Garza v. Henderson

• Decision Date: 17 December 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85-1167,85-1167
• Parties: Albert GARZA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. J.D. HENDERSON, S.R. Witkowski, George Wilkinson, R.M. Carey, and J.J. Clark, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 390

779 F.2d 390

Albert GARZA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. J.D. HENDERSON, S.R. Witkowski, George Wilkinson, R.M.

Carey, and J.J. Clark, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 85-1167.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued June 6, 1985.

Decided Dec. 13, 1985.

As corrected Dec. 17, 1985.

Howard B. Eisenberg, Carbondale, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

Richard H. Lloyd, Asst. U.S. Atty., Frederick J. Hess, U.S. Atty., East St. Louis, Ill., for defendants-appellees.

Before CUDAHY, COFFEY, Circuit Judges, and PELL, Senior Circuit Judge.

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff, Albert Garza, an inmate at the Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, appeals the district court's decision granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants and dismissing his civil rights action. We affirm.

I

The record reveals that the plaintiff escaped from the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois on February 14, 1979 and was captured three days later on February 17, 1979 following a gun battle. Although the Sheriff of Johnson County, Illinois, was struck by a bullet, he escaped serious injury since the bullet hit his flak jacket; the plaintiff, however, was not as fortunate and was wounded in the exchange of gunfire. He was taken to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners ("U.S.M.C.F.P.") in Springfield, Missouri where he convalesced from February 21 through April 21, 1979.

On April 2, 1979, while the plaintiff was still in the hospital, an incident report was issued by the Marion Penitentiary Institution Discipline Committee ("IDC") against Garza for a violation of Code 102 (escape) arising from Garza's February 14, 1979 escape. On April 4, 1979, the IDC held a hearing in absentia and found the plaintiff guilty of escape with violence. The IDC imposed sanctions against Garza that included "Disciplinary Segregation with review, increase custody to maximum, and a recommendation for placement in the Marion Control Unit." ¹ On June 13, 1979, following his return from the hospital, the plaintiff attended a Control Unit hearing. The purpose of this hearing was to determine "whether the inmate can and would function in a general prison population without being or posing a threat to staff or others or to the orderly operation of the institution." 28 C.F.R. Sec. 541.43(b)(4)(i) (1984). Prior to this hearing, Garza was provided with written notice of the hearing and was advised of his right to present witnesses on his behalf. At this hearing, Garza argued that he was not a threat to anyone in the institution. He further contended that since the violence in escaping from the prison "occurred ... outside the institution," this evidence should "not be used against him for placement in the Control Unit" since he was not a threat to the prison population while confined within the prison walls. At the hearing, Garza presented no witnesses, but did file various statements from individuals in the prison population and his supervisor in the prison kitchen stating that Garza did not present a threat to the safety of the staff or the inmates. After evaluating the evidence, the hearing examiner rejected Garza's defenses and ordered him placed in the Control Unit until he was able to "demonstrate that he could function in the open population without involving himself in activities which jeopardize the orderly and safe running of the institution."

In June, 1981, the plaintiff filed a petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus naming the Warden at the Marion Penitentiary and the members of the IDC as defendants (these IDC defendants were subsequently dropped from the habeas action as they were improper defendants to the habeas action). Garza sought to have his disciplinary infraction and any mention of his placement in the Control Unit expunged from his prison record. He claimed that his constitutional rights were violated when the IDC members, the defendants in this civil rights action, failed to provide him with notice of the IDC hearing. The magistrate held a hearing on the habeas corpus petition at the prison and Garza testified that he failed to receive any notice of the IDC hearing. The government disputed this claim arguing that the plaintiff did in fact receive notice of the IDC hearing, but that he refused to appear and thus waived any possible claim that his constitutional rights had been violated. To support this position, the government introduced in evidence a "Work Assignment Record" which included a notation made by an unknown source that the plaintiff "did not wish to have in-person IDC hearing." The magistrate, after weighing Garza's sworn testimony that the prison authorities failed to offer him the opportunity for an in-person hearing against the unverified statement on the Work Assignment Record, accepted Garza's testimony that he did not have the opportunity for an in-person hearing and granted Garza's petition for writ of habeas corpus. He further ordered all references to any disciplinary actions taken by the IDC expunged from Garza's prison record.

While the habeas corpus action was proceeding, the plaintiff also commenced this civil rights action against the defendants--members of the IDC--alleging that "his right to prior notice of charges was ... violated ... when Defendants served no such notice" and that he was denied his "right to a fair and impartial hearing" since the "IDC held their hearing while Plaintiff was in absentia and imposed grievous sanctions upon plaintiff without allowing any presentation of evidence in his defense." ² The government moved for summary judgment and in support of its motion submitted the affidavit of Jeffrey Clark, the former assistant parole executive at the Marion, Illinois Penitentiary. Clark stated that upon Garza's return to the prison he (Garza) was "advised that he could have an 'In Person' hearing before the Institution Discipline Committee ... on the escape charge .... [but that] Garza advised the Committee that he did not wish to have an 'In Person' I.D.C. hearing." ³ Clark, in his affidavit, stated that he was the person who, on April 30, 1979, "initialed the entry" in the Work Assignment Record. Garza moved for partial summary judgment asserting that the defendants were collaterally estopped from relitigating the issue of whether or not he received the opportunity for an in-person hearing since this issue was previously litigated and settled in the habeas corpus action. In the alternative, Garza argued that the Government's motion for summary judgment should not be granted since the government had failed "to satisfy their burden of establishing a lack of a triable issue of fact." (Garza's Motion for Summary Judgment).

After reviewing the pleadings and affidavit supporting the defendants' motion for summary judgment the magistrate found that "any constitutional infirmity, real or imagined, was waived by plaintiff." The magistrate further found that the defendants could not be collaterally estopped from relitigating the issue of whether Garza received an opportunity for an in-person IDC hearing since the defendants in Garza's civil rights action were not defendants in Garza's habeas corpus action and thus they had not previously had a "full and fair" opportunity to litigate this issue. Thus, on January 3, 1985, the magistrate entered an order granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment.

On appeal, Garza contends that the magistrate erred when he refused to collaterally estop the defendants from contesting the issue of liability for the alleged violation of Garza's constitutional rights. In the alternative, Garza argues that the magistrate improperly granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants as there still remained an issue of fact as to whether he received an opportunity for an in-person IDC hearing.

II

Garza contends that since the district court previously found in the habeas corpus action that his constitutional rights had been violated when he failed to receive an opportunity for an in-person IDC hearing, the defendants in this civil rights action should now be precluded from relitigating that issue again. In this civil rights action, Garza seeks to use collateral estoppel offensively to preclude the defendants from litigating the issue of liability for the alleged constitutional deprivation arising from Garza's alleged failure to receive an opportunity for an in-person IDC hearing.

Under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, "once an issue is actually and necessarily determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, the determination is conclusive in subsequent suits, based on a different cause of action, involving a party to the prior litigation." Crowder v. Lash, 687 F.2d 996, 1009 (7th Cir.1982); Warren v. McCall, 709 F.2d 1183, 1184 (7th Cir.1983). When a plaintiff seeks to collaterally estop a defendant from relitigating an issue, the plaintiff must establish: "(1) that the party against whom the estoppel is asserted was a party to the prior adjudication, (2) the issues which formed the basis of the estoppel were actually litigated and decided on the merits in the prior suit, (3) the resolution of the particular issues was necessary to the court's judgment, and (4) those issues are identical to the issues raised in the subsequent suit." County of Cook v. MidCon Corp., 773 F.2d 892, 898-99 (7th Cir.1985) (emphasis added). See also Green v. Amerada Hess Corp., 707 F.2d 201, 205 (5th Cir.1983); see generally 18 C. Wright & A. Miller & Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 4432 (1981). Further, the district court is entrusted with a broad range of discretion in assessing the propriety of the plaintiff's motion that seeks to use collateral estoppel offensively to preclude a defendant from relitigating an issue previously decided in another action. In Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 99 S.Ct. 645, 58 L.Ed.2d 552 (1979), the Supreme Court stated:

"We have concluded that the preferable approach for dealing...