Thomas v. Stalter

• Decision Date: 30 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 92-1715,92-1715
• Citation: 20 F.3d 298
• Parties: Clifton THOMAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Willis STALTER and Robert Heath, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 298

20 F.3d 298

Clifton THOMAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Willis STALTER and Robert Heath, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 92-1715.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 20, 1994.

Decided March 30, 1994.

Paul R. Garcia (argued), Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson, Chicago, IL, for plaintiff-appellant.

Susan Frederick Rhodes, Asst. Atty. Gen. (argued), Office of the Atty. Gen., Chicago, IL, for defendant-appellee.

Before CUDAHY and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges, and WILLIAMS, District Judge. ^*

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal concerns the alleged battery upon Clifton Thomas, an inmate at the Pontiac Correctional Center, by prison guard Robert Heath. Mr. Thomas brought suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. Mr. Thomas claimed that his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment was violated when Officer Heath knocked loose his four bottom front teeth. The jury returned a verdict finding that a constitutional violation had occurred ¹ but awarded no damages to Mr. Thomas. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the decision of the district court to grant Officer Heath's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We affirm its conditional decision to grant Officer Heath a new trial. That trial shall address the issues of both liability and damages.

I BACKGROUND

Mr. Thomas was committed to the custody of the Pontiac Correctional Center in 1985. Upon his arrival, Mr. Thomas was given a dental examination which revealed that he had severe periodontal disease. The dentist recommended that Mr. Thomas have all of his teeth removed. However, Mr. Thomas elected to keep his teeth as long as possible. The dentist scheduled Mr. Thomas to return to the clinic for a cleaning every three months. From his arrival in early 1985 until December 1987, Mr. Thomas lost no teeth. At trial, the dentist estimated that Mr. Thomas' teeth would last from one to five years from the time of his arrival in 1985.

While at Pontiac, Mr. Thomas came under investigation for the October 1987 stabbing of another inmate. The State sought a court order compelling Mr. Thomas to give a blood sample to aid in the investigation. Mr. Thomas' attorney objected to the request, but the court issued an order requiring Mr. Thomas to submit to a blood test. Mr. Thomas testified that he was never advised of the outcome of his attorney's objection. On December 8, 1987, four or five correctional officers approached Mr. Thomas in the prison gymnasium where he was working out with weights. Officer Brian Boeson told Mr. Thomas that they had a court order requiring Mr. Thomas to give a blood sample. They told Mr. Thomas that the order was at the hospital. Mr. Thomas went voluntarily to the hospital; again he was told that they had a court order for him to submit to a blood test. The parties dispute whether Mr. Thomas was ever shown a copy of the order at this time. Mr. Thomas asked for permission to speak with his attorney, but this request was denied.

Several officers took Mr. Thomas to the emergency room. They got Mr. Thomas onto a gurney; the parties dispute whether the officers slammed Mr. Thomas down onto the gurney. The officers attempted to hold Mr. Thomas down so that the lab technician could draw blood from Mr. Thomas' right arm. Ultimately, ten correctional officers were involved in restraining Mr. Thomas as he continued to resist the efforts to take the blood sample. Among these ten officers, Robert Heath was trying to hold Mr. Thomas' head. Mr. Thomas testified that Heath hit him in the mouth. Officer Heath denied the charge. The lab technician drew a sample of Mr. Thomas' blood, after which several officers took Mr. Thomas to segregation for disobeying an order.

Mr. Thomas testified that, before December 8, 1987, he could eat various hard foods such as carrots and radishes. He also testified that, after the alleged assault, his teeth were "real loose." On December 9, the dentist removed Mr. Thomas' bottom front teeth.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Thomas on the issue of liability but awarded no damages. Mr. Thomas moved for a new trial on the issue of damages, or, in the

alternative, for amendment of the judgment. Heath renewed an earlier motion for a directed verdict; he also moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, for a new trial. The district court denied Mr. Thomas' motion for a new trial or for amendment of the judgment. The court granted Officer Heath's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and conditionally granted his motion for a new trial. Mr. Thomas now appeals.

II ANALYSIS

Mr. Thomas challenges the granting of Heath's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Mr. Thomas also challenges the denial of his motion for a new trial on damages and the conditional granting of Officer Heath's motion for a new trial.

A. Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict ²

The district court granted Heath's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The court acknowledged that the jury found that Heath hit Mr. Thomas, but the court concluded that, as a matter of law, Heath did not use constitutionally excessive force.

Our review of the grant of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict is de novo. Henderson v. DeRobertis, 940 F.2d 1055, 1057 (7th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1578, 118 L.Ed.2d 220 (1992). In conducting our review, we must view all the facts in the light most favorable to the party against whom the verdict was directed. Cygnar v. City of Chicago, 865 F.2d 827, 834 (7th Cir.1989). A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict can be granted only when " 'reasonable people, viewing the facts most favorably to the plaintiff and disregarding conflicting unfavorable testimony, could not conclude that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case.' " Henderson, 940 F.2d at 1057 (quoting Rakovich v. Wade, 850 F.2d 1180, 1188 (7th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 968, 109 S.Ct. 497, 102 L.Ed.2d 534 (1988)).

Under the controlling precedent of the Supreme Court, the test for determining whether a prisoner has suffered cruel and unusual punishment has two components, one objective and one subjective. The objective component focuses on whether, in light of "contemporary standards of decency," the alleged deprivation was sufficiently serious. Hudson v. McMillian, --- U.S. ----, ----, 112 S.Ct. 995, 1000, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992). The subjective component involves an inquiry into whether the officials acted with a sufficiently culpable state of mind. Id. --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 999. However, in the excessive force context, these two inquiries, as a practical matter, collapse into a single inquiry because "[w]hen prison officials maliciously and sadistically use force to cause harm, contemporary standards of decency," which, as we have indicated, measure the objective component, "are always violated." Id. --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 1000. Thus, the Supreme Court has held:

[W]henever prison officials stand accused of using excessive physical force in violation of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, the core judicial inquiry is that set out in Whitley [v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986) ]: whether force was applied in a good-faith effort to maintain or restore discipline, or maliciously and sadistically to cause harm.

Id. --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 999.

We now apply these procedural and substantive standards to the case before us. This task requires that we examine in some detail the relevant facts concerning the struggle at the hospital. Several guards forced Mr. Thomas onto a gurney in the emergency room. Those officers, who were joined by six others, managed to pin Mr. Thomas down. They were holding his arms, legs, and head; one was even on top of his chest. Mr. Thomas struggled in resistance and told them to stop, but he was unable to move. During the struggle, and while Mr. Thomas was immobilized, Mr. Thomas told Officer Heath to "get [his] hands off [Mr. Thomas'] face." Officer Heath, with a clenched fist, "drew back and came down and hit [Mr. Thomas] in the mouth." Officer Heath then said, "Shut up."

Immediately after the incident, Mr. Thomas complained that he was "hurting all over." The incident also aggravated his existing dental condition. As a result, his teeth were already a "little bit" loose. Despite this looseness, Mr. Thomas could eat hard foods and could bite through a carrot without difficulty. He specifically testified that he could bite with his bottom front teeth. After Heath punched him in the mouth, however, Mr. Thomas' teeth were "real loose." The next day, Mr. Thomas was taken to the hospital where his four bottom front teeth were extracted.

Given this evidence in the record, the district court erred in granting Heath's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. At a minimum, reasonable members of the jury were entitled to conclude that Mr. Thomas made out a prima facie case. He was required to do no more. Henderson, 940 F.2d at 1057. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Mr. Thomas, Officer Heath hit Mr. Thomas in the mouth with a clenched fist while Mr. Thomas was held immobilized by at least nine other people. A punch in the face to subdue Mr. Thomas was not necessary to carry out the court order. The apparent lack of reason for the blow, the fact that Heath used a clenched fist, and the fact that Heath then said "shut up" can be interpreted reasonably as establishing that Heath's action was not a "good-faith effort to maintain or restore discipline," but rather was done "maliciously and sadistically to cause harm." Hudson, --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 999.

The district court reached the opposite result, but in doing so, it failed to construe the evidence in Mr. Thomas' favor. For example, the court referred to Mr. Thomas' dentist's testimony that Mr. Thomas' teeth were "extremely loose," ³...