Dawkins v. Gonyea

• Decision Date: 18 August 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08 Civ. 2194 (VM).,08 Civ. 2194 (VM).
• Citation: 646 F.Supp.2d 594
• Parties: Lawrence DAWKINS, Plaintiff, v. Paul GONYEA et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

646 F.Supp.2d 594

Lawrence DAWKINS, Plaintiff, v. Paul GONYEA et al., Defendants.

No. 08 Civ. 2194 (VM).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

August 18, 2009.

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Lawrence Dawkins, Sonyea, NY, pro se.

DECISION AND ORDER

VICTOR MARRERO, District Judge.

Pro se plaintiff Lawrence Dawkins ("Dawkins") brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C § 1983 ("§ 1983") against defendants Deputy Superintendent of Security Paul Gonyea ("Gonyea"), Lieutenant Steven Katz ("Katz"), and Superintendent Raymond Cunningham ("Cunningham") (collectively, "Defendants"),¹ all of whom at the relevant times in this action were officials of the New York State Woodbourne Correctional Facility ("Woodbourne"). Dawkins alleges violations of his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Dawkins seeks compensatory relief and an order of declaration for these alleged violations.² Defendants now move to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). For the reasons discussed below, Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED, and Dawkins is granted leave to replead.

I. BACKGROUND³

On December 7, 2006, Katz issued the Report, a misbehavior report identifying Dawkins, a prisoner at Woodbourne,⁴ as "one of two" inmates responsible for "distributing a large amount of heroin throughout the facility." (Report.) The Report indicated that information had been obtained from a confidential informant who identified Dawkins by name and from an array of photos. As a result of the Report, Dawkins was placed in the Special Housing Unit ("SHU") the very day the Report was issued. Dawkins received the Report on the following day, December 8, 2006.

Based on the Report, a disciplinary hearing was held on December 13 and 14, 2006, presided over by Gonyea. During the hearing, Dawkins requested, from both Katz and Gonyea, the identity of the second person listed in the Report as also being responsible for the heroin distribution. Dawkins's requests were denied.

On December 10, 2006, Dawkins received a letter from another inmate, Alonzo Cheeks ("Cheeks"), which stated that Cheeks believed Dawkins to be innocent of the alleged violations and that Dawkins was being charged with these violations based only on his association with Cheeks. In his letter, Cheeks stated that he wished to come forward to testify on Dawkins's behalf, writing to Dawkins: "I'm willing to be a witness and testify in [sic] your behalf . . . ." Cheeks wrote, "whoever it was that implicated you did so under the pretense that because we are cool the way we are that you knew what was going on when you didn't." (Reply, Ex. B (Letter from Cheeks to Dawkins, dated Dec. 10, 2006)). Gonyea read Cheeks's letter into the record on December 13, 2006. However, it was not until the second day of the hearing that Cheeks was identified as the other inmate listed with Dawkins in the Report. That same day, Dawkins was informed that Cheeks had refused to testify.

At the hearing, a confidential witness testified outside of Dawkins's presence. Gonyea reviewed a confidential tape and confidential testimony from Katz outside of Dawkins's presence as well. Katz and an inmate at Woodbourne, named "Ayala," did testify in Dawkins's presence during the hearing.

At the close of the hearing, Gonyea found Dawkins guilty, stating that the evidence relied upon was the "written report and verbal testimony of Lt. Katz that he received confidential information from [a] reliable source" and "confidential testimony of a source that substantiated the written report of Lt. Katz." (Record Sheet.) Gonyea sentenced Dawkins to a year of confinement in SHU. Dawkins remained in SHU for a total of 280 of days from December 7, 2006 to September 12, 2007, released before the one-year sentence imposed due to his good behavior.

After the hearing, Dawkins filed an administrative appeal of Gonyea's decision. On February 28, 2007, Dawkins received a decision from Donald Selsky ("Selsky"), the Director of Special Housing/Inmate Disciplinary Programs for the New York State Department of Correctional Services, affirming Gonyea's decision.

Dawkins then filed this action,⁵ alleging that the Report provided inadequate notice and that the conduct of the disciplinary hearing violated his due process rights. He further alleged that his confinement in SHU violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment.⁶

In response to Dawkin's remaining claims, Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint on the grounds that: (1) Defendants are entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment; (2) Dawkins's claims of inadequate notice of charges and time to prepare his defense fail as a matter of law; (3) Dawkins has failed to allege personal involvement for defendants Cunningham and Katz; and (4) Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity.

II. DISCUSSION

A. LEGAL STANDARD

"To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). This standard is met "when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id. A court should not dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim if the factual allegations sufficiently "raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. In ruling on a motion to dismiss, courts should "assess the legal feasibility of the complaint, not to assay the weight of the evidence which might be offered in support thereof." In re Initial Pub. Offering Secs. Litig., 383 F.Supp.2d 566, 574 (S.D.N.Y.2005) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). A court must accept all well-pleaded factual allegations in a complaint as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs favor. See Chambers, 282 F.3d at 152.

In the case of a pro se litigant, the court reads the pleadings leniently and construes them to raise "the strongest arguments that they suggest." McPherson v. Coombe, 174 F.3d 276, 280 (2d Cir.1999) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). This guidance applies with particular force when the plaintiffs civil rights are at issue. See McEachin v. McGuinnis, 357 F.3d 197, 200 (2d Cir.2004); Flaherty v. Lang, 199 F.3d 607, 612 (2d Cir. 1999). However, even pro se plaintiffs asserting civil rights claims are not exempt from Twombly's threshold that the pleadings must contain factual allegations sufficient to raise a "right to relief above the speculative level." 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

To state a claim under § 1983, Dawkins must allege that Defendants, while acting under color of state law, deprived him of federal constitutional or statutory rights. See Pabon v. Wright, 459 F.3d 241, 249 (2d Cir.2006). Dawkins claims that Defendants violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights.

B. APPLICATION

Dawkins contends that his due process rights were violated because: (1) the notice he received was inadequate to apprise him of the charges against him; (2) the hearing officer relied on statements of the informant without making an independent assessment of the informant's credibility; and (3) the hearing officer did not allow him to present certain evidence.

1. Eleventh Amendment

The Eleventh Amendment bars a suit by a citizen of a state against that state or one of its agencies, absent the state's consent to such a suit or an express statutory waiver of immunity. See Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 100, 104 S.Ct. 900, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); Alabama v. Pugh, 438 U.S. 781, 782, 98 S.Ct. 3057, 57 L.Ed.2d 1114 (1978). It is well established that Congress did not intend to abrogate the states' immunity by enacting § 1983. See Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 343-44, 99 S.Ct. 1139, 59 L.Ed.2d 358 (1979). However, while "the Eleventh Amendment bars recovery against an employee who is sued in his official capacity, [it] does not protect him from personal liability if he is sued in his `individual' or `personal' capacity." Farid v. Smith, 850 F.2d 917, 921 (2d Cir.1988) (citing Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 166-67, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985)).

To the extent that Dawkins is suing Defendants in their official capacities to recover monetary damages, his claims are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. See Graham, 473 U.S. at 169, 105 S.Ct. 3099 (holding that a claim for damages against state officials in their official capacity is a claim against the state and is therefore barred by the Eleventh Amendment); Davis v. New York, 316 F.3d 93, 101 (2d Cir.2002) (holding that a prisoner's § 1983 claims for damages against individual prison officials in their official capacities are barred by the Eleventh Amendment); see also Bussey v. Phillips, 419 F.Supp.2d 569, 588 (S.D.N.Y.2006).

While Dawkins initially asserted claims against Defendants in their official capacities, in his Reply he claims that he is asserting his claims against Defendants in their individual capacities. Because of Dawkins's pro se status, the Court will read his claims to be asserted against Defendants in their individual capacities.

However, even if defendants are named in their individual capacities, the state may be the real party in interest, and thus the suit may still be barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Therefore, for a § 1983 claim to survive an Eleventh Amendment challenge, "a plaintiff must demonstrate the defendant's direct or personal involvement in the actions which are alleged to have caused the constitutional deprivation." Spencer v. Doe, 139 F.3d 107, 112 (2d Cir.1998...