Harrell v. Scott

── Harrell v. Scott ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: May 28, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 25-8044 Document: 25 Date Filed: 05/28/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT May 28, 2026 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court CHRISTOPHER D. HARRELL, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. No. 25-8044 (D.C. No. 2:25-CV-00086-KHR) JEFFREY SCOTT, Regional Medical (D. Wyo.) Director; NAPHCARE, for-profit medical contractor; YESCARE, for-profit medical contractor; DR. PHILIP ESKEW, Faculty Medical Director; SETH NORRIS, Warden, Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution; EDNA CURRY, Kitchen Supervisor, Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution, Defendants - Appellees. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________ Before MATHESON, MORITZ, and FEDERICO, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Christopher D. Harrell, a Wyoming prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s screening dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint. Exercising * After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.  Appellate Case: 25-8044 Document: 25 Date Filed: 05/28/2026 Page: 2 jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings. I. BACKGROUND 1 A. Original Complaint Allegations In late 2023, Mr. Harrell, incarcerated at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution, stopped taking medications that he thought were causing gastrointestinal pain and diarrhea. But his symptoms continued, so he sought medical treatment. FODMAP Diet In February 2024, defendant Philip Eskew, a physician, responded to Mr. Harrell’s treatment request. Dr. Eskew worked for Defendant YesCare, a health care provider under contract with the Wyoming Department of Corrections (“DOC”) to provide medical care to prisoners. He ordered the prison kitchen to put Mr. Harrell on a special diet known as FODMAP. Mr. Harrell spent the next several months “go[ing] through the ‘trial and error’ phase of attempting to add the food that FODMAP removed, one item at a time, to increase the foods available to [him].” R. at 10, ¶ 16. Mr. Harrell developed a list of foods that either did or did not cause pain. He shared this list with Defendant Edna Curry, the kitchen supervisor at Wyoming 1 For purposes of this appeal, we accept as true Mr. Harrell’s allegations about the events that led up to this lawsuit. See Burnett v. Mortg. Elec. Registration Sys., Inc., 706 F.3d 1231, 1235 (10th Cir. 2013) (“We accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint and view them in the light most