In re Sims
| Decision Date | 18 July 2008 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 06-0644-op. |
| Citation | 534 F.3d 117 |
| Parties | In re: Nathaniel SIMS. Nathaniel Sims, Petitioner, v. Mike J. Blot, Correctional Officer, Francisco Caraballo, Correctional Officer, Respondents. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
& Moore, New York, NY, on the brief), for Petitioner.
Robert C. Weisz, Assistant Solicitor General, New York, NY (Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Michael S. Belohlavek, Senior Counsel, New York, NY, on the brief), for Respondents.
Before: KEARSE, LEVAL, and CABRANES, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner Nathaniel Sims, a New York State ("State") prisoner who is pursuing an action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against State corrections officers for the alleged use of excessive force against him on December 20, 1999, seeks a writ of mandamus to set aside a discovery order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Loretta A. Preska, Judge, requiring disclosure of Sims's privileged psychiatric treatment records for the period December 20, 1997, through January 20, 2000. The district court ruled that Sims's deposition testimony as to communications with mental health professionals waived his privilege of confidentiality with respect to psychotherapist-patient communications, and that fairness required that Sims disclose his psychiatric records to respondents notwithstanding his withdrawal of any claims for emotional injury damages beyond those ordinarily associated with a conventional claim for pain and suffering resulting from an assault and physical injury, and his renunciation of any reliance on evidence as to, inter alia, his fears of corrections officers. In his petition for mandamus, Sims argues principally that the district court erred as a matter of law in finding (a) that he had waived the privilege, and (b) that there would be unfairness in denying respondents' access to his mental health records. For the reasons that follow, we grant the writ of mandamus and reverse the order for disclosure.
The present petition arises out of an altercation that occurred on December 20, 1999 (the "December 20 incident") during a routine strip frisk of Sims, who was then an inmate at New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility ("Sing Sing"). Sims contends that respondents Mike Blot and Francisco Caraballo, Sing Sing corrections officers, physically assaulted him without provocation or justification. Respondents contend instead that Sims started the altercation. The history of the proceedings leading to this petition-spanning two actions—is not in dispute.
Sims initially filed a § 1983 complaint pro se in the Southern District of New York ("SDNY") in February 2000 ("Pro Se Complaint" or "original complaint"), using the SDNY complaint form for pro se prisoners, against respondents and seven others (collectively "defendants"), requesting money damages, injunctive relief, and termination of the defendants' employment. With respect to Blot and Caraballo, the complaint described the December 20 incident as follows:
I was told to stay facing the wall[,] hand back my shirt. This done I was told to hand back my shoes. This done I was told to remove my pants and hand them back. When I reached down to take my pants off, CO. M. Blot punched me in the back of my head and then grabbed me around my chest pinning my arms at my side and slammed me to the floor. At this time C.O.s Carabello [sic], White, and McDonough commensed [sic] to kick, stomp and punch me about my head, neck, shoulders and back. I yelled out for Sgt. Hasse to come and intervene to no avail. While I was struggling to cover up from being either kicked or punched in a vital area, my feet was grabbed and held by someone while CO. M. Blot placed his knee in my side and kept punching me in my head. CO. F. Carabello, [sic] shouted, "You hit a f____ing officer, you piece of s____, we'll kill you." At this time, CO. F. Carabello, [sic] pulled his pocket knife and swung down in a stabbing motion. I twisted away as best I could but was cut by his knife anyway....
(Pro Se Complaint Item IV.) In response to the SDNY complaint form's instruction to describe any injuries sustained, Sims stated, "I received a laceration over eye that required five [5] steri-strips to close; I also had swelling to right shoulder, pain medication given." (Id. Item V-A.)
In August 2003, after the claims against all of the defendants other than Blot and Caraballo had been dismissed, either on summary judgment or by stipulation, Sims's complaint was dismissed on the ground that he had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. In the meantime, there were discovery proceedings in 2000-2002 leading to the order at issue here.
Defendants scheduled Sims's deposition for December 2000. Sims asked the district court either to relieve him of the obligation to give pretrial testimony in the form of a deposition or to appoint counsel to represent him. The court denied both requests in an order filed on November 28, 2000, and denied a renewed request for the appointment of counsel in an order filed on December 11, 2000. The court stated that Sims would be allowed to renew his request for assignment of counsel after submitting a copy of the transcript of his deposition.
Defendants proceeded to depose Sims. Assistant Attorney General ("AAG") Nicola N. Grey, representing the defendants, questioned Sims, representing himself.
Q. Can you please describe for me what happened to you on December 20th, 1999?
A. Yes. I was coming back into the special housing unit at Sing Sing from the hospital, and Officers Blot, Carabello [sic], White, and McDonough were standing around the strip frisk area waiting for me to come in. When I got in I had a few words with Officer Blot which basically stem from prior confrontation I had with him a week earlier. While I was standing there waiting to get processed back in the guy from [the Inspector General's office] came in and I tried to stop him to speak to him, let him know that I had a feeling that this was about ready to get a little bit out of hand, and I wanted him to stick around. He said that he couldn't stop at that particular moment, but he would come see me a little later on.
(Deposition of Nathaniel Sims, December 28, 2000 ("Sims Dep."), at 15.) Sims stated that he began removing items of clothing as instructed by Blot, and
while I was taking my pants off he hit me.
Q. Then what happened after that?
A. Rushed me, grabbed me, bear hug, threw me to the floor, and the rest of the officers commenced to helping [sic] him out here. In the process of that—
Q. What do you mean by helping him out?
A. Helping him to physically assault me. In the process of that, Officer Carabello [sic] yelled out to me: You hit an officer! I'll kill your effen' behind. Okay. So while they was punching on me and everything I seen him swing down, I moved my head and he cut me [with a knife].... Eventually they put handcuffs and shackles on me and rushed me down to the ER.
(Id. at 16.)
Sims testified that he was returned to the special housing unit ("SHU") on the night of the incident; but on the next day, he was moved back to the hospital and placed in the psychiatric satellite unit ("PSU"). (See id. at 18.) Sims stated that he was not on PSU status at that time but was kept in the PSU for several weeks thereafter "for security reasons." (Id.) The AAG questioned Sims about his PSU status:
Q. Okay. I want to direct you to your complaint. It states in your complaint that you were being returned from PSU, mental health unit, prior to the incident?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have PSU status at that time?
A. At that time I did, yes.
Q. So on 12/20/99 prior to—
A. Prior to that.
Q.—prior to returning to the SHU you had—
A. I was admitted on the PSU.
Q. How long were you in PSU?
A. From the 13th, 12/13 to—no, 12/13/99. Pardon me.
Q. And why were you admitted to the PSU?
A. They thought I was kind [of] bugging. What happened was I punched the plexiglas and broke it, and cut my hand. This is basically what started all this. Officer Blot and Officer Carabello [sic] had just beaten up on a crazy inmate and I spoke up. That's basically what happened. And because of that it escalated to—first they was talking about coming to my cell, and I was like: All right! Fine! We can do that. And I had a pen, and I had a cup of liquid detergent and they was saying that I was threatening to throw it on them, this crazy nonsense. But that's what started all this. That's where the week earlier came from where we had the words.
....
... What they end up doing was moving me and putting me behind glass. And I felt that there was no need to be placed behind glass because I hadn't thrown anything, hadn't threatened to throw anything, so I broke the glass.
....
Q. And after you broke the glass what happened?
A. Well, because I end up cutting myself with the glass they felt that I was really, really out of it. They sent me upstairs to PSU to calm down, basically. And I ended up staying up there for about a week. I came back that Monday which was [December] 20th. I believe that was the Monday.
Q. Okay. So, prior to getting escorted to SHU they took you off of PSU status.
A. Right.
One of those sued by Sims in his original complaint was Lorraine Del Santo, a psychiatric nurse. Asked why he had made her a defendant, Sims responded that although Del Santo was not present at the December 20 incident, she had been included because Sims had told her prior to the incident that he "had been threatened by two of these officers on a regular basis." (Id. at 30.) The AAG questioned Sims about that conversation:
Q. How did you make your complaint...
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