Johnson v. Teasdale

• Citation: 456 F. Supp. 1083
• Decision Date: 19 September 1978
• Docket Number: No. 78-4150-CV-C.,78-4150-CV-C.
• Parties: Gary Vincent JOHNSON, Plaintiff, v. Joseph P. TEASDALE, Governor of Missouri, John Ashcroft, Missouri Attorney General, Philip M. Koppe, Assistant Attorney General, James F. Walsh, Director, Missouri Department of Social Services, Bill Duncan, Investigator, Missouri Department of Social Services, John Dahm, Director of Community Services for the State of Missouri, Honorable Richard H. Ralston, United States Magistrate, Donald W. Wyrick, Warden, Missouri State Penitentiary, Bill Armontrout, Associate Warden of Institutional Services, Calvin Beard, Associate Warden of Program Services, and Joseph Keene, Chief Mail Room Officer, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

456 F. Supp. 1083

Gary Vincent JOHNSON, Plaintiff, v. Joseph P. TEASDALE, Governor of Missouri, John Ashcroft, Missouri Attorney General, Philip M. Koppe, Assistant Attorney General, James F. Walsh, Director, Missouri Department of Social Services, Bill Duncan, Investigator, Missouri Department of Social Services, John Dahm, Director of Community Services for the State of Missouri, Honorable Richard H. Ralston, United States Magistrate, Donald W. Wyrick, Warden, Missouri State Penitentiary, Bill Armontrout, Associate Warden of Institutional Services, Calvin Beard, Associate Warden of Program Services, and Joseph Keene, Chief Mail Room Officer, Defendants.

No. 78-4150-CV-C.

United States District Court, W. D. Missouri, C. D.

September 19, 1978.

Gary V. Johnson, pro se.

Paul Robert Otto, Chief Counsel, Crim. Div., Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ELMO B. HUNTER, District Judge.

Plaintiff, presently confined at the Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, has filed a pro se civil rights action against a large number of state officers and Magistrate Richard Ralston of this Court. Jurisdiction is alleged to lie under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff also seeks to prosecute this case as a class action on behalf of "all . . . persons who are currently, or may be in the future, inmates of the Missouri Department of Corrections."

The complaint alleges

that the defendants have conspired, are conspiring and will conspire in Conspiracy to the United States Federal Court in order to have inmate complaints dismissed and denied by Magistrate Judge Richard H. Ralston. . . . the plaintiff charges that defendant Judge Richard H. Ralston conspires and allows other defendants to conspire in a conspiracy in his court against inmates who file civil actions against the Warden Donald W. Wyrick . . .; that at pretrial processing and hearings before Judge Ralston inmates are forced to consent judgments and off the record deals . . . their complaints are dismissed by recommendation to Honorable Judge Hunter that after consent judgments and deals are made in Judge Ralston's Court the inmates complaints are dismissed at which time the consent judgment and or deal becomes void and the inmates rights continue to be denied. that inmates are forced to pretrial hearings without an attorney while the Warden and other defendants have as many as 3 attorneys representing them . . . thus allowing the conspiracy to take place without the plaintiffs being able to represent themselves. The defendants conspire against the plaintiffs by denying them the right to prison records and information much needed to represent a civil action in federal court, by denying them attorneys at pre-trial hearings, and by with-holding sic delaying and denying inmate legal mail to and from the prison as well as stoping sic mail which may interfere with his conspiracy. That the attorney general's office knowingly lies to the Court regarding matters relating to the conditions of confinement at the Missouri State Prison. . . .

The complaint also asserts that this conspiracy has denied prisoners their right to a jury trial.¹ As relief, plaintiff requests that the Court declare 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) unconstitutional to the extent that it denies plaintiff his right to a jury trial and other elements of due process; order that "all dismissed cases under section 1983 (be) reopened for processings dating back to the Special Order of the Court en banc effective December 22, 1976;" appoint counsel; and order a jury trial on all issues stated in the complaint.

Before turning to the legal issues presented by the complaint, it is necessary to discuss the procedures, order and statute attacked by plaintiff.

On December 22, 1976, this Court, sitting en banc, entered an order which provides in pertinent part:

It is hereby

ORDERED that all petitions for writs of habeas corpus or civil rights actions or any other civil action challenging conditions of confinement filed in the Central Division of this District be referred to the Honorable Richard H. Ralston, United States Magistrate . . . for the hearing and determination of all pretrial and prehearing matters under § 636(b)(1)(A), Title 28, United States Code . . ., and the taking of other action under § 636(b)(1)(B) of the same title and also Local Rule 26 of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. It is further

ORDERED that the United States magistrate acting hereunder shall cause any order and any proposed findings of fact and recommendation, or other action taken by him to be filed by the clerk and copies thereof distributed to the parties. Any party shall have a right to file written objections to any such proposed findings and recommendations or any other action taken by the magistrate within ten (10) days after being served with the proposed findings and recommendations or other action of the magistrate. Any matter which the magistrate has finally determined under the provisions of § 636(b)(1)(A), Title 28, United States Code . . ., shall be reviewable by a district judge to determine whether it is `clearly erroneous' or contrary to law. In respect to any proposed action by the magistrate, the district judge shall make a de novo determination of any proposed finding of fact to which timely objection is filed by any party and may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the proposed findings and recommendations and other action of the magistrate.

In addition to this order, plaintiff attacks 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1):

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary —

(A) a judge may designate a magistrate to hear and determine any pretrial matter pending before the court, except a motion for injunctive relief, for judgment on the pleadings, for summary judgment, to dismiss or quash an indictment or information made by the defendant, to suppress evidence in a criminal case, to dismiss or to permit maintenance of a class action, to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and to involuntarily dismiss an action. A judge of the court may reconsider any pretrial matter under this subparagraph (A) where it has been shown that the magistrate's order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law.

(B) a judge may also designate a magistrate to conduct hearings, including evidentiary hearings, and to submit to a judge of the court proposed findings of fact and recommendations for the disposition, by a judge of the court, of any motion excepted in subparagraph (A), of applications for posttrial relief made by individuals convicted of criminal offenses and of prisoner petitions challenging conditions of confinement.

(C) the magistrate shall file his proposed findings and recommendations under subparagraph (B) with the court and a copy shall forthwith be mailed to all parties. Within ten days after being served with a copy, any party may serve and file written objections to such proposed findings and recommendations as provided by rules of court. A judge of the court shall make a de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which objection is made. A judge of the court may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate. The judge may also receive further evidence or recommit the matter to the magistrate with instructions.

The pretrial conference procedure challenged by plaintiff was developed as an answer to unique problems presented by many pro se prisoner civil rights cases. See generally Federal Judicial Center, Recommended Procedures for Handling Prisoner Civil Rights Cases in the Federal Courts, Tentative Draft No. 2 (1977) (hereinafter Aldisert Report). The procedure has three purposes: First, it enables the Court to resolve any discovery problems that may have arisen during processing of a case. Second, the pretrial conference enables the Court to clarify crucial points in a complaint or determine the true nature of a prisoner's grievance through informal discussion. In many pro se prisoner actions, the factual allegations, legal claims, and requests for relief are not clear from the prisoner's written pleadings. Many prisoners submit complaints without any substantial factual allegations but seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, or a substantial damage award, when in reality they seek administrative aid concerning some problem. Typical cases in this class include requests for medical treatment or release from a segregation unit. A pretrial conference permits the court to inquire into the true problem underlying many prisoner complaints. Third, the pretrial conference allows the Court to resolve a substantial number of prisoner actions without a trial. A significant number of prisoner complaints are mooted after the complaint is filed. The pretrial conference discloses these actions and speeds their dismissal. Further, as noted previously, many prisoner complaints spring from a grievance or problem that can be resolved satisfactorily through administrative action by prison officials. The presiding judge or magistrate seeks to resolve such problems by acting as an informal arbitrator between prison officials and the complaining prisoner. This "grievance arbitration" provides the prisoner with the relief he actually seeks and ultimately results in dismissal of his action without prejudice.

The complaining prisoner and a supervisory official of the Missouri State Penitentiary, ordinarily Warden Wyrick, are present at the pretrial conference. An Assistant Attorney General, who represents the prison officials named as defendants, and counsel for the prisoner, if any, also attend. Magistrate Ralston of the Court presides. As a general rule, informal discussions during the conference are not recorded. Formal settlement agreements, admissions by a party, discovery orders, and similar...