Rowe v. Lemon

• Decision Date: 26 November 2012
• Docket Number: No. 49A02–1204–PL–344.,49A02–1204–PL–344.
• Citation: 976 N.E.2d 129
• Parties: Jeffrey Allen ROWE, Appellant–Plaintiff, v. Bruce LEMON, et al, Appellees–Defendants.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

976 N.E.2d 129

Jeffrey Allen ROWE, Appellant–Plaintiff,

v.Bruce LEMON, et al, Appellees–Defendants.

No. 49A02–1204–PL–344.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

Oct. 9, 2012.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 26, 2012.

Jeffrey Allen Rowe, Pendleton, IN, Appellant Pro Se.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Kathy Bradley, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellees.

OPINION

BARNES, Judge.

Case Summary

Jeffrey Rowe appeals the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Bruce Lemmon, L.A. VanNatta, Mark Dodd, Stephen Hall, and Wayne Scaife (collectively “the Defendants”). We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

Issues

We restate the dispositive issues before us as:

I. whether Rowe is entitled to pursue monetary damages against the Defendants under either 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”); and

II. whether there is a genuine issue of material fact precluding summary judgment on Rowe's claims under RLUIPA.¹

Facts

On December 8, 2010, Judge Magnus–Stinson of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana entered a permanent injunction, to be effective within forty-five days, requiring the Indiana Department of Correction (“DOC”) to provide meals certified as kosher to “all inmates who, for sincerely held religious reasons, request them in writing.” App. p. 148. The injunction was not limited only to Jewish inmates, and it resulted from a class action lawsuit brought by DOC inmates under RLUIPA, a federal statute, after the DOC stopped offering certified kosher meals to inmates. In place of the kosher meals, the DOC had been offering a vegan diet option to those inmates instead. As stated by Judge Magnus–Stinson, the DOC had previously provided kosher meals not only to Jewish inmates, but also to non-Jewish inmates who had “a sincerely held religious reason” for requesting them. Id. at 121. Judge Magnus–Stinson also noted, as the DOC essentially conceded, that the vegan diet option was not kosher. In other words,

despite the fact that the ingredients used in vegan meals are themselves kosher, the parties agree that a meal made from these ingredients is not necessarily kosher: The problem lies in the preparation, for if, at any point, non-kosher ingredients, water, or plates/utensils that have touched non-kosher food contaminates the vegan food, the meal is no longer kosher.

Id. at 125–26. The kosher meals that the DOC had been serving were prepackaged offsite, so as to avoid any possible contamination with prohibited foods.

On January 19, 2011, Rowe, an inmate at the Pendleton Correctional Facility (“Pendleton”), filed an “Offender Request for Religious Accommodation” asking that he be provided kosher meals. Id. at 110. Rowe is not Jewish. Instead, he professes belief in “Identity Christianity,” also known as “The Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations.” Id. at 108. “Identity Christians” believe that members of the white race are the actual physical descendants of the Twelve Ancient Tribes of Israel. Id. Rowe's request for kosher meals stated in part:

I follow the Biblical Food Laws in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. This requires that I only eat animals that part the hoof and chew the cud (i.e., cattle, sheep, antelope, buffalo/bison, caribou, deer/venison, elk, goat, moose etc.), certain birds (i.e. chicken, dove, goose, pheasant, pigeon etc.), and clean “creeping things” (i.e., locusts, crickets and grasshoppers).... In addition, the Bible prohibits me from eating two (or more) different types of meat products at once (for instance, a chicken patty cannot be made from batter that has milk in it). In addition, genetically engineered meat and grain products are prohibited from consumption. Lastly, I am prohibited from eating fat and blood. (Processed food has a lot of by-products in them (which I am prohibited from eating)). Kosher diets follow all the biblical food laws I have listed above and has special requirements for food preparation and distribution to ensure these laws are followed.

Id. at 110. Rowe further stated that God commanded “my people” to follow the Biblical food laws “because our bodies are His temple—where He dwells in us in the person of the Holy Spirit.” Id. at 111. Rowe clarified that a Jewish rabbi did not need to bless his food, “but I do require that my food is biblically ‘clean,’ is prepared right and is served right.” Id. There apparently is not an official “Identity Christianity” doctrine that requires the eating of kosher food; rather, Rowe and a fellow inmate decided that it was required based on their own study of the Bible.²

On February 23, 2011, Mark Dodd, the Pendleton Chaplain, wrote Rowe informing him that his request for a kosher diet had been denied by a DOC Central Office committee because his food requirements could be “met by current diet options.” Id. at 14. This letter did not specify what the other option would be, but apparently was referring to the vegan option. One of the members of the DOC Central Office committee that denied Rowe's request was Chaplain Stephen Hall. In March 2011, Rowe filed a grievance with Wayne Scaife, a “grievance executive assistant” at Pendleton, which Scaife denied. Id. at 114. Rowe then filed a grievance appeal, which was denied by DOC employee L.A. VanNatta for the stated reason that “your religious preference if [sic] Christian.” Id. at 202.

On July 20, 2011, Rowe filed a complaint against Dodd, Hall, Scaife, VanNatta, and Bruce Lemmon, the DOC Commissioner. The complaint specified that Rowe was suing Dodd, Hall, Scaife, and VanNatta in both their official and individual capacities and Lemmon in his official capacity only. Rowe sought compensatory, punitive, and nominal damages against the Defendants, as well as a declaratory judgment and injunction requiring that he be served kosher meals. The complaint invoked RLUIPA and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for alleged violations of Rowe's constitutional rights under the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

On November 28, 2011, Rowe filed a motion for partial summary judgment. The Defendants filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. On April 4, 2012, the trial court denied Rowe's motion for partial summary judgment and granted the Defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment, resulting in dismissal of Rowe's complaint. Rowe now appeals.

Analysis

Our standard of review for the grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment is the same as it is for the trial court originally ruling on the motion: whether there is a genuine issue of material fact, and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Kroger Co. v. Plonski, 930 N.E.2d 1, 4–5 (Ind.2010). Summary judgment should be granted only if the designated evidence shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 5. “All factual inferences must be construed in favor of the non-moving party, and all doubts as to the existence of a material issue must be resolved against the moving party.” Id. “The fact that cross-motions for summary judgment are filed does not alter this standard of review.” Keckler v. Meridian Sec. Ins. Co., 967 N.E.2d 18, 22 (Ind.Ct.App.2012), trans. denied.

I. Scope of Available Remedies under RLUIPA and § 1983

Rowe sued the Defendants under RLUIPA and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Before turning to the particulars of Rowe's claims against the Defendants, we address the type of relief to which he might be entitled if he was successful in proving his claims and what he would not be entitled to. First, even if Rowe successfully proved a violation of RLUIPA by not being provided a kosher diet, he would not be entitled to recover any money damages on that basis against any of the Defendants. For purposes of federal litigation, suits against state employees acting in their official capacity are treated as suits against the state itself. See Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 2312, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989). It is clear that money damages cannot be imposed against a state or state employees acting in their official capacity in lawsuits alleging violations of RLUIPA. Sossamon v. Texas, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 1651, 179 L.Ed.2d 700 (2011). It also is well-settled that “RLUIPA does not authorize any kind of relief against public employees, as opposed to governmental bodies that receive federal funds and accept the conditions attached by the statute.” Vinning–El v. Evans, 657 F.3d 591, 592 (7th Cir.2011). Thus, regardless of whether Rowe's claims against the Defendants are stated in terms of their official or individual capacities, he cannot recover monetary damages against them even if he proves a violation of RLUIPA. See id. The Defendants concede, however, that Rowe is not precluded from seeking injunctive relief against them under RLUIPA if he proves a violation of that law.

Turning to Section 1983, that statute provides a civil remedy against any “person” who, acting under color of state law, subjects an American citizen to a deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the United States Constitution or federal laws. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The statute does not provide any remedy against states, state entities, or state officials sued in their official capacity. Lake County Juvenile Court v. Swanson, 671 N.E.2d 429, 433 (Ind.Ct.App.1996), trans. denied. Rowe, therefore, cannot recover any damages against any of the Defendants under Section 1983 based on any “official capacity” claims.

A government employee acting in his or her individual capacity, however, is a “person” who may be sued under Section 1983. To establish a government employee's liability under Section 1983, a plaintiff must prove: (1) the existence of a constitutionally-protected right; (2) that he...