Tate v. Alexander

• Decision Date: 30 November 1981
• Docket Number: No. 79-3031,79-3308.,79-3031
• Citation: 527 F. Supp. 796
• Parties: Herbert TATE, Plaintiff, v. Lamar ALEXANDER, et al., Defendants. Melvin ALEXANDER, Plaintiff, v. Lamar ALEXANDER, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

527 F. Supp. 796

Herbert TATE, Plaintiff, v. Lamar ALEXANDER, et al., Defendants.

Melvin ALEXANDER, Plaintiff, v. Lamar ALEXANDER, et al., Defendants.

Nos. 79-3031, 79-3308.

United States District Court, M. D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

November 30, 1981.

Larry D. Woods and Christine Entis, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiffs Tate and Alexander.

Robert R. Campbell, Knoxville, Tenn., for defendant Alexander.

Linda R. Butts, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert B. Littleton, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Nashville, Tenn., for defendants Bradley and Dickman.

MEMORANDUM

WISEMAN, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, two former inmates at the Correctional Rehabilitation Center, a state prison located at Nashville, Tennessee, bring this action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 alleging that defendants Lamar Alexander (Governor of Tennessee), Harold Bradley (Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction), and James Dickman (Superintendent of the Correctional Rehabilitation Center) individually and collectively violated plaintiffs' constitutional right to liberty by keeping plaintiffs imprisoned for several months after their sentences had been commuted by former governor Ray Blanton. Defendants counter this allegation by arguing (1) that no constitutional right of plaintiffs was violated by their continued imprisonment, and alternatively, (2) that even if plaintiffs' constitutional rights were violated, defendants are entitled to a qualified immunity for their actions that precludes a finding of liability in this case. Defendants also argue with regard specifically to plaintiffs' section 1985 claim that (1) no conspiracy in fact existed among the defendants and (2) even if a conspiracy is found factually to have existed, it is not recognized legally because, as defendants are all members of a single executive department, the "intracorporate conspiracy" doctrine prevents a finding of conspiracy here.

All parties have moved for summary judgment in this case pursuant to Rule 56, F.R.Civ.P. Having determined that no genuine issue exists regarding any material fact, this Court makes the following conclusions of law: (1) that neither defendant Commissioner Harold Bradley nor defendant Superintendent James Dickman can be said to have violated plaintiffs' constitutional rights by their actions; (2) that defendant Governor Lamar Alexander is entitled to qualified immunity for his actions and is therefore not liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; and (3) that no conspiracy in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985 existed. Because of its determinations regarding the role of defendants Bradley and Dickman and Governor Alexander's entitlement to immunity, this Court makes no ruling concerning whether plaintiffs' constitutional rights actually were violated.

I. Facts

This case grows out of a bizarre episode in Tennessee history. The facts giving rise to plaintiffs' claim are essentially those that precipitated the effective ouster of one governor of this state and the installation of his successor.

On the evening of January 15, 1979, Ray Blanton, then Governor of Tennessee, properly signed and caused to be sealed by the Secretary of State of Tennessee documents commuting the prison sentences of plaintiffs Herbert Tate and Melvin Alexander, who were both at that time imprisoned at the state Correctional Rehabilitation Center CRC located at Nashville, Tennessee. Plaintiffs were part of a group of fifty-two (52) inmates imprisoned at various facilities throughout the state who received some form of executive clemency from Governor Blanton on that date.¹ The sentences of both plaintiffs Tate and Alexander were commuted to "time served" by Governor Blanton. The commutation papers, having been properly signed and sealed, were delivered to the Director of the Records Division of the Department of Correction, who was to process the releases.

After the papers were delivered to the Department of Correction, but before plaintiffs' commutations were processed and plaintiffs physically released from confinement, several events, which form the basis for this lawsuit, occurred. On the afternoon of January 17, 1979, then Governor-elect Lamar Alexander was informed by Mr. Hal Hardin, then the United States Attorney in Nashville, that Governor Blanton was intending to grant releases to several inmates who were the targets of a federal grand jury investigation into payoffs by prisoners in exchange for clemency from the governor's office.² Governor-elect Alexander was further informed that several of the inmates for whom commutation papers had been signed on January 15 were also targets of the investigation. No names of specific inmates were ever mentioned by Mr. Hardin, however, and Governor Alexander never received information from the United States Attorney's Office implicating any individual prisoners, including plaintiffs.

As a result of Mr. Hardin's message on January 17, the decision was made by Governor-elect Alexander, the Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee, and the Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives that Alexander would be sworn in on that evening, several days in advance of the scheduled inauguration date. Accordingly, at 6 p.m. on January 17, 1979, Lamar Alexander was administered the oath of office of Governor and became the Governor of Tennessee.

Immediately after his swearing-in, Governor Alexander, acting on the advice of Tennessee Attorney General William Leech, issued a "freeze on the prison doors" and ordered that none of the prisoners who had been granted pardons or commutations on January 15 by Governor Blanton be released. In order to effectuate this "freeze," instructions were relayed on the evening of January 17 to Mr. C. Murray Henderson, then Commissioner of the Department of Correction, to assemble and hold all pardon and commutation documents that had been signed by Governor Blanton on January 15 and to account for copies of those documents. Also on the evening of January 17, Mr. William Koch, then with the office of the Attorney General and acting on behalf of Governor Alexander, instructed Mr. Murrell Pitts, Director of the Records Division of the Department of Correction, to assemble all of the documents that had been signed by Governor Blanton and to prevent any further delivery of them. Mr. Koch also instructed Mr. Pitts that he was neither to process any more of the documents nor to permit the release of any inmates pursuant to the documents.³ As a result of the orders from Governor Alexander, plaintiffs Tate and Alexander were not released from the CRC.

Subsequent to Governor Alexander's actions and orders not to release any inmates who had been granted commutations by Governor Blanton on January 15, several of those inmates filed suit in state court, as well as petitions for writs of habeas corpus. On April 10, 1979, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the commutations granted by Governor Blanton on January 15 were valid and could not be rescinded by Governor Alexander.⁴ Governor Alexander argued that the commutations were not valid since they had not been delivered to the prisoners themselves. The Court of Criminal Appeals rejected this argument, declaring that the commutations were valid upon delivery to the Department of Correction. The Court of Criminal Appeals consequently granted the prisoners' petitions for writs of habeas corpus. The State petitioned the Tennessee Supreme Court for review of the Court of Criminal Appeals' decision, but the Supreme Court denied certiorari in the case on May 29, 1979.

Throughout the events just described, plaintiffs Tate and Alexander remained incarcerated at the CRC in Nashville. Plaintiff Tate was not released until April 19, 1979, following his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in state court. Plaintiff Alexander was not released until after the Tennessee Supreme Court's denial of certiorari on May 29.

Also throughout the events just described, defendant James Dickman served as superintendent of the Correctional Rehabilitation Center at Nashville. Defendant Dickman was in no way involved in the decision by defendant Governor Alexander to prevent plaintiffs' release from the CRC, and defendant Dickman was not notified by any official within the Department of Correction that commutations had been issued for plaintiffs. Defendant Dickman took no steps to secure plaintiffs' release from the CRC.

Defendant Harold Bradley was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Correction on January 17, 1979, and was later sworn in as Commissioner of that Department on March 7, 1979. Like defendant Dickman, defendant Bradley took no part in the decision to "freeze" the state prison doors. Also, like defendant Dickman, defendant Bradley took no steps to release plaintiffs from the CRC. Defendant Governor Alexander had informed defendant Bradley that he reserved all decisions regarding matters of executive clemency for himself, and defendant Bradley acquiesced in the Governor's decision.

II. Plaintiffs' Section 1983 Claim

A. The Causation Requirement

At the outset, this Court must consider the issue of causation as a precondition to liability under section 1983. Defendants Bradley and Dickman argue that they cannot be held liable under that section because they played no real part in the events that resulted in the alleged violation of plaintiffs' constitutional rights. Essentially, defendants Bradley and Dickman argue that no sufficient causal nexus exists between their actions and plaintiffs' alleged deprivation of rights. This Court agrees.

By its terms 42 U.S.C. § 1983 imposes civil liability upon any individual

who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws....

Plaintiffs argue...