Kaufman v. Carter

• Citation: 952 F.Supp. 520
• Decision Date: 09 December 1996
• Docket Number: No. 1:95-CV-313.,1:95-CV-313.
• Parties: Leonard KAUFMAN, Plaintiff, v. Carol CARTER, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

952 F.Supp. 520

Leonard KAUFMAN, Plaintiff, v. Carol CARTER, et al., Defendants.

No. 1:95-CV-313.

United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

December 9, 1996.

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Daniel E. Manville, Daniel E. Manville, PC, Ann Arbor, MI, Michael J. Steinberg, Michael J. Steinberg Law Office, Ann Arbor, MI, for Leonard Kaufman.

Steven E. Burnham, Kalamazoo County Corporation Counsel, Kalamazoo, MI, for Carol Carter, Carol Waligursky, Thomas Edmonds and County of Kalamazoo.

OPINION ADOPTING IN PART AND REJECTING IN PART MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

HILLMAN, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiff Leonard Kaufman brings constitutional and statutory claims against defendants Carol Carter and Carol Waligursky, nurses employed in the Kalamazoo County Jail, in their individual capacities. Also named as defendants are Sheriff Thomas Edmonds, in his individual and official capacities, and Kalamazoo County. This court now reviews plaintiff's objections to the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation ("R & R") which recommended summary judgment be granted to defendants on all counts.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, a bilateral amputee, is missing his left leg from above the knee and his right leg from below the knee as a result of a 1974 train accident. He uses a wheelchair and, on occasion, walks with the aid of prostheses. As a parole violator awaiting trial on new charges, plaintiff was incarcerated in the Kalamazoo County Jail from June 19, 1992 until October 22, 1992. He now brings a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that defendants were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, as interpreted under the standards of the Eighth Amendment. He also claims that the conditions of his confinement violated the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134. He initially brought an additional claim under the Michigan Handicapper's Act, Mich.Comp.Laws §§ 37.1101 et seq., but has waived his appeal as to the Magistrate Judge's recommendation to grant summary judgment on this claim.

First, plaintiff claims that the jail was deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. During his confinement, plaintiff alleges, he requested rubbing alcohol so that he could clean his prosthetic limbs and "ace wraps" so that he could maintain the size of his leg stumps while not wearing his prostheses. He claims that these requests were refused. As a result, his stumps swelled and he was not able to use his prostheses. He asserts that he was confined to his wheelchair until March 31, 1995, when he was able to have new prostheses fitted.

Plaintiff also alleges that Sick Bay No. 3, the five-person cell where he was confined, violated the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA in a number of ways. He alleges that the shower was too narrow to accommodate his wheelchair. Also, because it lacked handrails and non-slip flooring materials, he faced great difficulty in transferring himself from his wheelchair to the shower bench. He claims that this arrangement caused him to fall at one point while attempting to use the shower. As a result, he was taken by ambulance to a local emergency room and diagnosed as having pulled a back muscle. Plaintiff further claims he was unable to maintain proper hygiene due to his difficulties with the shower, and was harassed by cellmates due to his odor. Plaintiff also asserts that the toilet in Sick Bay No. 3 was inaccessible to him. He claims that it lacked both handrails and a seat, and was set into a narrow stall into which he could not maneuver his wheelchair. He claims that on occasion he either fell to the floor while attempting to transfer between his wheelchair and the toilet, or fell directly into the toilet water, which required his cellmates to pull him out of the bowl. These events, he asserts, left him bruised and humiliated. He claims that the cell's drinking fountain and sink were inaccessible to him, and that their design once caused him to fall while attempting to get a drink of water. He also claims that he could not reach the telephone without assistance from fellow inmates. Plaintiff alleges that he informed defendant nurses of each of these inadequacies, to no avail. He acknowledges that defendants installed a new bed in response to his complaints, but claims that it remained deficient in several respects.

Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief and money damages in response to these alleged violations of his rights.

Defendants moved alternatively to dismiss plaintiff's claims and for summary judgment. The magistrate judge recommended granting summary judgment to defendants on all of plaintiff's claims. Thereafter the magistrate judge granted leave for plaintiff to file his objections to the R & R out of time.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standard of Review

This court reviews de novo those portions of the R & R to which objections are made. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b). The court may accept, reject, or modify any or all of the magistrate judge's findings or recommendations. Id.

B. Summary Judgment Standards

Summary judgment facilitates the overall goals of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which are "to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). A motion for summary judgment will be granted where "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The burden is on the moving party to show that no genuine issues of material fact exist. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2514, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Once the moving party presents a prima facie showing that he or she is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the party opposing the motion may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials in its pleadings but must set forth specific facts showing that a genuine issue for trial exists. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 256-57, 106 S.Ct. at 2514-15. "[T]he plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment ... against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and upon which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. at 2552. However, "[t]he evidence of the non-movant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. at 2513.

C. Plaintiff's Deliberate Indifference Claim

Plaintiff claims that the named defendants violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by their deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. He alleges that defendants intentionally failed to provide him with the rubbing alcohol and wrapping materials needed to maintain the stumps of his amputated legs in a condition that would accept prostheses. As a result, he claims, he lost the ability to ambulate until new prostheses could be fitted to his enlarged stumps in 1995.

The magistrate judge noted that plaintiff admitted receiving some medical care from defendants, and concluded that plaintiff's deliberate indifference claim essentially concerns the adequacy of his treatment rather than whether his needs were ignored. The R & R also addressed the constitutional status of plaintiff's conditions of confinement. This claim was never directly raised by plaintiff and the magistrate judge apparently addressed it in response to issues raised by defendants. Nevertheless, the magistrate judge recommended granting summary judgment for defendants on both claims, concluding that plaintiff's claims failed under either Eighth Amendment theory.

Plaintiff's objection to the R & R speaks only to the recommendation regarding whether the conditions of plaintiff's confinement were unconstitutional. As plaintiff did not plead in his complaint a claim regarding condition of confinement, I decline to address it at this time.

Because plaintiff made no objection to the magistrate judge's recommendation that defendants' motion for summary judgment be granted as to his deliberate indifference claim, he has effectively waived review of that claim. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C); United States v. Walters, 638 F.2d 947, 949-50 (6th Cir.1981). However, this rule is procedural rather than jurisdictional. "[W]hile [§ 636(b)(1)(C)] does not require the judge to review an issue de novo if no objections are filed, it does not preclude further review by the district judge, sua sponte or at the request of a party, under a de novo or any other standard." Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 154, 106 S.Ct. 466, 474, 88 L.Ed.2d 435 (1985). Because of the importance of this claim, this court will exercise its discretionary review over the magistrate judge's recommendation notwithstanding plaintiff's failure to properly preserve this claim.

The constitutional standards pertaining to the Eighth Amendment also govern the conditions of pretrial detention. A pretrial detainee is not, strictly speaking, undergoing punishment, as he or she has not been judged guilty of an offense. See Danese v. Asman, 875 F.2d 1239, 1242 (6th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1027, 110 S.Ct. 1473, 108 L.Ed.2d 610 (1990), citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1871, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). However, "[t]he eighth amendment rights of prisoners are analogized to those of detainees under the fourteenth amendment, to avoid the anomaly of extending greater constitutional protection to a convict than to one awaiting trial." Roberts v. City of Troy, 773 F.2d 720, 723 (...