Smith v. McCorkle

On Petition for Whit of Mandamus

Rodney Wayne Smith, an inmate in the Texas Department of Corrections, filed suit in Harris County against administrators of the Harris County Hospital District. The trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, and Smith filed a timely notice of appeal and affidavit of inability to pay costs. The Harris County District Clerk contested Smith’s request to proceed in for-ma pauperis, alleging that Smith was not too poor to pay costs and that Smith had “failed to file an Affidavit as required by Rule 49(3)” of the Texas Rules of Appellate…