66 F.3d 325 (6th Cir. 1995), 93-1551, Hadix v. Johnson
| Date | 20 September 1995 |
| Docket Number | 93-1642,93-1643.,93-1560,93-1555,93-1551,93-1559 |
| Citation | 66 F.3d 325 |
| Parties | Everett HADIX, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Perry JOHNSON, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Page 325
Editorial Note:
This opinion appears in the Federal reporter in a table titled "Table of Decisions Without Reported Opinions". (See FI CTA6 Rule 28 and FI CTA6 IOP 206 regarding use of unpublished opinions)
On Appeal from the United States District Court, for the Western District of Michigan, No. 92-00110; Richard A. Enslen, Chief Judge.
W.D.Mich.
AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART.
Before: NELSON, NORRIS, and DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM.
In yet another facet of this long-pending prison conditions case--a case in which a comprehensive consent decree was entered a decade ago--the defendant officials here appeal six orders of the district court. 1 Among the issues we are called upon to decide are these: (1) whether principles of laches and equitable estoppel should have barred the plaintiffs from seeking enforcement of certain provisions of the consent decree after extended acquiescence in the defendants' non-compliance with those provisions; (2) whether the district court abused its discretion in refusing to modify the termination provision of the decree; (3) whether the district court exceeded its jurisdiction in ordering monitoring of health facilities outside the particular prison complex covered by the decree; (4) whether the court abused its discretion in refusing to delete a requirement that the defendants prepare and implement a written mental health plan; and (5) whether certain remedial measures dealing with the provision of mental health services and care for chronically ill inmates were improper in the absence of proof of constitutional violations. For the reasons that follow, we shall affirm the orders in part and vacate them in part.
I.
In 1980 a class of Michigan prisoners incarcerated at the State Prison of Southern Michigan-Central Complex ("SPSM-CC") filed a lawsuit against Michigan officials pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Hadix v. Johnson, Civ. No. 80-73501 (E.D.Mich.). The prisoners asserted that the conditions under which they were confined at SPSM-CC violated the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the State of Michigan. On May 13, 1985, the district court approved a consent decree designed "to assure the constitutionality of the conditions under which prisoners are incarcerated." Section II of the decree deals with health care, the area with which the orders now before us are concerned.
The decree required the defendants to prepare remedial plans covering implementation of certain of the decree's specific mandates. The remedial plans were to be appended to the judgment, thereby becoming part of it, unless the plaintiffs objected. Three of these plans, the Chronic Disease Plan (Decree § II.A.7), the Staffing Plan (Decree § II.A.5), and the Mental Health Plan (Decree § II.B.3.c; unfiled), are pertinent here.
Early in 1984, some four years after the Hadix plaintiffs filed suit, the United States filed a complaint against the State of Michigan under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997. United States v. Michigan, G84-63 CA (W.D.Mich. filed Jan. 18, 1984) ("USA "). 2 TheUSA complaint alleged that the conditions under which prisoners were confined in three prisons, including the SPSM, were unconstitutional. On July 16, 1984, a year before entry of the consent decree in Hadix, the USA litigation was settled by a consent decree. Although the overlap between the Hadix andUSA decrees is not complete, the decrees are similar in many respects. TheHadix class of prisoners was denied permission to intervene in USA, but it was granted amicus curiae status. 680 F.Supp. 928, 935-43 (W.D.Mich.1987). 3
Because of the overlap with the USA consent decree, and to ensure economical use of judicial resources, the medical and mental health segments of the Hadix case were transferred to the Western District of Michigan. At the time of transfer there was found to have been a tacit understanding that health care issues would be resolved by the Hadix plaintiffs through their amicus role in USA.
II.
A.
Laches and estoppel are equitable defenses the applicability of which must be decided upon the facts of each particular case. Menendez v. Holt, 128 U.S. 514 (1888). Laches conceptualizes the inequity that would result if a stale claim were permitted to be enforced. Gardner v. Panama Rr. Co., 342 U.S. 29, 30 (1951); Wells v. United States Steel, 950 F.2d 1244, 1250 (6th Cir.1991). A party may not, by silence, create an impression of acquiescence that leads others to make substantial commitments. Independent Bankers Ass'n of America v. Heimann, 627 F.2d 486, 488 (D.C.Cir.1980). The plaintiff must be shown to have been guilty of unreasonable delay prejudicial to the defendant. Gardner, 342 U.S. at 31; Wells, 950 F.2d at 1250. The application of laches is left to the sound discretion of the judge; it does not depend solely on the time that has elapsed between the alleged wrong and the pursuit of a claim. Wells, 950 F.2d at 1250; Goodman v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 606 F.2d 800, 807 (8th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 913 (1980). Equitable estoppel additionally "requires an element of deceit in inducing the other party to rely on the initial position." Wells, 950 F.2d at 1250.
In the case at bar it appears that for several years the plaintiffs sought to enforce their rights under Hadix through their amicus role in USA. In that role, they helped shape court orders touching directly on matters covered by the Hadix decree. Following our decision in USA v. Michigan, 940 F.2d at 166, which sharply curtailed the "litigating amicus " role of the Knop plaintiffs, defendants unilaterally changed the level of participation previously allowed the Hadix plaintiffs in USA. It was this, apparently, that prompted the plaintiffs to become more active in Hadix.
The defendants have not shown that the plaintiffs' conduct led them to make substantial expenditures in complying with the USA decree that they would not have had to make anyway. There has been no element of deceit or misrepresentation here, as far as we can tell. Against this background, and substantially for the reasons given by Judge Enslen in the orders addressing the issue, we conclude that the plaintiffs were not barred by laches or equitable estoppel and the district court committed no abuse of discretion in rejecting this defense.
B.
Appeal 93-1551
The termination provision in the Hadix decree states that:
"After Defendants have complied with all of the provisions of this Consent Decree, Defendants may apply to terminate the jurisdiction of the Court." (Decree § XI.)
The defendants sought modification of the decree, to allow partial termination:
"Termination of the Court's jurisdiction may be sought by either party as to any provision of the Decree when Defendants are in compliance with the constitutional requirements which were the goal of this decree."
The district court denied the requested modification.
A consent decree has both contractual and judicial aspects. USA v. Michigan, 940 F.2d at 150; United States v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 420 U.S. 223, 238 (1975). This "strange hybrid," Brown v. Neeb, 644 F.2d 551, 557 (6th Cir.1981), " 'plac[es] the power and prestige of the court behind the compromise struck by the parties.' " Vanguards of Cleveland v. City of Cleveland, 23 F.3d 1013, 1017 (6th Cir.1994) (quoting Williams v. Vukovich, 720 F.2d 909, 920 (6th Cir.1983). When construing a consent decree, as when construing other contracts, a court may rely on the usual aids to construction, including "the circumstances surrounding the formation of the consent order, any technical meaning words used may have had to the parties, and any other documents expressly incorporated in the decree." ITT Continental Baking, 420 U.S. at 238. Nonetheless, the words contained within the four corners of the document itself should normally determine the scope of a consent decree. Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts, 467 U.S. 561, 574 (1984). The decree "should be construed to preserve the position for which the parties bargained." Vogel v. City of Cincinnati, 959 F.2d 594, 598 (6th Cir.),cert. denied, 113 S.Ct. 86 (1992).
We review a district court's decision on a proposed modification to a consent decree for abuse of discretion. Vanguards of Cleveland, 23 F.3d at 1017; Heath v. DeCourcy, 888 F.2d 1105, 1110 (6th Cir.1989) ("Heath I "). The court's findings of fact will be upheld unless clearly erroneous. Id.
A district court has considerable leeway insofar as the modification of consent decrees in institutional litigation is concerned:
"To modify such consent decrees, the court need only identify a defect or deficiency in its original decree which impedes achieving its goal, either because experience has proven it less effective, disadvantageous, or because circumstances and conditions have changed which warrant fine-tuning the decree. A modification will be upheld if it furthers the original purpose of the decree in a more efficient way, without upsetting the basic agreement between the parties." Heath I, 888 F.2d at 1110; see also USA v. Michigan, 940 F.2d at 155.
This relaxed standard is justified by the impact of such decrees "on the public's right to the sound and efficient operation of its institutions." Heath I, 888 F.2d at 1109. The policy of Heath I is consonant with the Supreme Court's recognition that federal courts must give considerable deference to the judgment of trained prison administrators as to the proper means of running their prisons. See O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 353 (1987).
The defendants argue here that Freeman v. Pitt, 112 S.Ct. 1430 (1992), requires...
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