Ambrose v. Young

• Decision Date: 23 January 2007
• Docket Number: No. 05-4363.,05-4363.
• Citation: 474 F.3d 1070
• Parties: Lee AMBROSE, Trustee for the next of kin of Neil Ambrose, and Personal Representative of the Estate of Neil Andrew Ambrose, Appellee, v. Major Darin YOUNG; Mark W. Tisland; and Douglas Weber, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

474 F.3d 1070

Lee AMBROSE, Trustee for the next of kin of Neil Ambrose, and Personal Representative of the Estate of Neil Andrew Ambrose, Appellee, v. Major Darin YOUNG; Mark W. Tisland; and Douglas Weber, Appellants.

No. 05-4363.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: June 12, 2006.

Filed: January 23, 2007.

James E. Moore, argued, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for appellant.

James A. Lavoie, argued, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Ben Lavoie and Stephanie Pochop, on the brief), for appellee.

Before BYE, LAY,¹ and RILEY, Circuit Judges.

RILEY, Circuit Judge.

Lee Ambrose, personal representative of Neil Ambrose's (Ambrose) estate, filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging three South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC) officials (collectively, the officials) violated Ambrose's Eighth Amendment rights by failing to protect Ambrose during a DOC work detail, which resulted in Ambrose's electrocution death caused by a downed power line. The district court denied the officials' motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. This interlocutory appeal followed. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

We recite the facts in the light most favorable to Ambrose, the party asserting injury in this action. See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001); Vaughn v. Greene County, Ark., 438 F.3d 845, 849 (8th Cir. 2006). The DOC maintains emergency response teams (ERTs) as part of South Dakota's emergency response program. ERTs are comprised of minimum security inmates from South Dakota's four state penitentiaries. ERTs are dispatched to natural disaster clean-up sites, where they assist in removing downed trees and other debris. Inmates are required to comply with correctional officers' orders and conduct themselves appropriately. In almost all cases, upon the recommendation of the DOC, the governor will reduce the sentence of an inmate who works hard on an ERT. A noncompliant inmate can be written up and punished for violating institutional rules.

At all relevant times, Ambrose was an inmate in the custody of the DOC, Major Darin Young (Major Young) was the DOC's ERT commander, and Douglas Weber (Warden Weber) was the DOC's supervising warden. Ambrose qualified for and participated in the DOC's ERT program. The only training Ambrose received was watching a chainsaw safety training video.

In late July 2002, severe storms damaged property in Sinai, South Dakota. The DOC dispatched several ERTs to Sinai to assist with the storm clean-up. Mark Tisland (Tisland), a DOC roofing crew supervisor,² lived on property in Sinai and volunteered to assist with the ERT clean-up of Sinai.

On the afternoon of July 31, 2002, the DOC sent two ERTs to Tisland's property. Tisland supervised a crew of approximately seven inmates, including Ambrose, and DOC Officer Darin Ewer (Officer Ewer) supervised the second crew. Major Young coordinated and supervised all inmate crews dispatched to the Sinai clean-up.

At approximately 3:45 p.m., Major Young arrived at Tisland's residence to pick up inmates who had appointments in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At the time, Tisland was standing on the deck of his house and Officer Ewer was taking a water break with the inmates near the northwest side of Tisland's house. As Major Young talked with Tisland on Tisland's deck, a dump truck, with its truck box lifted, drove under a power line. The truck box hooked and dragged the live power line, which eventually snapped free of the truck box, and dangled from the power pole at chest height. The damaged power line ignited a small grass fire. Tisland told his wife to call the power company. Although Tisland reported calling 911, there is no record of the call on the police log.

Officer Ewer and several inmates ran toward the fire. Officer Ewer yelled out, "Stop! Down powerlines [sic]! Watch the powerlines [sic]!" Officer Ewer then reached out to stop one of the inmates from getting any closer. Major Young approached the fire from the other side of the downed power line, and asked, "Do you think we can stomp it out?" Inmates responded affirmatively and moved closer to the fire. Major Young told the inmates to "be careful and just stomp the fire's outer edge."

When the fire was extinguished, Major Young told the inmates, "Back off, the fire is out." As the inmates moved away, Ambrose lost his balance and came in contact with the dangling power line. The power line gripped Ambrose, violently shaking his burning body for approximately one to two minutes. Inmates ran to help Ambrose, but Major Young and Officer Ewer ordered them to stay back. The inmates pleaded with Major Young to be allowed to help Ambrose, but Major Young repeatedly told them "no," insisting, "we can not [sic] save him, I can only save you!" One inmate asked for "rubber boots or a rubber pole or something," and Major Young again said, "no," adding, "I didn't want him (Ambrose) hurt and I don't want anymore [sic] hurt." The inmates obeyed Major Young's commands and moved to a safe location. The power line eventually broke, dropping Ambrose's lifeless body to the ground. The inmates again wanted to run up and help, but Major Young repeated his instruction to "stay back because the line [was] unsafe." The fire started up again, but no one attempted to extinguish it.

Tisland called 911, and Major Young called the ERT command center requesting an ambulance and a fire truck. No one approached Ambrose's body until the power company confirmed the electricity had been turned off. Officers from the Department of Criminal Investigations arrived and took statements from the inmates and the DOC staff members.

Ambrose's estate brought this § 1983 action, alleging the officials violated Ambrose's Eighth Amendment rights because (1) Major Young and Tisland failed to protect Ambrose from being electrocuted by a downed power line while on a prison work detail, and (2) Warden Weber made policy decisions that required Ambrose to work under dangerous conditions without providing sufficient training and safety procedures for work crew supervisors. The officials moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity, which the district court denied. This interlocutory appeal followed.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

Generally, a district court's denial of summary judgment is not appealable; however, "`[d]enials of summary judgment based on qualified immunity are immediately appealable to the extent the appeal seeks review of the purely legal determinations made by the district court.'" Vaughn, 438 F.3d at 849 (quoting Wilson v. Lawrence County, Mo., 260 F.3d 946, 951 (8th Cir.2001)). We limit our review on an interlocutory appeal to "whether the facts alleged . . . support a claim of violation of clearly established law." Ward v. Moore, 414 F.3d 968, 970 (8th Cir.2005) (quotation omitted). We will not assume any facts deemed by the district court to be genuinely disputed. Crow v. Montgomery, 403 F.3d 598, 601 (8th Cir.2005).

B. Eighth Amendment Claim

The Eighth Amendment's prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment" applies to conditions of confinement, see Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 345-47, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981), and prison work assignments fall under the ambit of conditions of confinement, Choate v. Lockhart, 7 F.3d 1370, 1373 (8th Cir.1993). The Eighth Amendment "forbids knowingly compelling an inmate to perform labor that is beyond the inmate's strength, dangerous to his or her life or health, or unduly painful," Sanchez v. Taggart, 144 F.3d 1154, 1156 (8th Cir. 1998), and requires supervisors to supervise and train subordinates to prevent the deprivation of a constitutional right, see Tlamka v. Serrell, 244 F.3d 628, 635 (8th Cir.2001).

To prevail on his Eighth Amendment claim, Ambrose "must prove both an objective element, which asks whether the [risk of harm] was sufficiently serious, and a subjective element, which asks whether the defendant officials acted with a sufficiently culpable state of mind." Choate, 7 F.3d at 1373.

1. Proper Liability Standard

The Supreme Court and our circuit previously have held the state of mind giving rise to liability in a condition of confinement case is deliberate indifference. Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 303, 111 S.Ct. 2321, 115 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991); see Choate, 7 F.3d at 1373-74. The officials argue the deliberate indifference standard is inappropriate in this case, and urge the court to apply the higher liability "intent to harm" standard set forth in Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 320-21, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986), or the "shocks the conscience" standard set forth in County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 853-54, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998).

In Whitley, the Supreme Court held the deliberate indifference standard did not apply to an Eighth Amendment claim brought by a prisoner shot in the leg during a prison riot. Whitley, 475 U.S. at 316, 319-20, 106 S.Ct. 1078. The Court reasoned, "a deliberate indifference standard does not adequately capture the importance of such competing obligations, or convey the appropriate hesitancy to critique in hindsight decisions necessarily made in haste, under pressure, and frequently without the luxury of a second chance." Id. at 320, 106 S.Ct. 1078. Instead, in such circumstances, the officials' culpability is measured by "`whether force was applied in a good faith effort to maintain or restore discipline or maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.'" Id. at 320-21, 106 S.Ct. 1078 (quotation omitted).

In Lewis, the parents of a motorcycle passenger killed during a high-speed automobile chase brought a substantive due process claim against the officials involved in the pursuit. Lewis, 523 U.S. at 837, 118 S.Ct. 1708. Drawing a comparison to Whitley, the Supreme Court concluded,

when unforeseen circumstances demand an officer's instant judgment,...