Burton v. Jones

• Decision Date: 28 February 2003
• Docket Number: No. 01-1078.,01-1078.
• Citation: 321 F.3d 569
• Parties: Ronnie BURTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Wendee JONES, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

321 F.3d 569

Ronnie BURTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Wendee JONES, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-1078.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Submitted: September 20, 2002.

Decided and Filed: February 28, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Ronnie Burton (briefed), Detroit, MI, pro se.

Christine M. Campbell, Shannon N. Wood (briefed), Office of the Attorney General, Corrections Division, Lansing, MI, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before: KENNEDY and MOORE, Circuit Judges; DOWD, Senior District Judge.^*

OPINION

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant Ronnie Burton, a prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals the district court's dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights lawsuit for failure to exhaust available administrative remedies as required by 42 U.S.C. § 1997e. Burton argues that the district court erred when it concluded that his entire lawsuit, which alleges two causes of action, had to be dismissed without prejudice because Burton failed to exhaust the available administrative remedies with respect to one of his claims. He contends that he has exhausted his claims. For the reasons set forth below, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Ronnie Burton is a prisoner at the Ionia Maximum Correctional Facility, in Ionia, Michigan, who suffers from ulcerative colitis. In a complaint filed December 31, 1998, Burton alleged two causes of action against two prison nurses, Wendee Jones and Kathy Sickler, and the Health Unit Manager, Michael Lyons. To his complaint, Burton attached copies of five grievances regarding his allegations, which he contends exhausted both Eighth Amendment and First Amendment claims against the defendants.

On May 11, 1999, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment of Burton's claims. In its March 8, 2000 opinion, the district court found that the facts set forth in Burton's complaint presented two Eighth Amendment claims (one arising from deliberate medical indifference to his ulcerative colitis and the other arising from deliberate medical indifference to his chronic dry skin condition), a Fourteenth Amendment due process claim (arising from an unwarranted medical co-payment charge) and a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) claim (arising from the denial of a records request). The court also considered whether Burton's complaint presented additional claims against the defendants based on Burton's allegations that his hospital records were improperly confiscated and that the defendants interfered with the processing of his grievances.

The district court denied defendants' summary judgment motion in part and granted it in part. The district court denied the motion as to Burton's Eighth Amendment claim arising from defendants' alleged deliberate indifference to his ulcerative colitis. The court granted the motion as to Burton's Eighth Amendment claim arising from defendants' alleged deliberate indifference to his chronic dry skin condition because his complaint stated a claim against non-defendants; his Fourteenth Amendment due process claim arising from the unwarranted co-payment charge because his complaint failed to state a claim; and, his FOIA claim arising from the denied records request because his complaint stated a claim against non-defendants. The court also granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the hospital records claim because the records were not confiscated by the defendants and the grievance interference claim because Burton had failed to provide factual support for that allegation. Last, the court noted that it had not addressed Burton's retaliation claim because it was not included in defendants' summary judgment motion.

Defendants subsequently filed a motion to dismiss Burton's retaliation claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 42 U.S.C. § 1997e. Section 1997e, as amended by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA), requires a prisoner to exhaust available administrative remedies as a prerequisite to bringing suit under § 1983 or any other federal law. Amended § 1997e provides in pertinent part:

(a) Applicability of administrative remedies.

No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.

. . . .

(c) Dismissal.

(1) The court shall on its own motion or on the motion of a party dismiss any action brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility if the court is satisfied that the action is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.

42 U.S.C.A. § 1997e (2002 Supp.).

On September 26, 2000, the district court granted defendants' motion because Burton had failed to exhaust the available administrative remedies with respect to his retaliation claim as required by § 1997e(a) when he failed to file a grievance regarding defendants' alleged retaliatory conduct. The court observed that while the grievance identified as ICF 98-07-02104-28 made a vague reference to Burton's previous lawsuit against the defendants, the grievance did not set forth the factual basis for the claim that the defendants' actions were in retaliation for the lawsuit Burton had filed against them.¹ Rather, the court found that the grievance set forth the factual basis for Burton's claim that he had been improperly charged a medical co-payment in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. Consequently, the court concluded that Burton's lawsuit, including his exhausted Eighth Amendment medical indifference claim, had to be dismissed without prejudice. On January 8, 2001, Burton filed a timely notice of appeal.

II.

A.

We review de novo a district court's dismissal for failure to exhaust administrative remedies under § 1997e. Curry v. Scott, 249 F.3d 493, 503 (6th Cir.2001). Before we can consider whether Burton administratively exhausted his claims, we must first determine what claims are advanced in Burton's complaint. A handwritten pro se complaint should be liberally construed. ("All pleadings shall be so construed as to do substantial justice."); Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976); see also F.R.Civ.P. 8(f) Huey v. Stine, 230 F.3d 226, 229 (6th Cir.2000) (examining "thrust," not just text, of pro se litigant's arguments).

Burton's first cause of action alleges "deliberate[] indifference . . . to plaintiff['s] serious medical needs . . . in violation of the 8th Amendment." His second cause of action alleges that the defendants "den[ied] plaintiff medical treatment . . . to force plaintiff to drop civil action on them. . . in violation [of the] 8th Amendment. . . substantial [sic] due process clause, prisoner equal-protection, and retaliation," Burton's complaint is properly construed as stating an Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference claim as the first cause of action and a First Amendment retaliation claim as the second cause of action. So construing the second cause of action is substantially just because the complaint clearly indicates Burton's intent to proceed on a theory of unconstitutional retaliation, which is actionable under the First Amendment, and because neither the Eighth Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses provide a legal theory on which Burton can proceed.

Next, we consider whether Burton's grievances administratively exhausted his claims against the defendants as required by § 1997e. Our exhaustion analysis is informed by the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) grievance policies and procedures, as well as circuit caselaw interpreting the requirements of § 1997e. First, the Michigan Department of Corrections requires a prisoner to define the grievable issue at Step I of the grievance process. Policy Directive 03.02.130 ¶ U (Oct. 11, 1999); Prisoner/Parolee Grievance Form (4835-4247 10/94). Steps II and III of the grievance process provide a prisoner the opportunity to express dissatisfaction with the response received at the previous step. Policy Directive 03.02.130 ¶¶, DD, GG, (Oct. 11, 1999); Prisoner/Parolee Grievance Form (4835-4248 10/94). We understand these policies to require that a prisoner seeking to administratively exhaust a claim against a prison official describe the alleged mistreatment or misconduct at Step I of the grievance process. By negative implication, we understand these policies to preclude administrative exhaustion of a claim against a prison official if the first allegation of mistreatment or misconduct on the part of that official is made at Step II or Step III of the grievance process. See Policy Directive 03.02.130 ¶ E (Oct. 11, 1999) (an alleged violation of this policy directive is a grievable issue that should be raised at Step I, not a reason for appeal at Step II or III). We do not, however, understand these policies to preclude a prisoner from presenting additional factual detail at Step II and Step III that clarifies an allegation made at Step I as a means of justifying an appeal.

Second, a prisoner must administratively exhaust his or her claim as to each defendant associated with the claim, Hartsfield v. Vidor, 199 F.3d 305, 309 (6th Cir.1999),² and a district court should enforce the exhaustion requirement sua sponte, if not raised by the defendants, Brown v. Toombs, 139 F.3d 1102, 1104 (6th Cir.1998). Thus, for a court to find that a prisoner has administratively exhausted a claim against a particular defendant, a prisoner must have alleged mistreatment or misconduct on the part of the defendant at Step I of the grievance process. In describing the alleged mistreatment or...