Price v. District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 09 April 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-884 (RBW).,07-884 (RBW).
• Parties: Milton PRICE, Plaintiff, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

545 F.Supp.2d 89

Milton PRICE, Plaintiff, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.¹

No. 07-884 (RBW).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

April 9, 2008.

Allison M. Lefrak, Eric A. Dubelier, Reed Smith, Ivy Ann Lange, Washington Lawyers committee for Civil Kignts, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Michael P. Bruckheim, Office of the Attorney General, District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

REGGIE B. WALTON, District Judge.

On June 1, 2007, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint against the defendants pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006), alleging violations of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, District of Columbia Code § 24-211.02 (2004), and common law negligence. Amended Complaint ("Am.Compl.") ¶ 1. Currently before this Court are defendants Devon Brown's and Stanley Waldren's motions to dismiss the plaintiffs claims against them pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted). Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Defendant Devon Brown's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Amended Complaint ("Def. Brown's Mot.") at 1;² Defendant Stanley Waldren's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Amended Complaint ("Def. Waldren's Mot.") at l.³ Upon consideration of the pleadings, the supporting memoranda submitted by the parties, and the applicable legal authority, the Court finds that the defendants' motions to dismiss must be granted for the reasons that follow.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND⁴

During August 2006, and all other times relevant to this lawsuit, the plaintiff, Milton Price, was incarcerated in the District of Columbia Central Detention Facility ("DC Jail"). Am. Compl. ¶ 5; On August 1, Price was moved to, the Administrative Segregation Unit for using a cup the DC Jail considered to be contraband. Id. ¶ 14. While in that unit the plaintiff was assigned to share a cell with an inmate named "Dock" Roach, who was charged with homicide. Id. ¶ 15. After discovering that Roach had "killed people," the plaintiff requested without success that he be moved to a different cell. Id. 16. On August 18, Price went before the Adjustment Board for a hearing regarding the contraband cup. Id. ¶ 17. The Adjustment Board sentenced him to time served and told him he would be moved from his cell in the Administration Segregation Unit and returned to general population. Id.

The plaintiff was not moved to general population following the hearing as he had been told and on August 20, after observing that Roach had made a makeshift knife, Price asked Correctional Officer Watson if he could be moved to an unoccupied cell in the Segregation Unit for his safety. Id. ¶¶ 19-20. Officer Watson told Price that he would have to wait until the next morning to request that he be moved to another cell. Id. ¶ 20. The following morning Price reiterated his request to Correctional Officer Berry and was yet again told he would have to wait until the following day to make his request, when he could direct it to Sergeant Hall. Id. ¶ 21. The next day while Price thought Roach was sleeping, he gave a note to Sergeant Hall wherein he asked to be moved to a different cell, stating "[t]here is too much tension in this cell." Id. ¶ 22. Roach apparently heard Mr. Price passing the note, somehow realized what Price was conveying in the note, and told Sergeant Hall that he "agreed there was tension in the cell and if Mr. Price was not moved, Mr. Roach would stab him." Id. ¶ 23. In response to Roach's statement, Sergeant Hall allegedly told Roach, "do what you do." Id. Approximately fifteen minutes later, Roach stabbed Price in the back of the head with a knife and then repeatedly punched him, including punching Price one time in the left eye. Id. ¶ 24.

During the early morning hours of August 23, 2006, Officer Whitby noticed blood on Price's head. Id. ¶ 26. Price again asked to be moved to a different cell and was told by Officer Whitby that it was "up to Sergeant Hall." Id. About an hour later, Corporal Satonya Eggleston noticed Price's injury and had him taken to the infirmary. Id. ¶ 32-33. At the infirmary, Price was examined by a physician's assistant and was then transported to Greater Southeast Community Hospital where he received 12 stitches for the injury to his head, and his eye was examined. Id. Price contends that his "previously perfect vision is [now] impaired" by "decreased vision in his left eye and [that] he suffers from neck pain and headaches that he did not experience prior to [Roach's] assault." Id. ¶ 134.

Price has brought this action against the District of Columbia government and several of its employees, including defendants Brown and Waldren. He asserts, among other things, that the District of Columbia, and Warden Waldren in his official capacity as the Acting Warden of the DC Jail, id. ¶ 8, violated his Eighth Amendment right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by railing to protect him from harm by another inmate. (Count II). Id. ¶¶ 47-52. He also asserts that his Eighth Amendment right was violated by the District of Columbia, Director Brown in his official capacity as the Director of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections ("DCDC"), and Warden Waldren in his official capacity, by failing to "properly train and supervise [DC Jail] officers and employees, and their agents" in the policies and procedures designed to protect inmates from assault by other inmates (Count III). Id. ¶¶ 54-58. Price further contends that under D.C.Code § 24-211.02 and the common law, the District of Columbia, and Director Brown and Warden Waldren, in their official capacities, negligently supervised the inmate population and thereby breached a duty they owed to him (Count IV). Id. ¶¶ 59-63. Finally, as to the District of Columbia, and Director Brown and Warden Waldren in their official capacities, Price alleges that they negligently trained their staff and agents "in the proper safekeeping, care, protection, instruction and supervision of inmates. ..." (Count V). Id. ¶ 66; see also id. ¶¶ 64-69. Because of these alleged acts or omissions, Price is requesting compensatory and punitive damages, reasonable attorneys' fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 (2006), and "other relief as this Court deems just and proper." Id. at 15.

In their motions to dismiss, Brown and Waldren argue that they have been improperly named as parties in the case, having been sued solely in their official capacities as the Director of the DCDC and the Acting Warden of the DC Jail, respectively. Def. Brown's Mot. at 1; Def. Waldren's Mot. at 1. In their replies to the plaintiffs response to their motions to dismiss, defendants Brown and Waldren both also assert that they are entitled to dismissal of the negligence claims under the doctrine of respondeat superior. Def. Brown's Reply at 2; Def. Waldren's Reply at 2.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim Under Rule 12(b)(6)

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) provides that a motion to dismiss may be granted when the plaintiff fails to "state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). When ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the "complaint is construed liberally in the plaintiffs favor, and [the court must] grant [the] plaintiffs the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from the facts alleged." Kowal v. MCI Commc'ns Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994). The Court need not, however, "accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation." Papasan v. Attain, 478 U.S. 265, 286, 106 S.Ct. 2932, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986).

III. ANALYSIS

Defendants Brown and Waldren move for dismissal on the ground that having been sued only in their official capacities, the claims against them are redundant of the claims filed against the District of Columbia, and therefore they are not proper defendants in this action.⁵ Def. Brown's Mot. at 1; Def. Waldren's Mot. at 1. In opposition, the plaintiff responds that (1) precedent does not require a suit against a government official in his or her official capacity to be summarily dismissed, and (2) the common law claims of negligence against Brown and Waldren prevent them from being immediately dismissed because their "designation in the case as being sued in [their]`official' capacity is not relevant to the analysis of [their] liability under common law." PL's Opp'n to Brown's Mot. at 2, 6; PL's Opp'n to Waldren's Mot. at 2, 5.

In reply, Brown and Waldren argue that the common law claims of negligence against them should be dismissed because, under the doctrine of respondeat superior, "the negligent training and supervision claim against defendants] Brown [and Waldren are] unnecessary, duplicative theories] of liability ... [,]" and because the District of Columbia has acknowledged that Brown and Waldren were acting within the scope of their employment and therefore the District will already be liable for any proven negligence. Def. Brown's Reply at 2; Def. Waldren's Reply at 2. In his surreplies, the plaintiff responds that the claims against Brown and Waldren for their negligent supervision of the DC Jail inmate population (Count IV) are distinct and independent from his claim that they negligently supervised the DC Jail employees (Count V). PL's Sur. Reply to Brown's .Reply at 1-2; PL's Sur. Reply to Waldren's Reply at 1-2. The plaintiff further argues that as to the negligent inmate supervision claims, the District's ultimate assumption of liability under respondeat superior is irrelevant to whether defendants Brown and Waldren, as employers themselves, are liable for being "negligent, along with others, in the negligent supervision of the inmates." PL's Sur. Reply to Brown's Reply at 1-2; PL's Sur. Reply to Waldren's Reply at 1-2. Regarding his negligent claims directed at the training and supervision of the correctional officers, the plaintiff contends that whether defendants Brown and...