Harris v. Chanclor

• Decision Date: 19 August 1976
• Docket Number: No. 75-2237,75-2237
• Citation: 537 F.2d 203
• Parties: Thomas Wesley HARRIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. B. J. CHANCLOR et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 203

537 F.2d 203

Thomas Wesley HARRIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. B. J. CHANCLOR et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 75-2237.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Aug. 19, 1976.

Wallace E. Harrell, Brunswick, Ga., for defendants-appellants.

Wm. T. Elsey, Cartersville, Ga., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Before GODBOLD, McCREE ^* and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

As a result of an assault he suffered in the Glynn County Jail in Brunswick, Georgia, plaintiff Thomas Harris filed this damage action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Named as defendants were Ralph Moore, the jailer, police officer B. J. Chanclor, who administered the assault, the police chief who hired Chanclor, the sheriff who was in charge of the jail, and the county commissioners. The case went to trial, and the jury returned a $12,000.00 verdict against Chanclor and Moore but discharged the other defendants from all liability. On appeal Moore challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and the trial court's refusal to charge the jury that he would not be liable for mere negligence, while Chanclor attacks the trial judge's denial of his motion for a new trial. We reject the arguments of both appellants and affirm.

I

In order to evaluate Moore's contentions it is necessary initially to review the complaint, then the evidence. The complaint alleges that on October 14, 1972, at approximately 2:00 A.M. Chanclor arrested the plaintiff and transported him to the jail where an argument ensued between the plaintiff and defendants Chanclor and Moore as to what charges, if any, would be lodged against him. When the plaintiff requested permission to make a telephone call, Chanclor attacked him with a blackjack and beat him about the head. The plaintiff fell to the floor, but Chanclor continued to beat him until another officer pulled him off. Immediately thereafter, the complaint charges, Moore, who had witnessed the beating, proceeded to place the plaintiff in a cell, and, although the plaintiff was seriously injured and bleeding profusely, Moore denied his repeated requests to contact a lawyer, to get a doctor, to telephone his relatives, or otherwise to seek assistance. Moore left the plaintiff incarcerated in the cell for approximately eight to ten hours before releasing him to his wife. As a result of his injuries, plaintiff was out of work for over six weeks, and his wife lost three weeks of work caring for him. The complaint concludes by charging Chanclor with the assault and Moore for his "active failure to prevent the vicious beating . . . and . . . failure to obtain and cause to be administered medical attention for his serious injuries."

The allegations of the complaint were borne out in the evidence, most of it uncontradicted. It is undisputed that Chanclor arrested the plaintiff in the early morning hours and escorted him to the Brunswick jail. It is also undisputed that the alleged argument developed while the plaintiff was being booked by Moore. There are, however, conflicting versions of how the fight erupted and how badly the plaintiff was injured. The jury verdict against Chanclor indicates, though, that, in so far as there are conflicts between Chanclor's and the plaintiff's version of the facts, the jury believed the plaintiff. According to plaintiff's testimony Chanclor viciously assaulted him with a blackjack. The beating continued even after he had fallen to the floor and was only stopped when another officer pulled Chanclor off. Everyone agrees that these events occurred in Moore's presence and that he did not attempt to intervene in any way.

There is a conflict in the testimony as to how visibly injured the plaintiff was after the beating; however, there was testimony that he was seriously injured and bleeding profusely. It is undisputed, moreover, that Moore escorted the plaintiff to an unclean cell which had no water or toilet facilities or even a bed, but only an old piece of foam rubber lying on the floor. Moore contradicted the plaintiff's testimony that he "begged" for a doctor, but Moore readily admitted that he denied the plaintiff's repeated requests for medical assistance.

The next morning Moore was relieved by one Ernest Dykes. After talking with the plaintiff, Dykes telephoned plaintiff's wife, who transported her husband from the jail to a doctor. Medical testimony indicated that plaintiff suffered a broken nose, a large head laceration, and cuts on the arms and legs. The head wounds became infected, and plastic surgery was necessary to reconstruct the nose. Plaintiff's claims for lost wages were not rebutted.

II

The main thrust of Moore's argument is that the district judge erred in submitting a negligence instruction to the jury. Moore claims that the charge that was given permitted the jury to find him liable for the plaintiff's injuries if they found those injuries were caused by "mere negligence" on Moore's part. Such a charge, it is urged, greatly expands the section 1983 liability of jailers, who heretofore have only been held liable for failing to provide adequate medical care where they have willfully refused to treat a severe and obvious ailment. See, e. g., Coleman v. Johnston, 247 F.2d 273 (7th Cir. 1957); Hughes v. Noble, 295 F.2d 495 (5th Cir. 1961); Church v. Hegstrom, 416 F.2d 449 (2d Cir. 1969); Martinez v. Mancusi, 443 F.2d 921 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 983, 91 S.Ct. 1202, 28 L.Ed.2d 335 (1971). Moore contends that these cases entitled him to an instruction which stated he would only be liable if he had "willfully or culpably denied the plaintiff (medical attention) under such circumstances that it would shock the conscience of ordinarily reasonable people" and that "a good faith error in judgment" amounting to "mere negligence" would not support a verdict.

We find it unnecessary to determine whether Moore was entitled to such an instruction. ¹ It is well established that a warden's deliberate indifference to an inmate's severe and obvious injuries is tantamount to an intentional infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. Martinez v. Mancusi, supra. It has also been held that a supervisory officer is liable under § 1983 if he refuses to intervene where his subordinates are beating an inmate in his presence. Byrd v. Brishke, 466 F.2d 6 (7th Cir. 1972); Davidson v. Dixon, 386 F.Supp. 482 (D.Del.1974), aff'd, 529 F.2d 511 (3d Cir. 1975). Here the jury verdict against Chanclor establishes that the plaintiff was in fact viciously beaten in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. Moore's admission that this occurred in his presence, without objection or intervention, and that he thereafter made no effort to obtain medical assistance established as a matter of law the necessary intent under the rationale of these cases. Consequently, any error...