Dixon v. Leonardo
| Decision Date | 08 May 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 92-CV-640.,92-CV-640. |
| Citation | 886 F. Supp. 987 |
| Parties | Lawrence DIXON, Plaintiff, v. Arthur A. LEONARDO, Superintendent, Great Meadow Correctional Facility; D. Carpenter, Deputy Superintendent of Programs, Great Meadow Correctional Facility; Ronald W. Atkin, Chairman, Program Committee, Great Meadow Correctional Facility; and Thomas A. Coughlin III, Commissioner, NYS Department of Correctional Services, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York |
Lawrence Dixon, Woodbourne, NY, pro se.
Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen., State of N.Y. (Robert A. Siegfried, Asst. Atty., of counsel), Albany, NY, for defendants.
Plaintiff Lawrence Dixon brought suit against the above captioned defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that he was unlawfully placed in a Special Housing Unit ("SHU") for an indefinite period of time without a hearing because he refused to accept a prison job assignment. Furthermore, plaintiff contends that the defendants conspired to deprive him of his rights and that they violated state law.
This matter was referred to Magistrate Judge Daniel Scanlon, Jr. pursuant to a Standing Order dated November 12, 1986. Plaintiff subsequently filed separate motions to disqualify the magistrate judge, to compel discovery, and for partial summary judgment. Defendants filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or in the alternative, for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56.
After considering each of the respective motions, the magistrate issued a Report-Recommendation, dated July 6, 1993, in which he recommended (1) denying plaintiff's motion to disqualify; (2) denying plaintiff's motion for summary judgment; (3) denying plaintiff's motion to compel discovery; and (4) granting defendants' motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff requested an extension of time to provide his objections to the magistrate's Report-Recommendation, and was granted until August 16, 1993 in which to do so. Plaintiff subsequently filed his objections.
I. Discussion
Plaintiff made a number of objections to the magistrate's Report-Recommendation. Plaintiff's first objection is that the present case was improperly referred to a magistrate. He argues that 28 U.S.C. § 636(c)(2) requires that all parties to a matter consent before a case may be referred to a magistrate. He states that he never consented to a magistrate's participation in the case, and he argues that the court's failure to obtain his consent before the referral constituted procedural error. The court finds this objection to be without merit.
Section 636(c)(2), the provision upon which plaintiff erroneously relies, concerns the right of parties to an action to give their consent before a magistrate may exercise civil jurisdiction. After parties give their consent, the magistrate may conduct all of the proceedings in a jury or nonjury civil matter, including ordering the entry of judgment in the case. 28 U.S.C. 636(c)(1)-(2). However, section 636(c) is not applicable in the instant case because the magistrate is not exercising full civil jurisdiction. Instead, the magistrate's involvement in the case is limited to submitting proposed findings of fact and making a recommendation for the disposition of the case, as expressly authorized by 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(B), which does not require the consent of the parties. See Coleman v. Hutto, 500 F.Supp. 586 (E.D.Va., 1980) ().
Plaintiff argues that the magistrate's review of plaintiff's motion to disqualify was limited as evidenced by the magistrate's alleged misstatement of the argument set forth in plaintiff's motion papers.1 He further claims that the magistrate was biased, and he questions the truth of the magistrate's assertion in the Report-Recommendation that the court had not conducted any private conferences with any of the parties.
28 U.S.C. 636(b) requires that this court make a de novo determination of those portions of the report to which objection is made. 28 U.S.C. 636(b). Accordingly, this court does so, mindful of plaintiff's objections.
Affidavit in Support of Disqualification at 2. Plaintiff then attached a copy of the protective order as evidence of the alleged secret conference. Id. As the magistrate noted, the protective order upon which plaintiff relies is an unsigned and undated proposed form of order submitted by the defendants with their motion papers as required by Local Rule 10(D).
Plaintiff's allegations do not require the disqualification of the magistrate. A judge is required to recuse himself "in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned." 28 U.S.C. § 455(a). "When construing whether recusal is appropriate under section 455(a), courts are to apply an objective test: `The substantive standard for recusal' is whether a reasonable person, knowing all the facts, would conclude that the court's impartiality might be reasonably be questioned." United States v. IBM Corp., 857 F.Supp. 1089, 1091 (S.D.N.Y.1994) (citing United States v. Pitera, 5 F.3d 624, 626 (2d Cir.1993)), mandamus granted, In re IBM Corp., 45 F.3d 641 (2d Cir.1995).
In the instant case, the evidence submitted by plaintiff does not satisfy this objective test. A reasonable person with knowledge and understanding of the proposed order and the context in which it was submitted would have no basis to derive therefrom any indication of judicial bias. Furthermore, "recusal is not warranted for `remote, contingent, or speculative' reasons." Id. (quoting In re Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., 861 F.2d 1307, 1313 (2d Cir.1988)). In the instant case plaintiff's allegations of private conferences and of a secret report-recommendation are purely speculative and therefore are not grounds for the magistrate's disqualification.
Under Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 56(c), if there is "no genuine issue as to any material fact ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law ... where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), on remand, sub nom., In re Japanese Elec. Prods. Antitrust Litig., 807 F.2d 44 (3d Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1029, 107 S.Ct. 1955, 95 L.Ed.2d 527 (1987). The burden to demonstrate that no genuine issue of material fact exists falls solely on the moving party, Heyman v. Commerce and Industry Ins. Co., 524 F.2d 1317 (2d Cir.1975), and the trial court must resolve all ambiguities and draw all inferences in favor of that party against whom summary judgment is sought. Eastway Constr. Corp. v. New York, 762 F.2d 243, 249 (2d Cir.1985), on remand, 637 F.Supp. 558 (E.D.N.Y.1986), modified, 821 F.2d 121 (2d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 918, 108 S.Ct. 269, 98 L.Ed.2d 226 (1987).
For the purpose of considering defendants' motion for summary judgment the court will assume plaintiff's version of the facts as stated in his complaint. On December 16, 1991, plaintiff was called to appear before defendant Atkin in the Program Committee room for assignment to a new job program. In the Program Committee room, Atkin asked plaintiff what type of job or program he was interested in. In response, plaintiff told Atkin that he was interested in his old clerk position in the general library. Atkin told plaintiff that the position was not available at that time and that plaintiff would be placed on a waiting list for that position. Then Atkin told plaintiff that the only position available was that of porter or messhall worker. Plaintiff immediately rejected the offered position because he believed or felt that the offered assignment was degrading and inappropriate in light of his previous employment as a law library clerk. As a result of plaintiff's refusal or failure to accept the job or program assignment, Atkin advised him that "he would be assigned to the restricted confinement of limited privileges status until plaintiff accepted a job or program assignment by the defendant." Atkin then handed plaintiff a typed copy of the policy or the procedure, which set forth the details of the Limited Privileges Program, and stated that plaintiff could regain his privileges by indicating his willingness to accept the assignment considered appropriate by the program committee. Plaintiff was then escorted to his cell and placed in keeplock. On December 17, 1991, plaintiff was removed from the general population and placed in a Special Housing Unit without any additional hearing. Civil Rights Complaint with a Jury Demand at pp. 3-4 ("Compla...
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