Lapine v. Savoie
| Decision Date | 27 October 2014 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2:14-cv-145 |
| Parties | DARRIN LAPINE, Plaintiff, v. ROBERT SAVOIE et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
Honorable R. Allan Edgar
This is a civil rights action brought by a state prisoner pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court has denied Plaintiff leave to proceed in forma pauperis. He thereafter paid the entire $400.00 filing fee. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, PUB. L. NO. 104-134, 110 STAT. 1321 (1996), the Court is required to dismiss any prisoner action brought under federal law if the complaint is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A; 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c). The Court must read Plaintiff's pro se complaint indulgently, see Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972), and accept Plaintiff's allegations as true, unless they are clearly irrational or wholly incredible. Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992). Applying these standards, the Court will dismiss Plaintiff's claims against Defendants Chambers, Peppler, Lambros, Garchow, Marra, Gordon, Ewing, Lawrence, Donnal, Bias, Postma, Unknown Part(y)(ies) #1, and Unknown Part(y)(ies) #2. The Court will order service of the complaint on the remaining Defendants.
Plaintiff Darrin LaPine presently is incarcerated with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) and housed at the Lakeland Correctional Facility, though the actions about which he complains occurred while he was housed at the Chippewa County Correctional Facility (CCCF), a county jail. Plaintiff sues the following MDOC employees in the division of Parole and Probation: Agent Bruce Garchow; Officers Nathan Marra and Stephanie Gordon; and Supervisor Steve Ewing. He also sues the following current and former Chippewa County officials: Sheriff Robert Savoie; Undersheriff Michele Bitner; former Lieutenant and current Tether Agent John Horke; Sergeant Dannette Rose; Corporals Ashley Reid and Chad Sibbal; Lieutenant Paul Stanaway; Deputies Marcie Kibble, Jordan Perry and David Hall; Detective Sergeant Greg Postma; Doctors Robert Graham and (unknown) Cullinan; Nurse Terri Lightfoot; Defense Attorney James Bias; Prosecutors Elizabeth Chambers and Brian Peppler; Judge Nicholas Lambros; and other unknown Chippewa County employees (Unknown Part(y)(ies) #2). Plaintiff also sues two inmates, George Lawrence and Raymond Donnal, as well as the unknown correctional healthcare company employed by Chippewa County (Unknown Part(y)(ies) #1), whom Plaintiff names as "Corrections Healthcare Companies" (CHC).
Over the course of his 37-page civil complaint, Plaintiff complains about the allegedly unconstitutional conduct of 26 Defendants between November 16, 2009 and May 30, 2012. His allegations range from having to witness a suicide attempt to being denied any grievance process, from being denied permission to attend his mother's funeral to being falsely accused of misconduct,from being denied medical attention to being unfairly treated during his probation-violation hearing.1 Petitioner strings his claims together by allegations that Defendants have conspired to retaliate against him for filing complaints.
On November 17, 2009, while in a jail holding cell, Petitioner witnessed another prisoner begin to have convulsions and eventually die. According to Plaintiff, Defendants Kibble and Stanaway, as well as Deputy Priskorn, made insufficient attempts to save the prisoner's life, and Stanaway and Priskorn laughed at the convulsions. Plaintiff filed statements against these Defendants and contacted the deceased inmate's family. Plaintiff was moved to the Mackinac County Jail shortly thereafter.
Plaintiff returned to CCCF on February 28, 2010, and he subsequently had conflict with Defendant Kibble and other staff, allegedly as the result of his statement. Plaintiff again left the facility in April 2010 and returned on May 5, 2010, where he remained until May 30, 2012.
Plaintiff alleges that CCCF has a custom or policy of not providing a grievance process or constitutionally adequate disciplinary proceedings on misconduct charges. He therefore contends that Defendants Savoie, Bitner, Horke, Rose and Reid are responsible for all of the due process violations he raises in his complaint. Plaintiff contends that he has filed a complaint or letter of concern about every incident described in his complaint. (Compl., docket #1, Page ID#10.) According to Plaintiff, at some unspecified time, some unspecified staff member withheld unspecified "court materials" in retaliation for his grievances. (Id.)
Plaintiff next complains that CCCF female officers have unrestricted access to the video monitors, allowing them to directly observe Plaintiff and other male inmates.
On March 10, 2011, the day Plaintiff was informed of his mother's death, Deputy Spencer, who is not a Defendant in this action, slammed Plaintiff's foot in the visitation room door. Another deputy not named as a Defendant intervened in the confrontation. The following day, Defendant Garchow interviewed Plaintiff on grievances Plaintiff had filed. Garchow allegedly told Plaintiff to sign off on the grievances or there would be consequences. Garchow told Plaintiff that he would not be allowed to attend his mother's funeral. Plaintiff allegedly responded, "I'll be seeing you Bruce." Garchow took the response to be a threat, and he wrote a "fabricated" report about the incident, which eventually was forwarded to Defendant Prosecutor Peppler. (Id. at 11.) The report was used to increase and then deny Plaintiff's bond. It also was used in the PreSentence Investigation Report (PSIR). Plaintiff contends that the report caused numerous violations of his rights, including perjury, false imprisonment, obstruction of justice and denial of access to the courts, among other things.
On July 25, 2011, Plaintiff was accused of assaulting Jerry Anderson. Plaintiff was moved to a detention cell by Defendant Sibbal and two non-Defendant deputies, Priskorn and Deprekle. Plaintiff complains that he did not receive a notice of charges or a hearing, but the incident nevertheless was placed in his PSIR. He admits, however, that the incident was removed from the PSIR on October 11, 2011. Plaintiff remained in segregation for an extended period of time. At some point, either immediately before or after Plaintiff entered detention, Plaintiff "received lacerations etc and landed on a steel table and concrete." (Id.) Plaintiff claims that Defendants Rose, Horke, Bitner and Savoie all denied his requests for medical treatment either inperson or in writing. However, on July 29, 2011, Plaintiff was taken to the hospital for an x-ray, which revealed a hematoma on his left rib cage, and Plaintiff was told that he had a fracture.
Defendant Sibbal placed Plaintiff in the attorney-client room to speak with Hiawatha Behavioral Health (HBH). Before being taken to the room, Plaintiff stated that he needed to urinate. When Plaintiff finished with HBH, he called the control center twice, speaking with Julie Deprekle (not a Defendant) and telling her that he needed to urinate badly. She said that she would tell Defendant Sibbal. When he called a second time, she was surprised that he had not been taken back. Plaintiff called back two more times and spoke to Defendants Sibbal and Perry, telling them that he needed to urinate. They laughed at him, and he eventually urinated on himself. After another hour, he was taken back to his cell. He had to wait two more hours to get clean undershorts and a jumpsuit.
On August 23, 2011, a doctor injected Plaintiff's rib cage to treat the injury he incurred on July 25, 2011. The doctor also increased his xanax from two milligrams three times per day to two milligrams four times per day. Shortly thereafter, Defendant Dr. Graham unilaterally changed the prescription back to three times per day, by using white-out on the prescription label. Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Smith investigated the incident and Defendant Graham subsequently was removed from CCCF.
On October 3, 2011, CHC took over healthcare at CCCF. According to Plaintiff, Dr. Cullinan stopped all of his medications, courses of treatment, doctor appointments, physical therapy and scheduled surgeries without explanation. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Rose, Horke, Bitner and Savoie were directly involved in the denial of treatment. He also alleges that Defendant CHC is liable as the provider of health services.
That same day, Plaintiff was accused of assaulting another prisoner, Frank Killips, III, and Defendants Stanaway and Hall moved Plaintiff from his unit to I-Max-5, a segregation unit. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Rose and Horke were responsible for providing him due process, but he never received notice of any alleged misconduct, nor did he receive a hearing or written finding. The assault charge was used at his May 2, 2012 violation hearing. Defendants Rose and Reid forwarded the information to Plaintiff's probation and parole agent, Defendant Marra, who allegedly conspired with Defendant Chambers to place it in the PSIR. Deputy Thomas Lawler allegedly told Plaintiff that Defendant Savoie had stated that Plaintiff would remain in I-Max for the duration of his time at CCCF.
Plaintiff claims that, on approximately October 13, 2011, he learned from Defendant Stanaway that Defendant Reid had made false allegations that Plaintiff had been insolent. Plaintiff did not receive a notice or hearing. Plaintiff learned of the misconduct allegations when Defendants Reid and Rose refused to allow Plaintiff to participate in a scheduled call to his attorney. The charges apparently arose from Defendant Reid having overheard Plaintiff inquire of Deputy Heidi Kushne, "[w]hy some staff had their heads up their posterior." (Id. at 13.) Pl...
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