Parzyck v. Prison Health Serv., Inc.

• Citation: 627 F.3d 1215
• Decision Date: 13 December 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-12483,09-12483
• Parties: Joseph Chester PARZYCK, III, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PRISON HEALTH SERVICES, INC., et al., Defendants, Daniel P. Cherry, Dr., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

627 F.3d 1215 Joseph Chester PARZYCK, III, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PRISON HEALTH SERVICES, INC., et al., Defendants, Daniel P. Cherry, Dr., Defendant-Appellee. No. 09-12483. United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. Dec. 13, 2010.

Jason Todd Burnette, Jones Day, Atlanta, GA, Thomas S. Jones (Court-Appointed), Leon F. DeJulius, Jr., Jones Day, Pittsburgh, PA, for Parzyck.

Shelly L. Marks, Tallahassee, FL, for Cherry.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Before BARKETT and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and HUNT,^* District Judge.

BARKETT, Circuit Judge:

Joseph Parzyck, III, a Florida prisoner, appeals the dismissal without prejudice of his third amended complaint for failure to exhaust administrative remedies pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), which was enacted as part of the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA"). Parzyck filed a pro se 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint alleging that prison medical personnel were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. ¹ Ultimately, he filed the third amended complaint at issue in this case, leaving Dr. Daniel Cherry, the Chief Health Officer at the Apalachee Correctional Institution ("ACI"), as the sole defendant. Parzyck alleged that Dr. Cherry, as Chief Health Officer, violated his Eighth Amendment rights by denying him consultations with an orthopedic specialist recommended by prison medical personnel for his severe back pain. The only issue before us in this appeal is whether Parzyck exhausted his administrative remedies prior to filing suit.²

Section 1997e(a), enacted as part of the PLRA, provides that a prisoner must exhaust all available administrative remedies before bringing a federal action challenging prison conditions. See Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 738, 121 S.Ct. 1819, 149 L.Ed.2d 958 (2001). The PLRA seeks to eliminate unwarranted interference with the administration of prisons in order to "afford corrections officials time and opportunity to address complaints internally before allowing the initiation of a federal case." Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 93, 126 S.Ct. 2378, 165 L.Ed.2d 368 (2006) (alteration and quotation marks omitted). "Compliance with prison grievance procedures, therefore, is all that isrequired by the PLRA to 'properly exhaust.' " Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 218, 127 S.Ct. 910, 166 L.Ed.2d 798 (2007).

The grievance procedures promulgated by the Florida Department of Corrections ("FDOC") require an inmate to (1) file an informal grievance to the staff member responsible for the particular area of the problem, Fla. Admin. Code Ann. r. 33-103.005(1)(a); (2) file a formal grievance with the warden's office, id. at r. 33-103.006(1); and (3) submit an appeal to the Office of the Secretary of the FDOC, id. at r. 33-103.007(1). However, if an inmate is filing a medical grievance, as was the case here, the initial informal grievance step may be omitted. Id. at r. 33-103.006(3)(e).

In November 2006, Parzyck filed an informal grievance complaining that he had been waiting three months for a promised orthopedic consultation for his continual and severe back pain and asking to be seen by an orthopedist immediately. The grievance was returned with instructions to file a formal grievance, as an informal grievance was unnecessary for a medical complaint. Parzyck did so and received a response stating that his medical chart would be reviewed. When he was still not granted a referral, Parzyck submitted an appeal to the Office of the Secretary. In January 2007, while the appeal was pending, Dr. Cherry was appointed as Chief Health Officer and Parzyck again requested an orthopedic consultation, which was denied by Dr. Cherry. On March 13, 2007, the Office of the Secretary denied Parzyck's appeal on the ground that it was "the responsibility of [the] Chief Health Officer to determine the appropriate treatment regimen for the condition [he was] experiencing." On May 17, 2007-two months after having completely exhausted the FDOC's administrative grievance procedures-Parzyck filed his original complaint in federal court.

While his lawsuit was pending, Parzyck again filed a grievance regarding the failure to provide promised referrals to specialists for his severe back pain. Dr. Cherry denied this grievance, and Parzyck appealed to the Office of the Secretary, specifically referencing Dr. Cherry's earlier denial of his request for an orthopedic consultation. This appeal was denied on July 22, 2008. Three months after fully exhausting this second round of the FDOC's administrative grievance procedures-on October 28, 2008-Parzyck filed his third amended complaint.

The district court determined that because Parzyck's first grievance only addressed acts and omissions that occurred before Dr. Cherry's appointment as Chief Health Officer, Dr. Cherry could not be held liable and therefore, Parzyck's first grievance did not exhaust administrative remedies as to any claim against him. As to the second grievance, the district court held that it did not exhaust administrative remedies because Parzyck did not complete the administrative review process before he filed his original complaint, even though it had been completed before his third amended complaint was filed.

We find that under the facts of this case, the district court erred in concluding that Parzyck had not exhausted all available administrative remedies before filing the original complaint. In holding that Parzyck had not exhausted his first grievance against Dr. Cherry because it referenced acts that occurred before he became Chief Health Officer, the district court confused the question of Dr. Cherry's liability on the merits of the claim...