Curry, et al v. Scott, et al

• Decision Date: 06 March 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-3474,99-3474
• Citation: 249 F.3d 493
• Parties: (6th Cir. 2001) Greg Curry, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. David Scott, et al., Defendants-Appellees. Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 493

249 F.3d 493 (6th Cir. 2001)

Greg Curry, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. David Scott, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 99-3474.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Argued: March 6, 2000

Decided and Filed: April 30, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Cincinnati. Nos. 96-00817, 96-01121, Sandra S. Beckwith, District Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Robert B. Newman, Cincinnati, OH, Lisa T. Meeks, NEWMAN & MEEKS, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellants.

Brian M. Zets, Todd R. Marti, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, CORRECTIONS LITIGATION SECTION, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees.

Before: SILER and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; O'MALLEY, District Judge^*.

OPINION

KATHLEEN McDONALD O'MALLEY, District Judge.

Plaintiffs-appellants, Greg Curry, Leonard Allen, Keith Brooks, Derek Cannon, James Chisolm, Kevin King, Jeffrey Shorter, Orson Wells, and Andre Williams, are African- American men who are inmates at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility ("SOCF") in Lucasville, Ohio. Defendants-appellees, David Scott, Terry Collins, James Hieneman, Dianne Walker, Major James Adkins, Captain John Newsome, Captain Donald Redwood, and Darren Howard, are employed at SOCF. At the time of the events leading to this cause of action, Scott and Howard were corrections officers, Collins was the warden, Hieneman and Walker were deputy wardens, and Adkins, Newsome and Redwood were Scott's supervisors.

Plaintiffs brought suit under 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging the defendants violated their Eighth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. Defendants filed both a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment. The district court granted both motions in part, and then certified the matters decided for immediate appeal. We now affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Specifically, we: (1) AFFIRM the district court's denial of the defendants' motion to dismiss the claims of Curry, Allen, Brooks, Cannon, Wells, and Williams on exhaustion grounds; (2) AFFIRM the district court's dismissal of all claims asserted by Chisolm, King, and Shorter, without prejudice, for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, and also AFFIRM the district court's denial of the Rule 60(b) motion asking for reconsideration of that dismissal; (3) AFFIRM the district court's dismissal of all claims by all plaintiffs against defendant Howard; (4) REVERSE the district court's grant of summary judgment to Collins, Hieneman, Walker, Adkins, Newsome, and Redwood; and (5) REMAND this case for trial.

I. Background

This appeal arises out of the consolidation of two actions. Scott is the primary defendant in both actions. The first lawsuit was brought by plaintiff Greg Curry. Curry alleges that Scott assaulted him in retaliation for an incident that occurred on Easter Sunday, 1996, when Scott refused to serve Curry breakfast because of Curry's alleged participation in a riot that occurred three years before. Other inmates overheard Scott and threw food at him. Scott promised Curry retaliation at a later time. On April 11, 1996, a few days later, Curry alleges that Scott, without provocation, punched Curry in the face, threw him to the ground, and banged his head against the floor while Curry's hands were cuffed behind his back and his legs were shackled together. Curry immediately filed an administrative grievance complaining of Scott's conduct and, on August 22, 1996, instituted this action.

The second lawsuit involved the rest of the plaintiffs: Allen, Brooks, Cannon, Chisolm, King, Shorter, Wells, and Williams. These plaintiffs allege that, on April 26, 1996, Scott assaulted each of them while they were connected to each other by a "rec-chain," a long length of chain used to transport prisoners. These plaintiffs were also handcuffed behind their back and were wearing leg shackles. After a brief verbal exchange with these inmates, plaintiffs allege that Scott became enraged. These plaintiffs allege that Scott worked his way down the chain assaulting each of them in turn. Scott punched Shorter in the face and threw him to the ground. Scott hit Chisolm and King in the face and struck Wells in the face and head. Scott pushed Cannon against a wall and punched him in the back of his head and under his right eye. Scott also bit Cannon on the upper back. Scott punched Williams in the face, hit Brooks in the head and face, and struck Allen in the face, dislocating Allen's jaw. All of the plaintiffs are African-American. The only inmate in the rec-chain whom Scott did not attack was Caucasian. These plaintiffs further allege that, though another guard attempted to restrain Scott, defendant Howard stood by and did nothing while Scott committed these assaults. The rec-chain plaintiffs filed their initial complaint on December 2, 1996.

All plaintiffs brought claims under §1983 against Scott, alleging that he used excessive force against them. The plaintiffs involved in the rec-chain incident also brought a claim against Howard, alleging he failed to protect them from Scott's use of excessive force, despite the opportunity and obligation to do so.

All plaintiffs also alleged that the prison warden, deputy wardens and various supervisors knew of Scott's propensity to be abusive and racially hostile toward African-American prisoners, but did nothing to stop Scott, or protect prisoners from Scott's potential abuse. Thus, plaintiffs claim that these supervisors violated their Eighth Amendment rights through deliberate indifference to the harm Scott posed to their well-being.

Scott began work as a corrections officer at SOCF on December 6, 1993¹. As of 1996, numerous complaints had been filed against Scott for racist remarks and behavior targeted at both African-American inmates and African-American corrections officers. The district court listed the complaints as follows:

1.Four complaints of verbal abuse from inmates.

2.One complaint from fellow corrections officers of use of racial slurs towards inmates.

3.Two complaints of shaking down inmates harshly, or only shaking down African -American inmates.

4. One complaint from an inmate that Scott falsely accused him of a rules infraction.

5. One complaint from an African-American corrections officer that Scott falsely accused him of misconduct.

6. Three incident reports filed by Scott where African-American inmates suffered unexplained injuries in his custody. (None of these inmates ever filed complaints.)

7. Two Use of Force Committee reports finding that Scott used force on African-American inmates justifiably and appropriately.

8. Two incident reports filed by Scott regarding his use of force but with no finding by the Use of Force Committee.

There were also nineteen inmate complaints regarding Scott's use of racial slurs and harassment, though there seems to be some overlap between these complaints and the ones listed above. In addition, the plaintiffs in this case, nine all together, each filed a complaint stating that Scott used excessive force against them regarding the incidents alleged in their two lawsuits. Scott was never formally disciplined for any of these incidents. He was, however, ordered to undergo re-training and corrective counseling on several occasions. There was also a memorandum in Scott's disciplinary file from an institutional inspector to warden Collins expressing his belief that, if Scott were not disciplined, someone would likely be hurt as a result of his conduct.

After the April 11, 1996 incident involving Curry, Scott was again ordered to attend corrective counseling. A Use of Force Committee subsequently found that Scott had not used inappropriate force in the incident. Scott was not removed from his duties as a corrections officer during the pendency of the investigation.

After the April 26, 1996 incident involving the rec-chain plaintiffs, another Use of Force investigation was ordered. Scott, again, was not disciplined or suspended while the investigation was being conducted. The Use of Force Committee subsequently determined that Scott's use of force in this incident was unnecessary.

On May 16, 1996, Scott told a racist joke over a prison intercom system. Because of this infraction, Scott was placed on administrative leave without pay. He was terminated, June26, 1996, for telling the racist joke.

II. Procedural History

This case comes to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals after the district court judge ruled on defendants' motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment, and then certified the issues decided in those rulings for appeal, pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and 28 U.S.C. §1292(b).

The defendants' motion to dismiss asserted that all the plaintiffs had failed to exhaust their administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act ["PLRA"], 42 U.S.C. §1997e(a), before filing suit. The district court analyzed each plaintiff's record of administrative grievances. The district court found that Curry had successfully exhausted his claims against Scott and the supervisory defendants, because he had exhausted his administrative remedies by appealing his grievance to the chief inspector before filing his amended complaint.

The district court next found that, of the rec-chain plaintiffs, Allen, Brooks, Cannon, Wells, and Williams had exhausted their claims against Curry and the supervisory defendants, because they too had successfully appealed their grievances to the chief inspector before filing their amended complaint. The district court found that Chisolm, King and Shorter, however, had not exhausted their administrative remedies as of the date of the court's order ruling on the motion to dismiss. The district court therefore dismissed Chisolm, King, and Shorter from the action.

The district court concluded, however, that the rec-chain plaintiffs did not...