Hudson v. McHugh
| Decision Date | 08 July 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-1437,97-1437 |
| Citation | 148 F.3d 859 |
| Parties | Ralphfield HUDSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Irwin M. McHUGH, Director, Michael Lew Center, Mary Lafever, Michael Lew Center, and Howard Erickson, Rock County Sheriff, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Thomas L. Shriner, Jr., Michael Mishlove, Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Andrew S. Caulum (argued), Knoll, Hart & Caulum, Madison, WI, for Defendants-Appellees McHugh and Lefever.
Thomas A. Schroeder (argued), Office of the Corporation Counsel, Janesville, WI, for Defendant-Appellee Erickson.
Before RIPPLE, KANNE and EVANS, Circuit Judges.
After being transferred from a halfway house to a county jail, Ralphfield Hudson went without Dilantin, his epilepsy medicine, for 11 days and suffered a seizure. Afterward he filed a pro se § 1983 suit, claiming that the halfway house administrators and several jail officials violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment. The district court, after entering several nonappealable orders, granted summary judgment for the defendants and Hudson appeals. We review the district court's summary judgment decision de novo, accepting as true all facts asserted by Mr. Hudson. Other orders are reviewed for an abuse of discretion.
In 1994 Hudson was serving the tail end of a federal prison sentence at the Michael Lew Center, a halfway house in Beloit, Wisconsin, run by Irwin McHugh (the director) and Mary Lafever (the assistant director). Both McHugh and Lafever knew of Hudson's epilepsy--in fact, they held onto his Dilantin, an anti-convulsive medication, measuring out daily doses to Hudson. Hudson's drug use, however, wasn't limited to Dilantin, and in the fall of 1994 he tested positive for cocaine, which earned him a trip to the Rock County jail, escorted by several United States marshals.
Hudson says that when he was leaving the Lew Center he asked McHugh if he could "bring anything with,"--in reference to his Dilantin--and, according to Hudson, McHugh responded "someone from [his] office would bring anything that was necessary." McHugh swears that this exchange never took place. In any event, the marshals took Hudson to the jail without his Dilantin--and nobody at the Center followed up by sending it to the jail until after he suffered a seizure.
During his initial intake interview at the jail, Hudson told several jail employees that he was an epileptic and that he needed Dilantin on a daily basis. The intake officers recorded this information in the jail's records--but he didn't get his medicine. Over the next few days Hudson continued to request his Dilantin, filling out several medical request forms. Still, no medicine was given to him. After a few more days passed he got to see a jail nurse, but even though he told her about his condition, she didn't take any steps to get him his medicine. After 11 days of having his requests ignored, Hudson suffered a grand mal epileptic seizure. Three days later, Lafever transported Hudson's anti-convulsive medication to the jail.
Hudson, while incarcerated at a federal correctional facility in Minnesota (his next stop after he left the jail), filed a pro se complaint and petition to proceed in forma pauperis, alleging that both Lew Center and jail personnel violated his Eighth Amendment rights by not giving him his medication. The petition named McHugh, Lafever, Joseph Black (at the time the sheriff of Rock County--along the way, the new sheriff of Rock County, Howard Erickson, was substituted for Black), and the jail intake officers and jail nurse--the latter group, except for "the Nurse," being identified only by their first names because Hudson didn't know their full names at the time. The district court dismissed the claims against the defendants who were not fully identified, but Hudson was urged to find out their full names and amend his complaint to add them to the suit.
In September of 1996 Hudson learned the name of the jail nurse--Cris Siano--and moved to amend his complaint to add her as a defendant. However, his pro se motion didn't comply with the district court's procedural niceties--(1) it wasn't properly served, (2) it didn't follow the proper format (using the original complaint as a template and then shading discarded allegations and highlighting new ones), and (3) it contained legal argument. The court denied the motion to amend.
By the end of September Erickson, McHugh, and Lafever had filed motions for summary judgment. Hudson responded but his response was stricken because it wasn't in proper form. The judge gave Hudson more time to file a proper response and, in connection with that goal, she told him how to discover the names of the jail officers from the sheriff.
By the middle of November Hudson learned the names of the intake officers--Erin Briggs, James Kumlien, and an Officer Cokind--and a month later he again moved to amend his complaint to add these individuals (and the nurse) as defendants. The relevant part of his amended pleading stated:
At the time of admittance at Rock County Jail the petitioner informed officer Erin Briggs and Intake officer James Kumlien of his illness and his need of daily medication. Also Officer Cokind # 8132 the Officer who signed Medical Intake report dated 10/17/94.... Several days after informing said parties of medical needs petitioner unsuccessfully tried to receive his medication by submitting requests to see Medical staff. After several days of submitting requests petitioner finally was interviewed by Nurse Cris Siano. The petitioner informed the nurse Cris Siano of back problems and the need of medication for treatment for seizures.... After this interview petitioner never was seen by any other medical staff or treated for any of his medical needs.
Unfortunately for Hudson, despite having apparently cleared up the pleading deficiencies, the new complaint, in the view of the district court, suffered from the same problems as the earlier one-it contained a lot of legal argument and Hudson hadn't highlighted the new allegations (nor shaded the discarded ones)--and once again he was denied leave to amend. At the same time, the court also ruled that the amended complaint, even if considered, failed to state a claim because the allegations suggested only negligence, not the required indifference the cases say is deliberate under the Eighth Amendment.
After this setback Hudson filed his second response to the pending motion for summary judgment. As with the first response, the second was found to be procedurally deficient, but this time, apparently fed up with Hudson's gaffes, the district court struck it and, relying solely on the defendants' submissions, booting the complaint was ordered. Erickson was out because he had no personal connection to the events, and McHugh and Lafever, it was held, couldn't have violated Hudson's Eighth Amendment rights because they had no connection to the denial of medicine at the jail--they had no duty to provide the Dilantin and they didn't interfere with Hudson's ability to get it on his own. While Hudson's appeal was pending we appointed counsel for him. His appointed counsel, Attorney Michael Mishlove, has done an exemplary job on the case, and he now challenges the grant of summary judgment in favor of McHugh and Lafever and the denial of Hudson's motion to amend the complaint to add the jail officers. 1
We can quickly resolve the appeal as to McHugh and Lafever. Hudson, we think, had a serious medical need. See Gutierrez v. Peters, 111 F.3d 1364, 1370-72 (7th Cir.1997). His unmedicated epileptic condition while at the jail posed a serious threat to his health. But to be actionable, Hudson must establish a deliberate indifference to his need. In the denial of medical treatment context, deliberate indifference culpability means two things: (1) a knowledge element satisfied...
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