Thomas v. Brown

• Decision Date: 19 May 1993
• Docket Number: No. 3:91 cv 193AS.,3:91 cv 193AS.
• Citation: 824 F. Supp. 160
• Parties: Craig THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. Danny BROWN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

824 F. Supp. 160

Craig THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. Danny BROWN, et al., Defendants.

No. 3:91 cv 193AS.

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, South Bend Division.

May 19, 1993.

Craig Thomas, pro se.

James R. Green, Indianapolis, IN, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, Chief Judge.

I. Introduction

On April 23, 1991, plaintiff pro se, Craig Thomas, an inmate at the Indiana State Prison, filed a complaint purporting to state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and invoking this court's jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343(a)(3) and (4). The motion for summary judgment filed by the defendants on October 30, 1992, demonstrates the necessary compliance with the mandates of Lewis v. Faulkner, 689 F.2d 100 (7th Cir.1982). This court also conducted a telephonic pretrial conference on July 16, 1992.

In the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that certain of the abovementioned defendants violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Apparently, after being informed that the water in the sink in his cell did not function at all, the defendants did not have the sink repaired for a considerable period of time. Next, the plaintiff alleges that his Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when he initiated the grievance process based on the water problem in his cell. Finally, the plaintiff alleges a violation his rights established under Article 1, § 15 of the Indiana Constitution, and that the defendants violated state laws I.C. XX-XX-X-X(a) and I.C. XX-XX-X-X(4).

II. Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is proper if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with any affidavits, show that there exists no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56; Russo v. Health, Welfare & Pension Fund, Local 705, 984 F.2d 762 (7th Cir.1993).

A thorough discussion of Rule 56 by the Supreme Court of the United States can be found in a trilogy of cases decided in 1986. See, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986)¹; and Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Celotex addressed the initial burdens of the parties under Rule 56, and Anderson addressed the standards under which the record is to be analyzed within the structure of Rule 56.

The initial burden is on the moving party to demonstrate, "with or without supporting affidavits," the absence of a genuine issue of material fact and that judgment as a matter of law should be granted in the moving party's favor. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56). A material question of fact is a question which will be outcome determinative of an issue in the case. Wainwright Bank v. Railroadmens Federal Sav., 806 F.2d 146 (7th Cir.1986). The Supreme Court has instructed that the facts material in a specific case shall be determined by the substantive law controlling the given case or issue. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. at 2510.

Once the moving party has met the initial burden, the opposing party must "go beyond the pleadings" and "designate `specific facts showing that there is a genuine material issue for trial.'" Id. The nonmoving party cannot rest on its pleadings, Hughes v. Joliet Correctional Center, 931 F.2d 425, 428 (7th Cir.1991), or upon conclusory allegations in affidavits. Cusson-Cobb v. O'Lessker, 953 F.2d 1079, 1081 (7th Cir.1992). "The days are gone, if they ever existed, when the nonmoving party could sit back and simply poke holes in the moving party's summary judgment motion." Fitzpatrick v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 916 F.2d 1254, 1256 (7th Cir.1990).

During its analysis, this court must construe the facts and draw all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Brennan v. Daley, 929 F.2d 346, 348 (7th Cir.1991). Furthermore, it is required to analyze summary judgment motions under the standard of proof relevant to the case or issue. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252-255, 106 S.Ct. at 2512-14.

For academic insight into Celotex and Anderson, see Childress, A New Era for Summary Judgments: Recent Shifts at the Supreme Court, 116 F.R.D. 183, 194 (1987), where the author states:

The recent Supreme Court cases likely require that summary judgment be more readily granted.... This emerging trend signals a new era for summary judgment, one in which the old presumptions are giving way to a policy of balancing and efficiency, and the mechanism is more appropriate to double as a sufficiency motion —allowing some sort of trial itself on the paper record.

More recently Childress has written that Celotex and Anderson clarify that Rule 56 motions

should not be hesitantly granted when appropriate.... Any litigant dealing with summary judgment must be aware of this new trend, the Court's cases, their application in each circuit, and the direction they portend. Pretrial practice is a new ball-game.

Childress, A Standards of Review Primer: Federal Civil Appeals, 125 F.R.D. 319, 343 (1989).

Recent object lessons applying these ideas are found in McCoy v. WGN Continental Broadcasting Co., 957 F.2d 368, 370-371 (7th Cir.1992); Karazanos v. Navistar Intern. Transp. Corp., 948 F.2d 332, 335 (7th Cir. 1991); and Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Federal Crop Ins. Corp., 947 F.2d 269, 273-274 (7th Cir.1991).

III. The Eleventh Amendment

The plaintiff has included several state defendants in his complaint and those defendants in their official capacities are entitled to immunity for claims for money damages under the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The Eleventh Amendment states as follows:

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

In Scott v. O'Grady, 975 F.2d 366 (7th Cir.1992), the Seventh Circuit, speaking through Judge Manion, cogently explained the ramifications of the Eleventh Amendment:

Although ... the abovementioned language of the Eleventh Amendment expressly encompasses only suits brought against a state by citizens of another state, the Eleventh Amendment has long been interpreted to also bar federal courts from exercising jurisdiction over actions against a state brought by her own citizens. Papasan v. Allian, 478 U.S. 265, 276 106 S.Ct. 2932, 2939, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986) (citing Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890)). Eleventh Amendment issues arise whenever a private citizen files a federal lawsuit against a state, a state agency, or a state official — although the effect of the amendment differs depending on the category of defendant. Kroll v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 934 F.2d 904, 907 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 377 116 L.Ed.2d 329 (1991).

All suits against a state or its agencies are barred by the Eleventh Amendment unless the state consents to suit in federal court or Congress uses its powers under the Fourteenth Amendment to abrogate the state's Eleventh Amendment immunity. Atascadero State Hosp. v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 238 105 S.Ct. 3142, 3145, 87 L.Ed.2d 171 (1985); Pennhurst State School & Hospital v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 100 104 S.Ct. 900, 907, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); Kroll, 934 F.2d at 907. Suits against state officials, however, are sometimes permissible. A suit against a state official in his personal capacity is not barred by the Eleventh Amendment — although the state official may be able to assert personal immunity defenses (i.e., qualified immunity) and a damage award may be executed only against the official's personal assets. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165-67 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3104-06, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985); Kroll, 934 F.2d at 907. An official can also be sued in his official capacity. But an official-capacity suit against a state official is deemed to be a suit against the state and is thus barred by the Eleventh Amendment, absent a waiver by the state or a congressional override. Graham, 473 U.S. at 169 105 S.Ct. at 3107; Kroll, 934 F.2d at 907-08. An exception to this rule is an official-capacity suit for prospective injunctive relief: a suit "to enjoin as unconstitutional a state official's action is not barred by the Amendment." Papasan, 478 U.S. at 276-78 106 S.Ct. at 2939-2940 (citing Ex Parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 159-60 28 S.Ct. 441, 453-54, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908)); see also Kroll, 934 F.2d at 908.

Id. at 369. See also Kashani v. Purdue University, 813 F.2d 843 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 846, 108 S.Ct. 141, 98 L.Ed.2d 97 (1987); Owen v. Lash, 682 F.2d 648 (7th Cir.1982); Sheets v. Indiana Department of Corrections, 656 F.Supp. 733 (S.D.Ind.1986). For recent authority consistent with Kashani, 813 F.2d at 843, see Shelton v. Trustees of Indiana University, 891 F.2d 165 (7th Cir.1989). See also Kroll v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 934 F.2d 904 (7th Cir.1991); Cosby v. Jackson, 741 F.Supp. 740 (N.D.Ill.1990), and Rodenbeck v. Indiana, Leaking Underground Storage Tank Div. etc., 742 F.Supp. 1442 (N.D.Ind.1990). Any and all damage claims against the defendants in their official capacities are now DISMISSED under the mandates of the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution.

IV. Eighth Amendment and Conditions-of-Confinement

The plaintiff's allegations under the Eighth Amendment are troublesome to this court. The plaintiff asserts an Eighth Amendment claim against the defendants Spohn, Brown, Fortney, Aubon and Coto. Specifically, the plaintiff alleges that on December 13, 1990, he was transferred to a new segregation unit located at I-Cellhouse Detention Unit and was placed in Cell 26 on Range 2. On December 15, 1990...