Cretacci v. Call

• Citation: 988 F.3d 860
• Decision Date: 17 February 2021
• Docket Number: No. 20-5669,20-5669
• Parties: Blake CRETACCI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joe CALL ; Brian Keith; Jared Nelson; Jesse Harden; Cody Faust; Coffee County, Tennessee, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

988 F.3d 860

Blake CRETACCI, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.Joe CALL ; Brian Keith; Jared Nelson; Jesse Harden; Cody Faust; Coffee County, Tennessee, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 20-5669

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: January 12, 2021

Decided and Filed: February 17, 2021

Rehearing Denied March 17, 2021

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge

Blake Cretacci sued Coffee County and Coffee County Jail Deputies Joe Call, Brian Keith, Jared Nelson, Jesse Harden, and Cody Faust ("Appellees") pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for constitutional violations that occurred while Cretacci was a pretrial detainee at Coffee County Jail. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Appellees, finding that two claims were barred by the statute of limitations and that there were no constitutional violations underlying the remaining two claims.

The untimely claims implicate the issue of whether the prison mailbox rule applies to prisoners who are represented by counsel, an issue of first impression in the Sixth Circuit. A majority of circuits have declined to extend the rule to represented prisoners, finding that the rule established in Houston v. Lack , 487 U.S. 266, 108 S.Ct. 2379, 101 L.Ed.2d 245 (1988), is premised on the relaxed procedural requirements traditionally afforded to pro se prisoners who have no choice but to rely on the prison authorities to file their pleadings. We agree and hold that, in the context of filing civil complaints in federal court, the prison mailbox rule applies only to prisoners who are not represented by counsel.

Finding no error in the district court's judgment, we AFFIRM .

I.

Cretacci's claims arise from three separate incidents occurring on three separate days—September 29, 2015, October 11, 2015, and January 14, 2017—while Cretacci was a pretrial detainee at the Coffee County Jail.

On September 29, 2015, three inmates in the BC pod¹ of the Coffee County Jail—Jeremy Mathis, BJ Murray, and Josh Byford—decided to lead a "peaceful riot" to protest the conditions in the jail. The three ringleaders of the riot told the other inmates that if they refused to participate they would be beaten up. The riot involved inmates refusing to return to their cells for lockdown when instructed. Cretacci, who was housed in the BC pod, did not want to participate in the riot but took the threats of the ring leaders seriously, so he did not return to his cell. When officers entered the pod, they grabbed Cretacci and put him on the floor. While Cretacci was on the ground, he was struck twice with pepperballs. Cretacci also alleges that after the incident the water in the sinks and toilets of the cells were turned off for at least three days, that the inmates were denied toilet paper, and that they were not allowed to shower.

After the September 29 riot, Cretacci wanted to be moved to a different pod, but never submitted a written request. Instead, Cretacci told multiple officers that he "need[ed] to get out of [the] pod," but he does not remember to whom he said it. Cretacci "would just say it out loud," to "[a]ny cop that came in pretty much at certain times." Cretacci does not recall telling any officers that he feared for his safety, because he was not "afraid of these three people," but remembers telling officers that "[the] pod is crazy," and that "[t]hese people are nuts. I need to get out of this pod. You guys need to move me into another pod."

Early in the morning on October 11, 2015, the three ringleaders of the riot were in the dayroom talking loudly. Cretacci walked out of his cell to ask them to be quiet and then returned to his cell. A few minutes later, Mathis came into Cretacci's cell and assaulted him. Cretacci was able to "hit [Mathis] out the door" and back into the dayroom, but Byford and Murray then came to Mathis's assistance, and the three of them attempted to push Cretacci back into his cell. Cretacci forced his way out into the dayroom and "started to have more words with" his assailants. When the four of them got out into the dayroom, officers entered the pod and Cretacci walked back into his cell. The physical fighting had ended before the officers came in. The officers asked Cretacci what happened, and Cretacci replied: "I don't know what the f*** is going on." The officers spoke to Mathis, Murray, and Byford in the dayroom, but Cretacci could not hear what they said. After the officers left the pod, Mathis, Murray, and Byford threatened to kill Cretacci.

Thirty minutes later, breakfast was served. Cretacci grabbed his tray of food and set it down on the table. Cretacci then went into his cell to grab his spoon and Mathis followed him. Mathis hit Cretacci and Cretacci fell to the floor. Mathis punched Cretacci "four or five times" and then left the cell. Cretacci got up and started walking back to the table when Officer Keith came up behind him, grabbed him, and put him up against the wall to keep him from being assaulted. Officers Keith and Call took Cretacci to the medical unit for examination. Cretacci was then permanently transferred to the AD pod.

Officer Call's incident report stated that "a verbal altercation began with Inmates Mathis, Byford, Murray, and Cretacci, regarding a conflict that started this morning around [6:00 a.m.]." Officer Call testified that he learned about the 6:00 a.m. altercation when he spoke to Cretacci after removing him from the pod.

On January 14, 2017, corrections officers overheard an inmate threaten to stab another inmate in the AD pod, where Cretacci was housed. Officer Faust ordered Officer Dubicki to make an announcement over the loudspeaker in the dayroom of the AD pod instructing the inmates to lie on their stomachs. Officer Faust heard Officer Dubicki give this order, but Cretacci did not.² Officer Dubicki observed that the inmates were not complying with his order and alerted Officer Faust. Officer Faust and five other officers then entered the pod, and Officer Faust repeated Officer Dubicki's order to get on the ground. Cretacci was sitting in the dayroom playing chess when he saw the officers enter the pod and heard Officer Faust's order. Cretacci did not comply with the order, so Officer Faust fired pepperballs towards Cretacci. Cretacci alleges he was hit once or twice on the arm. Cretacci then stood up from his chair and began yelling at the officers, so Officer Faust ordered him to lay down. When Cretacci refused, Officer Faust again launched pepperballs towards Cretacci, hitting him once on the back. Cretacci then finally complied and laid back down on the floor.

Cretacci secured an attorney, Andrew Justice, to represent him in a lawsuit against the jail. Justice drafted a complaint and intended to file it electronically, but on the evening of September 28, 2016, the day before the statute of limitations expired on Cretacci's claims stemming from the September 29, 2015 incident, Justice realized he was not admitted to practice law in the district that encompassed Coffee County Jail, the Eastern District of Tennessee. Justice was only admitted in the Middle District of Tennessee, where he mistakenly believed Coffee County Jail was located. The next day, Justice looked into being admitted into the Eastern District pro hac vice so that he could electronically file the complaint, but did not think he could complete the requirements in time. Accordingly, Justice drove to the Winchester courthouse in the Eastern District to attempt to file the complaint in person. However, the Winchester courthouse does not have a staffed clerk's office and documents cannot be filed in-person there. Justice determined he would not be able to drive to the Chattanooga courthouse before it closed, so instead he took the complaint to Cretacci at the Coffee County Jail for Cretacci to file. Justice gave Cretacci an envelope stamped and addressed to the Chattanooga courthouse and told him to deliver it to the correctional officers immediately, explaining that because he was an inmate, he could take advantage of the prison mailbox rule, which allows inmate filings to be assessed for timeliness on the day they are handed over to the jail authorities rather than on the day the district court receives them. Cretacci did so on the night of September 29, and the district court received the complaint on October 3. Justice monitored the case on PACER, and on November 22, 2016, Justice was admitted pro hac vice into the Eastern District. He entered his appearance in the case that same day.

Plaintiff's complaint alleged three counts under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 : a deliberate indifference claim against Officers Call, Keith, Nelson, Harden and Coffee County³ for the assaults that occurred on October 11, 2015; an excessive force claim against Coffee County arising from the September 29, 2015 riot; and a claim against Coffee County for failure to "distribute essential supplies to the inmates" after the September 29, 2015 riot. After the January 14, 2017 incident, Cretacci amended his complaint to include Count IV, alleging excessive force against Officer Faust and Coffee County.⁴

Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that Counts II and III were barred by the statute of limitations because Cretacci was represented by counsel when he filed his complaint and therefore could not benefit from the prison mailbox rule, and that there were no constitutional violations underlying Counts I and IV. The district court agreed and granted summary judgment in full in favor of Defendants. Cretacci now appeals.

II.

In Houston v. Lack , the Supreme Court held that notices of appeal from pro se prisoners are considered filed when the prisoner delivers the notice to prison authorities for mailing. 487 U.S. 266, 270, 108 S.Ct. 2379, 101 L.Ed.2d 245 (1988). This is now known as the prison mailbox rule.⁵ In adopting the rule, the Court emphasized the unique challenges faced by pro se prisoners seeking to appeal: they cannot travel to the courthouse to file the notice, they cannot place the filing "directly...