Sprouse v. Babcock, 88-1645

• Decision Date: 20 March 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-1645,88-1645
• Citation: 870 F.2d 450
• Parties: Robert D. SPROUSE, Appellant, v. David BABCOCK, Charles Harper and Ronald G. Welder, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 450

870 F.2d 450

Robert D. SPROUSE, Appellant, v. David BABCOCK, Charles Harper and Ronald G. Welder, Appellees.

No. 88-1645.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Jan. 11, 1989.

Decided March 20, 1989.

James L. Spellman, Des Moines, Iowa, for appellant.

Kristin W. Ensign, Des Moines, Iowa, for appellees.

Before BOWMAN and BEAM, Circuit Judges, and HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

Robert Daniel Sprouse, an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary, appeals pro se from the District Court's order granting appellees' motion for summary judgment in Sprouse's 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982) action. We reverse and remand for further proceedings with respect to Sprouse's retaliation claim. We affirm the judgment of the District Court in all other respects.

On August 18, 1986, Sprouse, then a Missouri prisoner incarcerated at the Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP) pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact, filed an inmate grievance against his counselor, David Babcock, for responding late to two previous inmate requests. Two days later, Babcock wrote a disciplinary notice against Sprouse for making false statements in the inmate grievance. After a hearing, the disciplinary committee found Sprouse guilty of making false statements and imposed ten days of disciplinary detention, loss of sixteen days good time, the imposition of any suspended disposition and ninety days administrative segregation. The decision was upheld on appeal to the Warden by Ron Welder, Executive Assistant to the Warden.

On appeal to the central office of the Iowa Department of Corrections, the disciplinary decision was reversed because of a "technical violation of department policy concerning the grievance procedure," which prohibits a prison employee involved in an inmate grievance from participating in a disciplinary action pertaining to the grievance. ¹ Sprouse was released from disciplinary detention after having spent seventeen days there. ²

Sprouse brought this section 1983 action against Babcock, Welder and Charles Harper, a member of ISP's disciplinary committee, claiming that his constitutional rights were violated by Babcock's deliberately filing false disciplinary charges against him and by all appellees' disregarding the ISP grievance program policy. Sprouse also claimed that the disciplinary committee wrongly found him guilty. Sprouse alleged he had two pending lawsuits against ISP at the time the disciplinary charges were filed. He sought damages for the seventeen days he spent in disciplinary confinement, and punitive damages. ³

The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of appellees on the ground that Sprouse alleged retaliation for the exercise of a right that was not constitutionally guaranteed, citing Spencer v. Moore, 638 F.Supp. 315, 316 (E.D.Mo.1986) (violation of grievance program does not deprive a prisoner of a federal constitutional right because procedure not constitutionally required), and because neither the alleged falsity of the disciplinary report nor the fact that the filing of it by Babcock violated the grievance program policy established a violation of a constitutional right. On appeal Sprouse challenges these rulings.

Sprouse's claims based on the falsity of the charges and the impropriety of Babcock's involvement in the grievance procedure, standing alone, do not state constitutional claims. See Freeman v. Rideout, 808 F.2d 949, 951-52 (2d Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 1273, 99 L.Ed.2d 484 (1988) (allegation that false evidence was planted by a prison guard does not state a constitutional claim where procedural due process protections are provided). Here, however, these claims were linked to a retaliation claim.

We believe the District Court erred in granting summary judgment with respect to Sprouse's retaliation claim. In Franco v. Kelly, 854 F.2d 584 (2d Cir.1988), a prisoner brought a section 1983 action alleging that state prison officials filed false disciplinary charges against him in retaliation for his cooperation with an investigation into inmate abuse. The Second Circuit held that the holding in Freeman did not preclude a section 1983 action based on these allegations because "intentional obstruction of a prisoner's right to seek redress of grievances" is the type of conduct section 1983 is intended to remedy. Id. at 589. The court went on to hold that a prisoner "should not be any less entitled to relief under section 1983 because he was addressing his complaints to a state administrative agency rather than to a court of law." Id. at 589-90; see also Wright v. Newsome, 795 F.2d 964, 968 (11th Cir.1986) (per curiam) (actions taken in retaliation for filing lawsuits and administrative grievances violate an inmate's right of access to courts and first amendment rights); Wolfel v. Bates, 707 F.2d 932 (6th Cir.1983) (per curiam) (prisoner's right...