LaFaut v. Smith

• Decision Date: 02 December 1987
• Docket Number: 87-7004 and 87-7005,Nos. 86-7162,s. 86-7162
• Citation: 834 F.2d 389
• Parties: Randy Dean LaFAUT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William French SMITH; Margaret Hambrick; Bob Keiser, Defendants-Appellees. (Two Cases) Randy Dean LaFAUT, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William French SMITH; Margaret Hambrick; Bob Keiser, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 389

834 F.2d 389

Randy Dean LaFAUT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William French SMITH; Margaret Hambrick; Bob Keiser,

Defendants-Appellees. (Two Cases)

Randy Dean LaFAUT, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William French SMITH; Margaret Hambrick; Bob Keiser,

Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 86-7162, 87-7004 and 87-7005.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued Oct. 8, 1987.

Decided Dec. 2, 1987.

Frank Caldwell Laney, Pembroke, N.C., for appellant.

Rudolf A. Renfer, Jr., Asst. U.S. Atty. (Samuel T. Currin, U.S. Atty., Raleigh, N.C., on brief), for appellee.

Before POWELL, Associate Justice (Retired), United States Supreme Court, sitting by designation; ERVIN, Circuit Judge, and HAYNSWORTH, Senior Circuit Judge.

POWELL, Associate Justice:

The primary question presented in this case is whether appellant, Randy Dean LaFaut, established that the treatment he received while incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Butner, North Carolina ("Butner") was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. We must also consider the questions whether the district court lacked jurisdiction to order a declaratory judgment in favor of appellant for a violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C Sec. 791 et seq., and the propriety of its award of attorney's fees to appellant's counsel. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

On July 6, 1983 appellant, a paraplegic who has been confined to a wheelchair since 1970, commenced this lawsuit against three named defendants: William French Smith, who was then the Attorney General of the United States; Margaret Hambrick, the warden at Butner during appellant's incarceration there; and Bob Keiser, who was the acting hospital administrator at Butner when the complaint was filed. Appellant filed supplements to this complaint on December 14, 1983 and April 12, 1984. He sought declaratory and injunctive relief based on alleged violations of his rights "under the United States Constitution" resulting from his being denied adequate toilet facilities and necessary physical therapy. He also sought compensatory and punitive damages arising from this treatment, alleging that he had been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.

The case was initially referred to a magistrate who conducted an evidentiary hearing on August 5, 1985. In his Memorandum and Recommendation dated August 16, 1985 the magistrate construed appellant's complaint as alleging (i) handicap discrimination in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; ¹ (ii) a claim under the Constitution for violation of the Rehabilitation Act; and (iii) a Bivens action against the named defendants in their individual capacities for violations of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment. The magistrate found that there was a violation of the Rehabilitation Act and that Warden Hambrick had violated appellant's Eighth Amendment rights. He recommended, however, that appellant only be awarded compensatory damages of $1000 for the Eighth Amendment violation. The parties filed objections.

In a de novo review of the magistrate's Memorandum and Recommendation the district court adopted the magistrate's construction of the appellant's complaint as containing a request for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Director of the Bureau of Prisons under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The court agreed with the magistrate that there had been a violation of that Act and granted appellant's request for a declaratory judgment. The court declined, however, to award appellant injunctive relief since he had been released from federal prison prior to its decision.

The district court also agreed with the magistrate that appellant had failed to state a claim under the Constitution for violation of the Rehabilitation Act, and it agreed that appellant's Eighth Amendment claim against defendant's Keiser and Smith should be dismissed on the grounds that there was no evidence of their personal involvement in the alleged conduct. In contrast to the magistrate's recommendation, and despite agreeing that LaFaut had established that he had been housed at Butner for months without proper handicap facilities, the court found that LaFaut had failed to carry his burden of establishing that his treatment was due to Warden Hambrick's deliberate indifference. The court therefore dismissed appellant's Eighth Amendment claim against Hambrick.

Appellant appealed the district court's order and also moved for an award of attorney's fees pursuant to 29 U.S.C. Sec. 794a(b) and 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2412. In an order dated October 25, 1986 the district court awarded appellant's counsel $930 based on the fact that appellant had prevailed on his Rehabilitation Act claim. Appellant's counsel filed an appeal and the United States cross appealed from this order. ²

Appellant contends that the district court erred in holding that he failed to establish that, in violation of the Eighth Amendment, Hambrick was deliberately indifferent to his basic needs. ³ In addition, LaFaut's counsel contends that the $930 in attorney's fees awarded to him by the district court was inadequate compensation for prevailing to the extent of a declaratory judgment on the Rehabilitation Act claim.

On its cross appeal from the court's award of attorney's fees, the United States contends that any award of attorney's fees was unwarranted. The United States also argues separately that the district court erred in entering judgment on the Rehabilitation Act claim because it was moot at the time of the court's decision.

We first address the district court's dismissal of appellant's Eighth Amendment claim against Warden Hambrick.

II.

The Eighth Amendment prohibits punishments that, although not physically barbarous, involve the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain. Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 346, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 2399, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981). Among the inflictions of pain that are considered "unnecessary and wanton" are those that are "totally without penological justification." Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 183, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2929, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976). In evaluating an Eighth Amendment claim, "[n]o static 'test' can exist by which courts determine whether conditions of confinement are cruel and unusual, for the Eighth Amendment 'must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.' " Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. at 346, 101 S.Ct. at 2399 (quoting Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101, 78 S.Ct. 590, 598, 2 L.Ed.2d 630 (1958) (plurality opinion)). Ultimately it is the court's judgment that will be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of a given "punishment." Id. In considering an Eighth Amendment claim the court must be mindful that it embodies " 'broad and idealistic concepts of dignity, civilized standards, humanity, and decency....' " Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 102, 97 S.Ct. 285, 290, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976) (quoting Jackson v. Bishop, 404 F.2d 571, 579 (8th Cir.1968)).

To rise to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation, however, conduct that does not purport to be punishment "must involve more than ordinary lack of due care for the prisoner's interests or safety.... It is obduracy and wantonness, not inadvertence or error in good faith, that characterize the conduct prohibited by the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause...." Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 319, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 1084, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986). This standard applies "whether that conduct occurs in connection with establishing conditions of confinement, supplying medical needs, or restoring official control over a tumultuous cellblock." Id.

A similar view of the Eighth Amendment led the Supreme Court in Estelle v. Gamble to require a plaintiff to establish that the defendant's conduct was motivated by "deliberate indifference." Id. Although in Whitley v. Albers the Court held that the "deliberate indifference" standard does not adequately capture the importance of the competing obligations that exist in making and carrying out decisions involving the use of force to restore order in the face of a prison disturbance, id. 106 S.Ct. at 1085, the instant case does not involve such concerns. Whether one characterizes the treatment received by LaFaut as inhumane conditions of confinement, failure to attend to his medical needs, or a combination of both, it is appropriate to apply the "deliberate indifference" standard articulated in Estelle to this case. In the context of this case there is no clash between LaFaut's treatment and "equally important governmental responsibilities." Cf. Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. at 320, 106 S.Ct. at 1084. ⁴

III.

The facts in this case are critical to our decision. Although the district court reviewed the case de novo, its findings of fact were not substantially different from those found by the magistrate. The more important facts set forth below were found by the district court, and, except in relatively minor respects, the additional facts in the record are not in dispute. We consider first the conditions of confinement.

A.

Soon after his arrival at Butner, on May 23, 1983, appellant was placed in a private "wet room" that had no handicap facilities. In particular: (i) The toilet in his room was surrounded on three sides by walls; (ii) the commode had no moveable toilet seat, but rather had a flange mounted on the top of the bowl that created an opening larger than that of a standard toilet seat; and (iii) there was no handicap railing. Several unfortunate consequences resulted from these conditions. The area around the toilet was too small to allow appellant to transfer to the toilet from his wheelchair. Therefore, in order to use the toilet, he had to lie on the floor, drag his body across it, and then pull...