Pressly v. Hutto

• Decision Date: 28 April 1987
• Docket Number: No. 82-6181,82-6181
• Parties: Francis Hunter PRESSLY, Appellant, v. Terrell Don HUTTO, Director; Thomas J. Towberman, Regional Administrator; N.D. Hall, Regional Ombudsman; W.J. Townley, Superintendent, Unit # 23; Ms. Tucker, Nurse, Unit # 23; Sgt. Smoot, Officer in Charge, Unit # 23; Sgt. Ford, Officer in Charge, Unit # 23; Sgt. R.R. Overby, Officer in Charge, Unit ## 23; Officer Griffith; Officer Poole; Officer Nichols; Officer Cole, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 977

816 F.2d 977

Francis Hunter PRESSLY, Appellant, v. Terrell Don HUTTO, Director; Thomas J. Towberman, Regional

Administrator; N.D. Hall, Regional Ombudsman; W.J.

Townley, Superintendent, Unit # 23; Ms. Tucker, Nurse, Unit

# 23; Sgt. Smoot, Officer in Charge, Unit # 23; Sgt. Ford,

Officer in Charge, Unit # 23; Sgt. R.R. Overby, Officer in

Charge, Unit ## 23; Officer Griffith; Officer Poole;

Officer Nichols; Officer Cole, Appellees.

No. 82-6181.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued Feb. 3, 1987.

Decided April 28, 1987.

George Rutherglen, Supervising Atty., University of Virginia School of Law; Elizabeth Finn Johnson, Third-Year Student, University of Virginia School of Law, for appellant.

Nelson H.C. Fisher, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Mary Sue Terry, Atty. Gen., of Va.; Mark R. Davis, Asst. Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellees.

Before WINTER, Chief Judge, PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.

JAMES DICKSON PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge:

Francis Pressly, a convicted Virginia inmate at the time this action was filed, appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendants in his 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 action against employees of the Department of Corrections. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.

Although Pressly raised several claims, all of which were denied, he appeals only the denial of his claim against Sergeant R.R. Overby. The relevant forecast of evidence, as developed on the summary judgment record, was as follows.

At approximately 7:30 p.m. on June 22, 1981, a disturbance erupted in the Southside Dormitory of Halifax County Correctional Unit # 23 involving Pressly and three other inmates, Russell, Powell, and Tobias. Sergeant R.R. Overby, the officer in charge that evening, went to the dormitory and found Pressly and Powell engaged in an argument. Because Pressly had sustained an injury to his eye, he was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital where he was treated and released. Sgt. Overby testified that after Pressly returned from the hospital he questioned all four inmates about the incident and received four different accounts. Pressly maintained that Powell, Tobias, and Russell had assaulted him because Powell thought Pressly had made a disparaging remark about Powell. Russell claimed to know nothing about the incident. Powell stated that Pressly had swung at him and missed. According to Powell, when Powell then grabbed Pressly's head, the two fell to a bed causing Pressly to hurt his eye. Tobias stated that Pressly and Powell were fighting but that Powell made no effort to defend himself. No corrections officers observed the incident.

Sgt. Overby asserted that he then asked each inmate whether he felt safe returning to the dormitory and that each indicated that he felt safe and did not want to be moved or placed in segregation. Pressly claimed to the contrary that he asked to be separated from Powell, Tobias, and Russell. In any event, all four were returned to the same dormitory.

At about 11:00 p.m. that same night, Sgt. Overby was told that an inmate had reported that there was going to be trouble in the southside dormitory. After making a personal check of the dormitory and finding everything quiet, Overby sent an extra officer to the dormitory in case trouble developed. This officer was removed at about 11:30 p.m.

Almost four hours later, at about 3:15 a.m., inmate Tobias assaulted Pressly while Pressly was asleep, striking him about the head with a large, metal padlock. Sgt. Overby was summoned to the dormitory. He confiscated the padlock from Tobias and obtained an admission from Tobias that he had struck Pressly with the lock. Pressly was again taken to the emergency room where he received sutures and treatment for a concussion.

After returning from the hospital, Pressly signed a statement that he would feel safe returning to the dormitory if "the perpetrators of the incident [were] moved to another dormitory." Tobias was placed in pre-hearing detention and Pressly was returned to the dormitory. Pressly asserted that since the assault he has suffered headaches and a loss of hearing in his left ear.

The district court granted summary judgment as to this claim on two grounds. First, it erroneously believed that Pressly had signed a statement refusing segregation after...