McPherson v. Coombe, Docket No. 98-2635

Citation174 F.3d 276
Decision Date22 April 1999
Docket NumberDocket No. 98-2635
PartiesStanley W. McPHERSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Phillip COOMBE, Jr., Commissioner, Department of Corrections; Sally B. Johnson, Superintendent; C.A. Preiss, Deputy, Defendants, R.J. Kirby, Deputy of Security, Defendant-Appellee.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

Stanley W. McPherson, Albion, NY, Pro Se.

Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General of the State of New York (Peter H. Schiff, Deputy Solicitor General, Nancy A. Spiegel and Robert M. Goldfarb, Assistant Attorneys General, of counsel ), Albany, NY, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before: KEARSE and SACK, Circuit Judges, and STEIN, District Judge. *

SACK, Circuit Judge:

Stanley W. McPherson, pro se, appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Arcara, J.) granting defendant R.J. Kirby's motion for summary judgment dismissing McPherson's 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. McPherson alleges that Kirby and other prison officials violated his Eighth Amendment rights by refusing to permit him to attend his mother's funeral. We hold that the district court erred in granting summary judgment because there is no indication in the record that McPherson had been informed or was otherwise aware of the requirements he needed to meet under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 to oppose a summary judgment motion.

We therefore reverse and remand.

I. Background

McPherson filed a pro se amended complaint on February 19, 1997, naming as defendants Phillip Coombe, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections ("DOC"), Sally B. Johnson, Superintendent of Orleans Correctional Facility ("Orleans"), and Orleans Deputies R.J. Kirby and C.A. Preiss. The complaint, which seeks seven million dollars in damages and a "restraining order of retaliation," alleges that defendants violated McPherson's Eighth Amendment rights when they refused to permit him to travel from Orleans, where he was an inmate, to New York City, so that he could attend his mother's funeral.

McPherson claims that his brother, Tracey McPherson, called the Orleans chaplain's office on December 5, 1995, to inform the chaplain that McPherson's mother had died on November 29, 1995. On December 6, 1995 the chaplain applied for emergency leave on McPherson's behalf, requesting defendant Kirby's permission for McPherson to attend the funeral in New York City. Kirby refused the request. McPherson alleges that denying him leave to attend his mother's funeral constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment; he also alleges that defendants violated his Eighth Amendment rights by refusing him mental health care to alleviate the anguish they had "maliciously and wantonly" caused him.

On March 27, 1997, the district court dismissed the claims against Coombe, Johnson and Preiss because McPherson's complaint did not allege that they had any personal involvement in denying McPherson leave to attend the funeral. McPherson does not appeal the district court's order dismissing his complaint with respect to these defendants.

On January 16, 1998, defendant Kirby moved for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Kirby's supporting affidavits and exhibits indicate that after receiving the call from McPherson's brother on December 5, 1995, Orleans officials sought to verify that McPherson's mother had died and to determine the date of her funeral. Their efforts were reportedly hampered by the fact that McPherson's mother had changed her name. By December 8, 1995, officials had verified the death of McPherson's mother but were told by the funeral home and by members of McPherson's family that the funeral date had not yet been set. Kirby also claims that the prison received no further information until the afternoon of December 11, 1995, when a family member called to say that the funeral was scheduled for the next morning.

In his affidavit, Kirby stated that he had determined that, given the short notice, McPherson could not be safely transported from Orleans to New York City. Kirby explained that DOC procedures require that two officers accompany a transported inmate. He stated that it was impractical to call off-duty officers to transport McPherson because under the collective bargaining agreement in force he would have had to contact officers in order of their seniority; obtaining a positive response would have required numerous calls. Kirby also concluded that using officers on duty that afternoon was unsafe because the officers would need to drive McPherson to Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Westchester County for the night, would likely not get to sleep themselves before one in the morning, and would have to be up again at an early hour to collect McPherson and drive him into New York in time for the funeral. Kirby stated that "[t]his would have meant that two officers, at least one of whom would be armed ... would have had at best 4-1/2 hours of sleep and would have been responsible for transporting a convicted felon into Manhattan." In light of these considerations, Kirby recommended denying McPherson's request to attend the funeral.

In opposition to Kirby's motion for summary judgment, McPherson submitted papers in which he disputed Kirby's version of events, and alleged that Kirby had denied him leave to attend the funeral in retaliation for making a complaint against another prison officer a few days earlier. Citing Rule 56, McPherson stated in his opposition papers that he would "prove ... with affidavits that given short notice, transporting inmates over the distance could in fact be safely accomplished." McPherson included the names of individuals who had provided him with affidavits in support of his claim and other individuals who would provide such affidavits in the future. McPherson also declared in his papers that "[m]any inmates want to give me affidavits because they see the ... retaliation that Orleans Correctional Facility has inflicted ... upon me."

Finding that Kirby had provided an undisputed explanation for refusing McPherson's request to attend the funeral, and that the allegations of retaliation were supported only by McPherson's own conclusory statements, the district court issued an order on June 25, 1998, granting Kirby's motion for summary judgment. On June 29, 1998, judgment was entered dismissing McPherson's complaint. McPherson filed a timely notice of appeal.

II. Discussion

We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. See Lowrance v. Achtyl, 20 F.3d 529, 534 (2d Cir.1994). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), summary judgment may be granted only when there is no genuine issue as to material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). "While genuineness runs to whether disputed factual issues can 'reasonably be resolved in favor of either party,' ... materiality runs to whether the dispute matters, i.e., whether it concerns facts that can affect the outcome under the applicable substantive law.... A reasonably disputed, legally essential issue is both genuine and material and must be resolved at trial." Graham v. Henderson, 89 F.3d 75, 79 (2d Cir.1996) (quoting and citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248-250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). In reviewing a grant of summary judgment we resolve all ambiguities and draw all factual inferences in favor of the party opposing the motion. See Nora Beverages, Inc. v. Perrier Group of Am., Inc., 164 F.3d 736, 742 (2d Cir.1998). Moreover, we read the pleadings of a pro se plaintiff liberally and interpret them "to raise the strongest arguments that they suggest." Burgos v. Hopkins, 14 F.3d 787, 790 (2d Cir.1994).

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code establishes liability for deprivation, under the color of state law, "of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution." The Eighth Amendment sets constitutional boundaries on the conditions of imprisonment. "Not every governmental action affecting the interests or well-being of a prisoner is subject to Eighth Amendment scrutiny, however. After incarceration, only the 'unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain' constitutes cruel and unusual punishment forbidden by the Eighth Amendment." Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 319, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986) (quoting Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 670, 97 S.Ct. 1401, 51 L.Ed.2d 711 (1977)) (additional quotation omitted).

To demonstrate an Eighth Amendment violation, a plaintiff must make two showings. First, the alleged punishment must be "objectively, sufficiently serious." Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994) (quotation omitted). Under the objective prong, "conditions that cannot be said to be cruel and unusual under contemporary standards are not unconstitutional." Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 347, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981). Second, the prison official involved must have acted with a "sufficiently culpable state of mind." Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834, 114 S.Ct. 1970 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). In cases involving prison conditions, "that state of mind is one of 'deliberate indifference' to inmate health or safety." Id. (citing Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 302-03, 111 S.Ct. 2321, 115 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991)).

Like the court below, we may assume for purposes of summary judgment that if, in order to cause a particular inmate psychological distress, prison officials deny the inmate leave which is otherwise available to attend a parent's funeral, such conduct may in...

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