Hamm v. Groose
| Citation | 15 F.3d 110 |
| Decision Date | 22 March 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-2387,93-2387 |
| Parties | Samuel C. HAMM; William Cooper; Larry Schaal, Appellants, James E. Bowman, Plaintiff, Michael E. Cunningham, Appellant, Bobby Lane, Plaintiff, Allen McCarter, Appellant, Donald Harden, Plaintiff, Donald L. Dixon, Appellant, Stanley E. Hay, Plaintiff, Edward H. Pennington; Alex A. Mason, Appellants, Maxwell Johnson; Cleophus Parker, Intervenors, v. Michael GROOSE; Dick Moore; Donald Cline, III; Dave Dormire; Robert Acree; Gerald Bommel; Waheed Jawadi; Cecilroy Pettus; Earl Halderman; John I. Doe, Caseworkers Assigned to 3-C Segregation; -- Swicord; Boyd, Lt., Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
Stewart M. Freilich, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, MO, argued, for appellees.
Before McMILLIAN, HANSEN, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.
Samuel C. Hamm, Larry Schaal, William Cooper, Donald L. Dixon, Michael E. Cunningham, Allen McCarter, Edward H. Pennington, and Alex A. Mason (appellants) appeal from the final order entered in the United States District Court 1 for the Western District of Missouri, dismissing their amended 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 complaint against thirty-four prison officials. They also appeal the district court's order denying several motions for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.
In an amended complaint, fourteen inmates (plaintiffs) who were law clerks, jailhouse lawyers, or law library workers, filed this action asserting twenty-one claims of constitutional violations at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, principally concerning a denial of access to the courts. One group of claims related to plaintiffs' inability to provide inmates housed in the closed housing units with meaningful legal assistance.
A second group of claims related to defendants' interference with plaintiffs' access to the law library to work on their own cases. In addition, plaintiffs claimed they received several conduct violations in retaliation for their legal activities and were denied due process during their disciplinary hearings. They also claimed the grievance policy was changed to moot their grievances and they were denied equal protection by not receiving pay raises. The last group of claims were against prison managers and supervisors for failing to correct the law library problems, for failing to properly train and supervise employees, and for failing to implement an adequate law library policy.
Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint. Pre-trial motions were referred to a magistrate judge. Plaintiffs jointly, and four individual plaintiffs separately, also filed motions for temporary restraining orders, seeking to enjoin defendants from disciplining them and reassigning them from their jobs in retaliation for their legal activities. Defendants responded to the TRO motions, stating that plaintiffs received due process in their disciplinary proceedings, there was a basis in fact for the findings of the disciplinary committees, plaintiffs had no particular right to their jobs, and they were not reassigned in retaliation.
The magistrate judge called a conference to consider the various TRO motions. The magistrate judge allowed only two of the plaintiffs to attend and advised the other plaintiffs to apprise the two inmates of the facts relating to their pending motions. The magistrate judge further advised the parties that the conference was not an evidentiary hearing. The clerk's minutes of the conference, which lasted about thirty minutes, stated in the "remarks" section that the two plaintiffs' TRO motions were discussed and that "the Court determines that plaintiffs' claims do not merit TRO and all such requests will be denied at this time." The record does not include a transcript of this conference.
In his report, the magistrate judge concluded that, on the basis of the pleadings and the conference, preliminary injunctive relief should be denied as to the two plaintiffs because they did not have a constitutional right to their jobs and they were not denied access to the courts by the law library restrictions. The magistrate judge also concluded that none of the other plaintiffs had set forth sufficient facts to show retaliation or lack of access to the courts to warrant preliminary relief.
All plaintiffs objected, arguing that the magistrate judge overlooked exhibits supporting their claims of retaliation, erred in limiting the representation of plaintiffs' cases at the conference, and erred in not analyzing the four factors in Dataphase Systems, Inc. v. C L Systems, Inc., 640 F.2d 109 (8th Cir.1981). The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and denied all of the TRO motions.
In a separate report, the magistrate judge recommended dismissal of the complaint, concluding that the claims against the supervisors were based on respondeat superior and that plaintiffs did not allege any facts showing personal involvement of the supervisors before they had received grievances. The magistrate judge concluded that plaintiffs did not have standing to bring denial-of-access claims on behalf of other inmates, absent proof that they could not bring their own claims, and that they did not show prejudice with respect to their own cases. The magistrate judge concluded the grievance claim was without merit because the grievance procedure was not constitutionally required and the court could not order the State to comply with its laws unless federal law or the Constitution was violated. In addition, wages for jobs were matters of state property law, and there were adequate state post-deprivation remedies available. Finally, the magistrate judge determined that the equal protection claim failed because law clerks are not a suspect class. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report over plaintiffs' objections. The district court denied plaintiffs' motion to alter or amend the judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e). This appeal followed.
For reversal, appellants argue the district court failed to use the proper standard in evaluating their complaint. They argue that, because they are challenging the adequacy of the prison law library and those persons...
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