Gallipeau v. Berard, C.A. 88-0562 L.

• Decision Date: 30 March 1990
• Docket Number: No. C.A. 88-0562 L.,C.A. 88-0562 L.
• Citation: 734 F. Supp. 48
• Parties: Dennis M. GALLIPEAU, Plaintiff, v. James BERARD and Ronald Brodeur, in their individual capacities, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Rhode Island

734 F. Supp. 48

Dennis M. GALLIPEAU, Plaintiff, v. James BERARD and Ronald Brodeur, in their individual capacities, Defendants.

No. C.A. 88-0562 L.

United States District Court, D. Rhode Island.

March 30, 1990.

Dennis M. Gallipeau, Barrington, R.I., pro se.

Anthony Cipriano, Deputy Chief, R.I. Dept. of Corrections, Cranston, R.I., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LAGUEUX, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendants' motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Dennis M. Gallipeau, a former inmate at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI), filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights action, while still an inmate, against a host of prison officials in their official and personal capacities. Plaintiff claimed that these officials seized legal papers from his cell and that they deprived him of his constitutional right to access the courts and his right to provide legal assistance to other inmates. Over the course of the pendancy of this case, plaintiff has voluntarily withdrawn his claims against all defendants except James Berard, former Associate Director of the Maximum Security facility at the ACI, and Ronald Brodeur, a Correctional Officer Captain at that facility. Plaintiff also withdrew his official capacity suit against Berard and Brodeur, presently suing them only in their individual capacities.

Defendants, in support of their motion for summary judgment, argue that Will v. Michigan, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989), bars plaintiff's action because his suit in effect challenges their official conduct. Defendants also argue that plaintiff has no right to act as a jailhouse lawyer. Plaintiff counters defendants' Will defense, by arguing that he is really suing them in their individual capacities for acts which exceeded the bounds of their employment authority.

BACKGROUND

At all times relevant to this lawsuit, plaintiff was incarcerated in the Maximum Security unit at the ACI. During portions of his incarceration, he was employed as an inmate law clerk in the law library. While so employed, he assisted other inmates with their legal problems and engaged in his own legal affairs. On December 26, 1986, and again on August 14, 1987, defendant Brodeur, apparently acting under the authority of defendant Berard, confiscated legal papers from plaintiff's cell. Plaintiff alleges that Brodeur told him on these occasions that he was seizing the materials to teach him a lesson for his work as a jailhouse lawyer. Brodeur filed disciplinary proceedings against plaintiff claiming that his unauthorized possession of legal materials relating to other inmates violated prison rules. The Disciplinary Board, however, found plaintiff not guilty of any infractions, concluding that the legal materials did not constitute contraband. On August 15, 1987, Brodeur seized from plaintiff three affidavits belonging to other inmates. Finally, on February 26, 1988, a correctional officer, acting pursuant to defendant Berard's orders, confiscated what legal papers Gallipeau had remaining in his cell.

The complaint alleges that the conduct of Brodeur and Berard resulted in the seizure of plaintiff's own pro se work as well as legal research he had conducted on behalf of other inmates. Plaintiff alleges that, in some instances, the officers returned portions of the impounded papers while at other times, they failed to return any materials at all. Plaintiff contends that Brodeur and Berard sought to retaliate against him for helping other inmates file litigation which incriminated defendants. Plaintiff further claims that defendants "conspired to deprive plaintiff of a constitutionally protected right and were reasonably orchestrating an artfully planned and exercised battery of punishment, harassment, and retaliation against plaintiff aimed at deterring plaintiff's legal activities." Plaintiff's complaint ¶ 35. He claims that defendants have intentionally and unreasonably obstructed his right of access to the courts. Plaintiff charges defendants with violations of the Privileges and Immunities clause of Article IV, § 2, cl. 1 of the United States Constitution and with interference with plaintiff's first, eighth and fourteenth amendment rights.

Defendants, in support of their motion for summary judgment, contend that plaintiff has failed to show that defendants' acts were "non-official, private or individual in nature." They conclude that Will v. Michigan, supra, therefore, bars maintenance of the action. Defendants alternatively argue that Will applies because they acted at all times within the scope of their employment. Defendants contend that they searched plaintiff's cell, in the interest of prison security, on information that he was distributing a petition which urged inmates to join a protest action. Defendants indicate that their search for the petition uncovered legal paperwork which pertained to other inmates. Reasoning that prison regulations precluded inmates from maintaining other prisoners' legal work in their jail cells, defendants insist that they were acting within their authority when they confiscated the materials.

After having heard oral arguments, this Court took the matter under advisement. It is now in order for decision. The Court will address the two issues raised by defendants' motion. First, whether Will v. Michigan, supra, precludes plaintiff's § 1983 suit against Berard and Brodeur because the alleged constitutional violations occurred while they acted within the course of their employment. Second, whether plaintiff has sufficiently shown that the defendants' conduct frustrated his right of access to the courts.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard for summary judgment motion.

This Court cannot grant a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 unless no genuine issues of material fact exist. "A genuine issue involves a real dispute, substantiated by evidence beyond the allegations of the complaint, which a judge or jury must resolve. Any fact which affects the outcome of the suit is deemed material. The court must look at the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and must indulge all inferences favorable to that party." Ryan, Klimek, Ryan Partnership v. Royal Ins. Co. of America, 728 F.Supp. 862, 866 (D.R.I.1990) (citations omitted). The moving party will not prevail unless it appears that the parties do not dispute any facts which could affect the litigation's outcome.

II. Individual versus official capacity suits.

The United States Supreme Court has held that state officials sued in their official capacities do not constitute "persons" within the language of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Will v. Michigan, supra, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. at 2312. The Court considered a suit against a state official in his or her official capacity the equivalent of a suit against the state itself. Id. at 2311. The Court concluded that, absent any congressional intent to override states' immunity, the eleventh amendment bars § 1983 suits against state employees in their official capacity. See id. at 2309-10. The Court specified that "construing § 1983 as a remedy for `official violation of federally protected rights' does no more than confirm that the section is directed against state action—action `under color of' state law. It does not suggest that the State itself was a person that Congress intended to be subject to liability." Id. at 2310.

Although clear that Will bars § 1983 suits against state officials in their official capacities, the distinction between what constitutes an official capacity as opposed to an individual capacity suit remains ambiguous. Courts must consider whether the plaintiff is truly suing the state—naming the state actor only as an agent or representative of the state—or whether the alleged violation resulted from specific acts or decisions of the named official. "Personal-capacity suits seek to impose personal liability upon a government official for actions he takes under color of state law. Official-capacity suits, in contrast, `generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent.'" Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3104, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985) (citations omitted).

Official capacity suits do not, as defendants here suggest, encompass every suit involving acts performed during the course of a state actor's employment. Defendants have confused "during the course of employment" with "within the scope of employment." Courts must analyze whether the complaint alleges that the state official "acted either outside the scope of his respective office or, if within the scope, acted in an arbitrary manner, grossly abusing the lawful powers of office." Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 235, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); see also Jones v. State of Rhode Island, 724 F.Supp. 25, 29 (D.R.I.1989). A negative response to both inquiries would implicate Will and bar a suit. Applying this analysis in Jones, this Court dismissed the State of Rhode Island, the Director of Mental Health, the Administrator of the Institute of Mental Health, and the General Treasurer of the State of Rhode Island as parties to a § 1983 suit. Id. at 26-27, 28. This Court allowed the suit to be maintained against the individual employees of the Institute of Mental Health alleged to have acted outside the scope of their employment when they allegedly willfully, knowingly, and purposefully deprived the plaintiff's decedent of his life. Id. at 29.

In the present case, there is a factual dispute on this very fundamental issue, i.e., whether defendants were acting within the bounds of their authority as correctional officers when they confiscated legal papers from plaintiff's cell. Although defendants claim that they confiscated the papers in an attempt to uncover and squash a petition which incited a protest against the prison, this rationale applies in only...