Ganey v. Edwards, 84-6156

Decision Date02 April 1985
Docket NumberNo. 84-6156,84-6156
Citation759 F.2d 337
PartiesEdward A. GANEY, Appellant, v. Ralph D. EDWARDS; Walter L. Kautzky, Sam P. Garrison; Charles E. Smith; Daniel G. Durham, Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

William D. Dannelly and Donald S. Ingraham, Raleigh, N.C. (Moore, Van Allen & Allen, Raleigh, N.C., on brief), for appellant.

Rufus L. Edmisten, Atty. Gen., Raleigh, N.C. (Jacob L. Safron, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, N.C., on brief), for appellees.

Before WINTER, Chief Judge, and HALL and SNEEDEN, Circuit Judges.

SNEEDEN, Circuit Judge.

Edward A. Ganey, a prisoner at North Carolina Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, brought an action against various state prison officials under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 on April 21, 1978. This case has been before this Court on appeal, and it was remanded to the District Court, The Honorable Franklin T. Dupree, Jr., presiding, for a hearing on Ganey's claim that the North Carolina defendants had deprived him of his right of access to the prison law library. Ganey v. Edwards, 609 F.2d 507, slip op. at 1 (4th Cir.1979) (unpublished) (per curiam). Ganey's other claims were properly dismissed on summary judgment for the reasons given by Judge Dupree in his memorandum and order. See Ganey v. Edwards, No. 78-184 (E.D.N.C. Sept. 9, 1978).

Ganey is serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Cynthia Ganey, who was a schoolteacher. Originally, Ganey proceeded in forma pauperis and represented himself; but, after the case was remanded to the District Court, Ganey was assigned court-appointed counsel.

On remand, the sole issue was whether the state prison officials had deprived Ganey of the constitutional right of meaningful access to the courts. It is well-settled that a prisoner must be granted access to a law library as part of his right to petition the courts. See, e.g., Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977) (State prisons must provide inmates with law libraries or with assistance from persons trained in the law.); Cruz v. Hauck, 627 F.2d 710 (5th Cir.1980) (Prisoners must have meaningful access to the courts.); Williams v. Leeke, 584 F.2d 1336 (4th Cir.1978) (Hall, J., dissenting) (Prisoners must be granted more than forty-five minute intervals to conduct legal research in prison library).

A five-day jury trial was held after the case was remanded. The jury found that Defendant Sam Garrison, the Warden of North Carolina Central Prison, had denied Ganey adequate and meaningful access to the law library at Central Prison or to other adequate means of access to the courts between April 4, 1978, and March 2, 1979. The jury also found that the two remaining defendants--Edwards and Kautzky--had not violated Ganey's rights. The jury awarded Ganey no actual or nominal damages. Ganey moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (jnov) on the issue of damages and to amend the judgment to provide for injunctive relief. The District Court denied both motions. Additionally, the jury found that the denial of access to the law library had adversely affected Ganey's ability to pursue a state court action in which he was seeking to retain custody of his son. Garrison moved for jnov on this issue, and the District Court granted the motion. Garrison does not appeal the portion of the verdict finding that he had denied Ganey access to the library. Two main issues are addressed on this appeal: Did the District Court err in not entering a jnov awarding Ganey $1.00 in nominal damages? Was the District Court correct in denying the equitable relief Ganey requested? We find that the District Court did not err and affirm the judgment. 1

At the time Ganey was denied access to the library, he was involved as a plaintiff or defendant in a long-list of lawsuits. One of the lawsuits in which Ganey was a litigant was In re Vance Alfred Ganey, 77 CVD 1712 (New Hanover County, N.C. 1979). In the In re Vance case, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred W. Brunjes, Sr., the parents of Cynthia Ganey, whom Ganey had shot and killed, sought to terminate Ganey's parental rights. The maternal grandparents had been providing care and support to Vance Alfred Ganey. On March 2, 1979, the North Carolina state court entered a judgment terminating Ganey's parental rights. There was substantial evidence to show that Ganey had been allowed to use the law library. However, he had not been given an adequate amount of time in the library during the time that he was litigating this custody dispute.

The jury was properly instructed that it could award Ganey as little as 5cents in damages. 2 2] Ganey had presented some evidence at trial concerning the nominal costs he incurred in copying legal materials, but the jury nevertheless made a finding of no damage. 3

Ganey argues that the Supreme Court held in Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1978), that a plaintiff who prevails on a Sec. 1983 claim must always be awarded nominal damages of $1.00 as a matter of law and therefore the District Court's denial of the jnov motion should be reversed. Garrison, however, argues that the amount of nominal damages is a question of fact and the jury's finding of no damages need not be reversed. We agree with the latter view and find that in this case an award of nominal damages is not mandatory.

In the landmark case of Carey v. Piphus, the Supreme Court established the rule that for a plaintiff to recover compensatory or actual damages for a procedural due process violation, he or she must offer proof of actual injuries. 435 U.S. at 264, 98 S.Ct. at 1052, 55 L.Ed.2d at 265. The Court, however, was careful to point out that Sec. 1983 claims in which a plaintiff could offer no proof of actual injury were nevertheless actionable and could not be dismissed for failure to state a claim or dismissed upon summary judgment before a trial on the merits. Our ruling in no way challenges this Carey holding, which enables a Sec. 1983 claim to be actionable for nominal damages without any showing of actual injury. We conclude that once the issue is presented to the jury, it may decide to award a zero sum or some other small amount as nominal damages.

Ganey has failed to point out any legal consequences that would make it necessary to impose a $1.00 nominal damage award to sustain the finding of liability. The jury's finding that Garrison deprived Ganey of his right of access to a law library and that Ganey was entitled to no damages is not inconsistent or ambiguous. Thus, a new trial is not required. Furthermore, a finding of liability on a Sec. 1983 claim need not be supported by a monetary damage award for the prevailing party to reap the legal benefits of having won on the merits. A plaintiff in a Sec. 1983 action may recover attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 and costs under Rule 54 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as long as he or she is designated the prevailing party. A monetary damage award or equitable relief is not required before a plaintiff or a defendant in a Sec. 1983 suit may be treated as the prevailing party for the purpose of awarding costs and attorney's fees. See NAACP v. Wilmington Medical Center, 689 F.2d 1161, 1167 (3rd Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1052, 103 S.Ct. 1499, 75 L.Ed.2d 930 (1983) (Attorney's fees may be awarded to parties who do not ultimately obtain the whole relief sought in the litigation). 4

Judgment in this case was entered in Ganey's favor, and the District Court specifically denied Garrison's jnov motion and allowed the jury's finding that Ganey was deprived of meaningful access to the library to stand. Appellant's Appendix at 96. The District Court noted in its memorandum denying Garrison's jnov motion that Ganey had a pending motion for costs and attorney's fees before the District Court. An award of $1.00 in damages in this case is not necessary in order for Ganey to be labelled the prevailing party and for the judgment order entered in his favor to stand. Although a nominal damage award of $1.00 may have symbolic value, Ganey has failed to point out the significant legal consequences that would result; therefore, we will not require that the trial judge add a nominal sum to the verdict.

Ganey correctly points out that certain language in the Carey case does suggest that a nominal damage award is mandatory. The Supreme Court said:

[W]e believe that the denial of procedural due process should be actionable for nominal damages without proof of actual injury. We therefore hold that if, upon remand, the District Court determines that respondents' suspensions from school were justified, respondents nevertheless will be entitled to recover nominal damages not to exceed one dollar from petitioners.

435 U.S. at 266-67, 98 S.Ct. at 1054, 55 L.Ed.2d at 267. The Court in Carey, however, did not expressly address the question presented in this case. In reversing the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the Court addressed the more difficult question of whether constitutional rights are of such significance, and actual injury so difficult to prove, that a judge or jury must presume that actual damages were incurred once a plaintiff has shown that the defendant deprived him or her of a constitutional right. Thus, our reading of Carey does not compel us to reverse the District Court and enter an award of nominal damages. 5

On this appeal, we do not decide the constitutional issue of whether the courts must award actual damages for violations of substantive due process rights, even when a plaintiff has been unable to prove actual damages. After Carey, this issue has caused a split among the circuits; some circuit courts first have found that Carey was limited to procedural due process rights, and then they have identified particular substantive due process rights that are so fundamental as to require automatic damage awards. See, e.g., Herrera v. Valentine, 653 F.2d 1220 (8th Cir....

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