Turner v. Mull

• Decision Date: 28 April 2015
• Docket Number: No. 14–1589.,14–1589.
• Citation: Turner v. Mull, 784 F.3d 485 (8th Cir. 2015)
• Parties: Terry M. TURNER, Plaintiff–Appellant v. Sidney MULL, Sergeant, Correctional Officer, Transportation Supervisor; Angela Chandler, Hospital Administrator; Robert Thebeau, Correctional Officer; Terry Russell; Pete Koenig ; John Doe, Correctional Officer, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

784 F.3d 485

Terry M. TURNER, Plaintiff–Appellant

v.Sidney MULL, Sergeant, Correctional Officer, Transportation Supervisor; Angela Chandler, Hospital Administrator; Robert Thebeau, Correctional Officer; Terry Russell; Pete Koenig ; John Doe, Correctional Officer, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 14–1589.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Jan. 13, 2015.

Filed: April 28, 2015.

Zachary C. Howenstine, Armstrong Teasdale LLP, St. Louis, MO, argued (Scott T. Jansen, on the brief), for appellant.

Christopher R. Hoell, Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Louis, MO, argued (Chris Koster, Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, MO, on the brief), for appellees Sidney Mull, Terry Russell, Robert Thebeau and Pete Koenig.

Jessica L. Liss, Jackson Lewis, P.C., St. Louis, MO, argued, for appellee Angela Chandler.

Before SMITH, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

Opinion

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

Terry Turner brought this suit against several officials at the Eastern Reception Diagnostic Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri (ERDCC), asserting violations of his rights under the Eighth Amendment; the Fourteenth Amendment; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq.; and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794. The district court¹ granted summary judgment to the officials on all claims. We affirm.

I. Background

At all times relevant to this case, Turner was an inmate at the ERDCC. Turner suffered from a neurological disorder but was able to ambulate, stand, and sit with the use of leg braces and crutches. Although Turner sought and received medical care for his neurological condition on multiple occasions in 2011, no physician ordered that Turner be provided use of a wheelchair. Similarly, no physician ordered that the ERDCC transport Turner in a wheelchair-accessible van.

The ERDCC had a wheelchair-accessible van equipped with a “lift”—that is, a device that raises wheelchair users from the ground to the floor level of the van and vice versa. The ERDCC generally restricted the van's use to actual wheelchair users, and signage on the van separately advised that only wheelchairs were allowed on the wheelchair lift and that standing on the lift was forbidden to avoid falls. Thus, before allowing inmates to use the wheelchair-accessible van, the ERDCC generally required that inmates receive a medical order for transportation via a wheelchair-accessible vehicle and that the inmates arrive at the transportation area in a wheelchair.

On March 22, 2011, Transportation Officer Pete Koenig and Correctional Officer Robert Thebeau transported Turner to and from a medical appointment at the Capitol Regional Medical Center in Jefferson City, Missouri (CRMC). Turner arrived at the transportation area with neither a wheelchair nor a physician's order to use a wheelchair-accessible van. Consequently, he was transported to and from the CRMC in a non-wheelchair-accessible van. Turner alleges that, due to physical limitations allegedly associated with his neurological condition, the only way he could enter the van was by crawling into it. He also alleges, among other things, that urine and vomit were on the van floor and that he was unable to eat a sack lunch while traveling in the van because of his exposure to the unsanitary conditions.

Turner also alleges that, during his return trip from the CRMC, Thebeau stopped the van near a bridge for approximately five minutes. At some time during the stop, according to Turner, Thebeau mentioned that he and Koenig could drown Turner and claim that Turner tried to escape. Thebeau and Koenig then allegedly looked at Turner and laughed. Turner admits that he “do[es not] know if they [were] playing or not.”

Approximately two months later, on May 19, 2011, Turner filed an Inmate Resolution Request concerning the alleged events that occurred on March 22, 2011. At some point thereafter, according to Turner, prison staff searched and “ransacked” his cell in retaliation for his lodging the complaint. Turner alleges that Thebeau was present when his cell was searched. Turner further alleges that Thebeau retaliated against him by visiting “3–House,” the housing unit in which Turner was incarcerated, and calling Turner “names” and using “expletives.”

On September 5, 2011, Angela Chandler, an employee of Corizon, Inc. who served as the Health Services Administrator at the ERDCC, requested via email to ERDCC Transportation Supervisor Sidney Mull that Turner be transported in a “wheelchair, handicapped-accessible van” for medical appointments. Chandler was not a physician, but Turner had informed her earlier that same day that he found it uncomfortable and difficult to ride in the non-wheelchair-accessible van. In response to Chandler's email, Mull informed Chandler that he was willing to transport Turner in the wheelchair-accessible van (even though Turner lacked any medical order to that effect); however, Mull made clear that Turner—per facility policy—must arrive at the transportation area in a wheelchair:

The only way I can load him via the lift on the handicap van is if he is in a wheelchair. The vehicle has a warning not to load people with it due to the risk of falling. If he comes down in a wheelchair I will definitely take him in the handicap van.

On October 20, 2011, Turner was transferred to the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri (WMCC). Koenig was one of the transportation officers who transported Turner to the WMCC. Turner alleges that he was transported in a non-wheelchair-accessible van for part of the trip, although he was transported in a wheelchair-accessible van for the remainder of the trip.

II. Procedural History

Turner filed suit against Mull, Thebeau, Koenig, Chandler, and ERDCC Warden Terry Russell. Turner asserted (1) claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against all of the officials, in both their individual and official capacities, for alleged violations of Turner's Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights; (2) a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Thebeau for alleged retaliation; (3) claims against all of the officials, in both their individual and official capacities, for alleged violations of Turner's rights under Title II of the ADA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; and (4) an additional retaliation claim against Thebeau for alleged retaliation in violation of Turner's rights under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act.

The district court granted summary judgment to the officials on all claims. With respect to the official-capacity claims, the court held that “[t]he undisputed facts ... do not support a finding that [Turner] required handicapped-accessible transportation, or that such transportation would have benefitted [Turner]” given that Turner was “able to ambulate with the use of leg braces and crutches” and that “no physician had ordered a wheelchair for [Turner].” The court also found that the ERDCC's policy “requiring inmates to be in wheelchairs in order to utilize the wheelchair-accessible vans was for their own safety” and that the ERDCC was not required to compromise inmates' safety “simply because [Turner] believed that a wheelchair-accessible van was more comfortable.” The court dismissed the § 1983 individual-capacity and Rehabilitation Act claims largely on the same grounds.

The court held that Turner's relatively brief exposure to the allegedly unsanitary conditions in the van did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation. Likewise, the court also held that Thebeau's alleged threat to drown Turner was not a constitutional violation because it was a one-time, isolated incident and Thebeau took no action in furtherance of the alleged threat.

With respect to Thebeau's alleged retaliation, the court found that Turner provided no evidence that Thebeau directed or was otherwise in charge of the search. The court also found that Turner had proffered insufficient evidence to show that the search and accompanying property damage were in retaliation for Turner lodging any complaints.

Finally, because the court found no constitutional violations, it held that Mull, Thebeau, Koenig, and Russell (collectively, “Prison Defendants”) were additionally entitled to qualified immunity with respect to Turner's § 1983 claims.

III. Discussion

On appeal, Turner challenges the district court's grant of summary judgment with respect to (1) his official-capacity claims, (2) his individual-capacity claims against all of the officials except Russell, (3) his retaliation claims, (4) his Rehabilitation Act claim against all of the officials except Chandler, and (5) the Prison Defendants' qualified immunity.

We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. Hayek v. City of St. Paul, 488 F.3d 1049, 1054 (8th Cir.2007) (citation omitted). We will affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment if “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). To establish a genuine issue of material fact, Turner “may not merely point to unsupported self-serving allegations, but must substantiate allegations with sufficient probative evidence that would permit a finding in [his] favor.” Davidson & Assocs. v. Jung, 422 F.3d 630, 638 (8th Cir.2005) (citation omitted).

A. Official–Capacity Claims

“Official-capacity liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 occurs only when a constitutional injury is caused by ‘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.’ ” Grayson v. Ross, 454 F.3d 802, 810–11 (8th Cir.2006) (quoting Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) ). Turner may prevail on his official-capacity claims by identifying a policy that “constitutes either deliberate indifference to medical needs or a punishment.”

Haslar v. Megerman, 104 F.3d 178, 180 (8th Cir.1997) (citations omitted). “To establish a claim of deliberate indifference to...