Simpson v. Gallant, CIV. 02-15-B-S.

• Decision Date: 17 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 02-15-B-S.,CIV. 02-15-B-S.
• Citation: 231 F.Supp.2d 341
• Parties: Jeffrey E. SIMPSON, Plaintiff v. Cheryl GALLANT, et al., Defendants
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

231 F.Supp.2d 341

Jeffrey E. SIMPSON, Plaintiff v. Cheryl GALLANT, et al., Defendants

No. CIV. 02-15-B-S.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

July 17, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jeffrey E. Simpson, South Windham, Pro se.

Michael J. Schmidt, Esq., Wheeler & Arey, P.A., Waterville, for Cheryl Gallant, Richard Clukey, Richard Blanchard, Thomas Davis, Peter Baldacci, Edward Reynolds, defendants.

ORDER AFFIRMING THE RECOMMENDED DECISION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE

SINGAL, District Judge.

No objection having been filed to the Magistrate Judge's Recommended Decision filed June 26, 2002, the Recommended Decision is accepted.

Accordingly, it is ORDERED that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Complaint be and hereby is DENIED.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO AMEND AND RECOMMENDED DECISION ON MOTION TO DISMISS 42 U.S.C. § 1983 COMPLAINT

KRAVCHUK, United States Magistrate Judge.

Jeffrey Simpson, in an amended complaint, is seeking remedies for alleged violations of his constitutional right involving access to the telephone and mail services when he was a pretrial detainee at the Penobscot County Jail. (Docket Nos. 1, 7, & 8.) The defendants, Cheryl Gallant, Richard Clukey, and Edward Reynolds, have filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on three grounds. They argue that Simpson has not stated a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim¹; assuming he has, that they are entitled to qualified immunity; and that Simpson has not sufficiently exhausted his administrative remedies as required by 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). After the filing of this motion, Simpson filed a motion to amend his amended complaint, (Docket No. 15.)² I herein GRANT the second motion to amend and, for the reasons set forth below, I recommend that the Court DENY the motion to dismiss.

Simpson's Pleadings

A. Allegations of Amended Complaint

In his amended complaint filed April 10, 2002, Simpson makes the following statement of claim. While a pretrial detainee at the Penobscot County Jail Simpson was placed in disciplinary segregation on or about October 10, 2001, for violations of jail rules. During the over three-month period he spent in segregation he was completely denied access to the phones and he was allowed to mail only three personal letters a week, with postage paid by the jail pursuant to a jail policy. He was not allowed to send additional mail using his own postage.

With respect to phone access Simpson submitted a slip to non-defendant, Sergeant Scott Basco on December 1, 2001, requesting a phone call so that he could arrange bail and/or call a lawyer. This request was denied and Simpson submitted on the same day a Penobscot County Sheriff's grievance form indicating that he was a pretrial detainee and that he had a right to use the phone to arrange bail or call an attorney. Assistant Jail Administrator, Richard Clukey, a defendant in this action, denied Simpson's grievance. Regarding his mail privileges, Simpson submitted request forms on December 14, 2001, and January 11, 2002, asking that he be able to use his own funds to send additional letters. Both of these requests were denied.

Due to this interference with his telephone and mail access, Simpson could not determine who to have his court appointed investigator interview and his November 7, 2001, trial had to be continued as a consequence. On January 21, 2002, Simpson was released from custody on a $10,500 cash bail that was posted by an associate. On February 21, 2002, Simpson was found not guilty after a jury trial. On February 14, 2002, all additional counts against Simpson triggering his detention from October 10, 2001, through January 21, 2002, had been dismissed.

Simpson's theory of the case is that Penobscot Jail policies pertaining to outgoing mail and its policy prohibiting the use of a phone for any reasons by inmates not in good standing violated his right to prepare his defense and make bail. He states that defendant Gallant, as the Penobscot Jail administrator, is responsible to the Sheriff for recommending, drafting, and enforcing policies. Simpson charges Clukey, as assistant jail administrator, with assisting Gallant in drafting and enforcing these policies. With respect to Reynolds, Simpson asserts that, as Penobscot County Sheriff, he approves these policies and procedures.

The injuries of which Simpson complains are the postponement of his November trial, his over ninety-days of lost freedom, and the suffering of an extreme amount of stress and emotional anguish, that was exacerbated by his inability to contact family members.

B. Proposed Second Amendment

In his second amended complaint Simpson adds that when Clukey denied his December 1, 2001, grievance he stated that it did not meet the criteria of a defined grievance and it did not present a grievable issue. (2d Am.Compl. ¶ 8.) On an unspecified date Simpson submitted a request form asking the jail administration to provide the address for his associate, providing them with his phone number, which request was denied. (Id. ¶ 17.) He also clarifies that for purposes of this complaint Gallant, Clukey, and Reynolds are named in their official capacities. (Id. at ¶¶ 14-16.)

Simpson also expands his conclusion, faulting the Jail's policies and customs for causing his loss of liberty and maintaining that the continuous limitations on outgoing mail and the phone restrictions placed on pretrial detainees who are not in good standing infringed his right to immediate release on bail. He argues that the three personal letters a week, with the corresponding lag in delivery and response time, were not a sufficient substitute for phone access, particularly in light of the fact that he did not have the addresses for his associate. Simpson needed to have phone access and better mail access to prepare for trial, to contact witnesses, to find addresses of individuals who could assist with bail, to contact the investigator, and to arrange to have belongings stored and bills paid.

He states that he is seeking $500,000 in compensatory damages from the three defendants jointly and severally.

Discussion

A. Second Motion to Amend

As outlined above, the principal amendment achieved by this pleading is to clarify that Simpson is seeking to sue the three defendants in their official capacities. With respect to each defendant he states: "For purposes of this claim" they are named in their official capacities. (2d. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 14 -16.) While Simpson has alleged conduct by Clukey upon which he could attempt to premise a claim for individual liability, this amendment makes it clear that Simpson does not wish to so proceed against Clukey.

With respect to Simpson's second motion to amend, the defendants' only response to date is contained in their reply to Simpson's response to their motion to dismiss. The defendants state only that the amendments contained in the second amended complaint "do not eliminate the basis for which Defendants are seeking dismissal, and therefore Defendants request that the Plaintiff's Complaint, or assuming Plaintiff files an Amended Complaint, be dismissed." (Reply to Resp. to Mot. Dismiss at 3.)

In light of the absence of more formal opposition by the defendants I GRANT the motion to amend. With respect to the amendments clarifying that Simpson pursues these defendants in their official capacities, this amendment serves to focus this suit on the standards for § 1983 actions challenging the constitutionality of a governmental entity's policy or custom. See Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) (observing that a § 1983 suit may be brought "when execution of a government's policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury that the government as an entity is responsible under § 1983); Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 480-81, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 89 L.Ed.2d 452(1986) (observing that "it is plain that municipal liability may be imposed for a single decision by municipal policymakers under appropriate circumstances" but cautioning that "[m]unicipal liability attaches only where the decisionmaker possesses final authority to establish municipal policy with respect to the action ordered"); see also City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 108 S.Ct. 915, 99 L.Ed.2d 107 (1988).

With respect to the allegations in the second amended complaint concerning Simpson's interactions with Clukey respecting the grievance and Simpson's allegation that the jail authorities refused to locate a phone number when provided with his associate's address, these are in the nature of additional facts that can be contested in later stages of this suit. As I indicate below, Simpson's first amended complaint (should have) sufficiently put the defendants on notice of the contours of his § 1983 claim.³

B. Motion to Dismiss

1. Standard for Motion to Dismiss

In passing on this motion to dismiss I accept all of Simpson's allegations as true. Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, 509 U.S. 259, 261, 113 S.Ct. 2606, 125 L.Ed.2d 209 (1993). Since Simpson is proceeding pro se I subject his submissions to the "less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). Also in light of Simpson's pro se status, I examine his other pleadings to understand the nature and basis of Simpson's claims. Gray v. Poole, 275 F.3d 1113, 1115 (D.C.Cir.2002) (citing the holding of Richardson v. United States, 193 F.3d 545, 548 (D.C.Cir.1999) that District Court abused its discretion when it failed to consider the pro se plaintiff's complaint in light of his reply to the motion to dismiss).

2. Nature of the Constitutional Claim

a. Motion to Dismiss Based on Failure to State a Claim

The defendants' motion to dismiss characterizes Simpson's complaint as one seeking redress for the imposition of disciplinary sanctions. Citing Heck v. Humphrey...