BOP then moved to dismiss for failure to exhaust administrative remedies for failing to complete the final step of the process by not filing an appeal with the BOP’s General Counsel.
The magistrate judge concluded that McGuire-Molica properly completed and filed the final appeal, but that appeal was not considered filed because it was “never received and logged into the Administrative Remedy Index.” Additionally, the administrative remedy process was found incomplete because McGuire-Molica filed her original complaint before the General Counsel’s time to respond had expired. McGuire-Molica appealed.
The Eleventh Circuit noted the magistrate judge’s finding that McGuire-Molica properly completed and mailed the BP-11 form to complete the fourth stage of BOP’s administrative remedy process. It also cited authorities holding that prisoners are not responsible for prison officials’ failure to process a grievance. Therefore, “McGuire-Molica cannot be responsible for prison officials’ failure to file her BP-11 form.”
The district court further erred by finding a failure to exhaust administrative remedies based upon McGuire-Molica’s not waiting 40 days for the General Counsel to respond before filing her federal complaint. The Eleventh Circuit held that as the BP-11 form was never filed, BOP’s policy provided no guidance on how McGuire-Molica should proceed, creating an opaque process that made administrative remedies unavailable.
The district court’s order of dismissal was reversed and remanded for further proceedings. See: McGuire-Mollica v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 146 F.4th 1308 (11th Cir. 2025).
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Related legal case
McGuire-Mollica v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 146 F.4th 1308 (11th Cir. 2025) |
| Level | Court of Appeals |