Whether the statute of limitations should be tolled for the time spent exhausting administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 USC §1997e(a)

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW Incarcerated inmate Donald W. Rager (Rager) was physically assaulted by Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Lt. Keith Buford on July 13, 2010. Rager filed multiple grievances alleging violations of his rights by 13 BOP employees and spent three years exhausting those grievances. The exhaustion process took between 322 days and 901 days to reach final : disposition, and four of the grievances were never answered. On February 24, 2015 Rager filed a civil rights lawsuit against the 13 BOP employees alleging multiple violations of his constitutional rights under 42 USC §1983/Bivens. The District Court for the Northern District of Florida dismissed most of the claims brought by Rager as beyond the statute of limitation (SOL) without considering or applying tolling for exhaustion of administrative remedies (AR’s) as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 USC §1997e(a): “No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under Section 1983 of this title, or any other federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available ; are exhausted.” Rager specifically argued that tolling applies to exhaustion of AR’s and cited the following rulings: Gonzalez v. Hasty 651 F 3d 318 (2 11) ; Pearson-v. Secy Dept of Corr 775 F 3d 598, 602-04 (3% 15) Harris v. Hegmann 198 F 3d 158 (5" 99) Brown v. Morgan 209 F 3d 595, 596 (6" 00) Johnson v. Rivera 272 F 3d 519, 522 (7" 01) Williams v. Pulaski Co. Det Ctr 278 Fed Appx 695 (8" 08) Brown v. Valoff 422 F 3d 926, 943 (9"" 05) Roberts v. Barreras 484 F 3d 1236 (10" 07) These eight cases ruled that tolling applies to the time that a prisoner spends exhausting AR’s . under the PLRA. Rager also cited cases from the 11'" Circuit which alluded that “the SOL may have been tolled on account of Leal’s exhaustion of AR’s.” Leal v. Georgia 254 F 3d 1276 (11 01); “We proffer, but do not hold, as that issue is not before us, that such a result may be mitigated by the doctrine of equitable tolling, as other Circuits have applied that doctrine to the . administrative exhaustion requirement for prison conditions suits under 42 USC §1997e(a).” Napier v. Preslicka 314 F 3d 528 n.3 (11"" 02). Upon appeal to the 11" Circuit, Rager again specifically argued for tolling for exhaustion of AR’s in PLRA suits but the 11" Circuit Panel merely stated: “We have expressly declined to address the question of whether the SOL can be tolled while a prisoner is in the process of exhausting his administrative remedies as a mandatory prerequisite for filing a federal lawsuit.” Rager v. Augustine 2019 US App Lexis 3279 (11" 19). At around the same time, the 4™ Circuit, becoming the 9" Circuit to make sucha ruling, ruled that, under federal tolling principles, tolling is applicable to the time spent exhausting AR’s as required by the PLRA. “Battle asks that we . apply federal equitable tolling principles to account for the time lost during his 83-day : mandatory exhaustion period. We agree with Battle (and our sister Circuits) that those principles : apply during this period.” Battle v. Ledford 912 F 3d 708 (4" 19). The ruling by the 11" Circuit, or, more accurately, their refusal to rule on the question of tolling of the SOL for exhaustion of AR’s, which allows the District Court’s ruling to stand, has created a Circuit split which in turn pits the 11" Circuit against the ten other Circuits that have made a ruling on this issue. “We agree with the uniform holdings of the Circuits that have considered the question that the applicable statute of limitations must be tolled while a prisoner ii completes the mandatory exhaustion process.” Brown v. Valoff 422 F 3d 926 (9" 04); “Thus, every Circuit that has confronted a state no-tolling rule and reached this question has applied federal law to equitably toll §1983 limitations during the PLRA exhaustion period.” Battle supra. Rager now asks the Court to take up