Blissett v. Coughlin
| Decision Date | 25 September 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 1150,D,1150 |
| Citation | 66 F.3d 531 |
| Parties | Donovan Jack Richard BLISSETT, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas A. COUGHLIN, III; Charles Hernandez; Harold J. Smith, Supt.; James E. Cochrane, D.S.S.; Capt. R. McCellane; Sgt. J.R. Rafferty; Officers Ronald G. Squires; John Doe Watson, also known as Cadillac; D. Bates; John Doe and Francis Mills; and Dr. Downs; R. Magee, P.A.; A. Wolcott, R.N.; Medical Personnel, each individually and in their official capacities, Defendants, Sgt. David Smith; Sgt. William Bowen; Officers Robert J. Clark; Edwin F. Helak and Howard Offhaus, Defendants-Appellants. ocket 94-2527. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Jane Simkin Smith, Millbrook, NY, for plaintiff-appellee.
John McConnell, Assistant Attorney General, State of New York (G. Oliver Koppell, Attorney General of the State of New York, Peter H. Schiff, Deputy Solicitor General, Nancy A. Spiegel, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for defendants-appellants Sgt. David Smith, Sgt. William Bowen; Officers Robert J. Clark, Edwin F. Helak and Howard Offhaus.
Before: MINER and PARKER, Circuit Judges, and BAER, District Judge. *
This is an appeal from judgment following a jury trial and verdict, entered on February 22, 1993 by the Honorable Alfredo Marquez (U.S.D.C.Ariz.), sitting by designation in the Western District of New York. Donovan Jack Richard Blissett, an inmate at the Attica Correctional Facility, filed a pro se civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1988) against a number of New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) officials and employees, on September 14, 1984. Blissett's Complaint charged a variety of constitutional claims arising from an alleged assault perpetrated upon Blissett by several Attica prison guards, and his subsequent confinement to a Special Housing Unit (SHU) cell. Blissett was assigned an attorney and was represented by counsel throughout the pretrial proceedings and trial. Defendants mounted a unified defense and all of the defendants were represented by counsel from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York.
Blissett's original Complaint was twice amended and his claims winnowed during the subsequent eight years leading up to trial. In June 1992, four months prior to trial, both parties filed pretrial memoranda outlining their positions as to the remaining disputed issues of law and fact to be tried before a jury. These memoranda and the proposed jury instructions submitted by both parties establish that three claims, each arising under the Eighth Amendment, remained for trial against eleven defendants.
Count I alleged that, on June 28, 1983, six defendants--Sergeants David Smith and William Bowen, and Corrections Officers Robert J. Clark, Edwin F. Helak, Ronald G. Squires and Howard Offhaus--used unnecessary force upon Blissett. Count II alleged that nine defendants--the six defendants charged in Count I, as well as Corrections Officer David Bates, Attica's Deputy Superintendent of Security James Cochrane, and Attica's Superintendent Harold Smith--were all liable for subjecting Blissett to unconstitutional conditions of confinement in an SHU cell.
Count III alleged that Dr. Fredrick Downs and Physician's Assistant Robert McGee, medical personnel with Attica's prison infirmary, showed deliberate indifference to Blissett's serious medical needs resulting from the alleged assaults.
The only witness Blissett presented at trial was himself. Blissett's testimony was substantially as follows: On June 28, 1983, Blissett was subjected to a routine random contraband search while proceeding with other inmates to the recreation yard following dinner. During this search, Officer Clark accused Blissett of dropping a steel "shank," a homemade knife, in an effort to avoid its detection. Officer Clark, Officer Squires and Sergeant David Smith then escorted Blissett to a room beyond the view of the other inmates. There, following a strip search, Sergeant Smith struck Blissett and accused him of planning to stab a corrections officer. These guards then handcuffed Blissett's hands behind him, so tightly as to cut off the blood circulation to his hands. Sergeant Smith continued to slap and punch Blissett. Officer Clark used his baton to strike Blissett on the head and spear him in the back. Officer Clark placed the baton through the handcuffs and between Blissett's legs, pressing the baton downwards against the handcuffs and prying upwards against Blissett's groin.
Sergeant Smith, Officer Clark, and an unidentified officer then escorted Blissett to the SHU cell area, striking and kicking him along the way. There, Blissett was turned over to Sergeant Bowen and Officers Offhaus, Helak, and Barry Watson. Blissett was assaulted a second time by these officers as well as Officer Clark and the unidentified officer. During this assault, Blissett fell to the floor, still handcuffed, where several officers kicked him. Sergeant Bowen and Officer Watson lifted Blissett from the floor and pressed his face against a wall, again accusing Blissett of planning to stab a corrections officer.
Blissett was strip searched a second time after which he remained naked and handcuffed. After this search, Sergeant Bowen grasped Blissett's throat, squeezing it while threatening to kill Blissett if he attempted to report the assaults. Blissett testified that he was unable to breathe during these threats and subsequently fell unconscious. After Blissett regained consciousness the assault ceased.
Blissett was escorted handcuffed, naked, and bleeding from the mouth, to an SHU cell designed to house inmates who were considered suicide threats. These "mental observation" cells have no movable furnishings, no interior source of illumination, and thick plexiglass covering the bars, thus limiting air circulation. Blissett testified that, at the time he was placed in this cell, the walls, mattress, sink, and floor were smeared with feces. Later that evening Blissett was issued a shirt, shorts, underwear, and sheets, all of which also smelled of feces. Blissett testified that he remained in this cell for eight days, at which time he was transferred to a conventional SHU disciplinary cell.
According to Blissett's testimony, he was seen by a nurse from the prison infirmary as he was being escorted to the SHU cell. Sergeant Bowen intervened in their conversation and the nurse departed. Blissett repeatedly requested medical attention during the night, but no medical personnel visited him until the following day. Blissett testified that he was visited by Defendants Downs and McGee on several occasions thereafter, but that they were entirely unresponsive to his complaints.
All of the defendants testified in their own defense. They unanimously maintained that they did not witness, nor were they aware of, any of the constitutional violations alleged by Blissett, much less any assault or altercation. Defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law on all counts and for all defendants at the close of both Blissett's case-in-chief and the close of all evidence. The district court granted the motion with respect to Defendants Bates, Cochrane, and Harold Smith on all counts; and to Sergeant Smith, Officer Clark and Officer Squires with regard to the conditions of confinement claim. The court denied the motion as to all other claims and defendants.
Neither party raised any objections to the jury instructions. A verdict form with special interrogatories was submitted to the jury on October 8, 1992 and the jury returned its verdict the same day. With regard to Blissett's unnecessary force claim (Count I), the jury returned a verdict against Sergeants Bowen and Smith and Officer Clark, and in favor of Officers Helak, Squires, and Offhaus. The jury awarded $75,000 in compensatory damages and punitive damages of $5,000 against Sergeant Bowen, and $10,000 each against the other five defendants, including Helak, Squires, and Offhaus against whom the jury had found no underlying liability. The punitive damages against the latter three were subsequently dismissed by stipulation of the parties.
As to Count II, concerning the conditions of confinement in the SHU cell, the jury found against Sergeant Bowen and Officers Helak and Offhaus, the only remaining defendants on Count II. The jury did not award Blissett any compensatory damages; however, it awarded punitive damages of $10,000 against Sergeant Bowen, and $5,000 each against Officers Helak and Offhaus. The jury found for both defendants on Count III, the deliberate indifference to serious medical needs claim.
On March 4, 1993, Bowen, Smith, Offhaus, Helak, and Clark (collectively "Appellants") filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 50; or, in the alternative, for a new trial pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59. In Appellants' motion for judgment as a matter of law, they argued that the jury verdict lacked a legally sufficient basis for awarding either compensatory or punitive damages. Appellants' motion for a new trial argued that the overall verdict was against the weight of the evidence, that the verdict was inconsistent and demonstrated juror confusion, and finally, that the damages award was so excessive as to shock the conscience. These motions were denied on August 16, 1994 and the court stayed execution of the judgment pending appeal.
Appellants raise four issues on appeal. First, they renew their argument that the jury verdict was confused, inconsistent, and against the weight of the evidence. Second, they single out the award of $75,000 in compensatory damages on the unnecessary force claim as excessive in light of the evidence presented regarding Blissett's injuries. Third, Appellants claim that the district court erred in failing to grant Appellants' motion for judgment as a matter of law, made at the close of evidence, concerning the conditions of...
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