Former National Guard Colonel's Fourth Amendment Suit

Aikens v. Ingram, No. 08-2278,  concerned a challenge to the district court's order dismissing the action without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction for failure to exhaust any available intramilitary remedies, in a former colonel's suit against his former colleagues at the North Carolina Army National Guard, claiming that they violated his Fourth Amendment rights by wrongfully intercepting, reading, and forwarding his e-mails while he was deployed in Iraq.

In affirming the judgment, the court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion to reopen the judgment under Fed Rule of Civ. Proc. 60(b)(6), because to the extent that plaintiff rests his argument on the district court's earlier purportedly erroneous dismissal of his case, his remedy was to appeal, not to file a Rule 60(b)(6) motion.

Related Resource:

• Full text of Aikens v. Ingram