Veteto v. Miller

• Decision Date: 18 September 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 85-0965.
• Citation: 829 F. Supp. 1486
• Parties: Ronald D. VETETO, Plaintiff, v. H.G. MILLER, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania

829 F. Supp. 1486

Ronald D. VETETO, Plaintiff, v. H.G. MILLER, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 85-0965.

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania.

July 1, 1992.

Order Denying Reconsideration, September 18, 1992.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Ronald D. Veteto, pro se.

John A. Morano, Jr., U.S. Atty's Office, Scranton, PA, Stephen E. Heretick, Moody, Strople & Kloeppel, Ltd., Portsmouth, VA, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CONABOY, Chief Judge.

This is a Bivens-type¹ civil rights action filed by Ronald D. Veteto, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at Bradford, Pennsylvania ("McKean"). Veteto filed the complaint while he was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania ("Lewisburg"), alleging principally that Lewisburg prison officials conspired to deny him an effective means of access to the courts while he was confined in the Lewisburg administrative detention unit for several months in 1985. The defendants are former Lewisburg Warden Harold G. Miller "and other named unidentified employees of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons."

This matter comes before the court on the defendants' motion to dismiss the second amended complaint and several motions filed by Veteto. For the following reasons, the motion to dismiss will be granted in part and denied in part. Veteto's motions will be denied, and this action will be terminated for the reasons stated below.

Procedural History

This case has a lengthy procedural history, much of which is relevant to today's decision. Veteto filed the original complaint, styled as a "Complaint—Mandamus, Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus", on July 11, 1985, naming then Lewisburg Warden Miller and other "John Doe" employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons as defendants. Veteto claimed he was denied access to the courts by having writing materials, stationary and stamps withheld, as well as insufficient access to the prison law library during his stay in the Lewisburg administrative detention unit. Veteto also claimed he was denied meals, clean clothes, showers and recreation periods specifically prescribed by federal regulations and established Bureau of Prisons policy. He sought declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as money damages.

The court dismissed the case as frivolous on July 30, 1985 under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) because the complaint indicated that Veteto had not pursued an administrative resolution to the allegations in the complaint before seeking relief in the district court.² The Third Circuit subsequently vacated the order of dismissal, ruling it was error to dismiss the complaint on exhaustion grounds without service, answer, or a preliminary hearing on the exhaustion question. Veteto v. Miller, 794 F.2d 98, 100 (3d Cir.1986). The cause was remanded "to enable the plaintiff, if so minded, to amend his complaint so as to supply more specific facts on this subject and to enable the court to hold a preliminary hearing, if needed," to establish facts relevant to the exhaustion question. Id.

Upon remand, Veteto ignored two orders directing him to file an amended complaint demonstrating that he had exhausted administrative remedies and the court dismissed the case without prejudice on September 30, 1986. Almost two months later, Veteto filed a motion to reinstate the case, arguing that no effective administrative remedies remained available to him because the incidents complained of had occurred over a year ago and any administrative appeals would be dismissed as untimely as a matter of course. In an order dated November 21, 1986, the court granted Veteto's motion and ordered him to file an amended complaint complete in all respects.

Veteto, then incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana ("Terre Haute"), subsequently filed a document titled "Amended Complaint, Mandamus, and Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus". Again, he named Warden Miller and "other named unidentified employees of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons" as defendants. The amended complaint raised essentially the same undetailed allegations as those in the original complaint—denial of access to the courts by having writing materials, stationary, stamps and personal legal materials withheld, as well as insufficient access to the prison law library. Veteto also claimed he was denied meals, clean clothes, showers and recreation. The most specific injury he alleged was that he was unable to "research or type" a brief in an Eleventh Circuit case because he was deprived of the proper resources.

Thereafter, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. On May 11, 1988, the court granted the defendants' motion as one for summary judgment because they submitted declarations and an in camera submission that refuted the substance of Veteto's allegations and Veteto failed to offer any evidence in support of his claims. On August 22, 1990, however, the Third Circuit vacated the judgment and remanded for further proceedings in light of Veteto's allegations that Terre Haute prison officials impeded the discovery process and prevented him from properly responding to the defendants' motion by denying him access to legal materials.

On September 14, 1990, the court issued an order directing Veteto to file a second amended complaint in conformity with the heightened pleadings standards required in civil rights cases within twenty days. Veteto, then incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Jessup, Georgia, filed a motion to stay all proceedings because his recent transfer left him without his legal materials. He also claimed he did not have access to the prison law library or writing materials. The court granted the request, and it was not until November 27, 1990 that Veteto filed a "Second Amended Complaint, Mandamus, and Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus". Despite the court's instructions to file a more factually detailed complaint than he had in previous filings, the second amended complaint is a virtual carbon copy of the amended complaint Veteto filed in December, 1986.

The defendants subsequently filed a motion to dismiss, alleging insufficient service of process on the unidentified defendants, failure to prosecute, and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The defendants argued that Veteto failed to state a viable claim because the second amended complaint depicted nothing more than respondeat superior liability against Miller and no actual injury sufficient to support an access to the courts claim. See Kershner v. Mazurkiewicz, 670 F.2d 440, 445 (3d Cir. 1982). Veteto disregarded the legal elements of the defendants' argument, arguing in opposition merely that the second amended complaint "states viable claims of constitutional violations upon which relief can be granted." Document 70 of record, page 1. The court denied the motion to dismiss inasmuch as it sought dismissal for insufficient service of process and failure to prosecute, but held the disposition of the motion for failure to state a claim in abeyance pending discovery.

When the parties filed several discovery motions, the court issued an order denying the motions and directing the parties to hold a discovery conference in person to resolve their differences. The discovery conference proceeded as ordered, and the parties attempted to continue with discovery without court intervention. After the parties filed a new series of discovery motions, however, the court directed that they file discovery status reports in an attempt to define the issues as clearly as possible.

The defendants' discovery status report indicated that Veteto served thirty-three sets of interrogatories upon corrections officers presently or formerly employed at Lewisburg, including defendant Miller, to which the interrogees responded. The defendants also served interrogatories on Veteto, which he answered. In addition, the defendants complied in part with various document requests, and produced, among other things, redacted portions of the log book used to record inmate visits to the administrative detention unit law library. They objected, however, to the production of some items on the ground that the requested information had nothing to do with Veteto's claims. Among the documents the defendants refused to produce are: (1) the full names, social security numbers, areas and dates of assignment and full facial pictures or photographs³ of all persons employed at Lewisburg in 1985; (2) the titles and civil numbers of all actions taken against Lewisburg and its employees by inmates from 1983 through 1987; (3) copies of all administrative complaints and grievances taken against Lewisburg employees from 1983 through 1987; and (4) various prison manuals related to training and procedure. See Documents 95 and 120 of record. The defendants report also indicated that they opposed Veteto's request to take the depositions of fifty-three past and present Lewisburg officials. They claimed that because over thirty of the proposed deponents had already answered interrogatories truthfully and demonstrated no knowledge of the constitutional violations Veteto alleged, depositions of those individuals would be needlessly repetitive. The defendants objected to the depositions of the officials who had not been interrogated on the ground that their depositions would be premature until they demonstrated relevant information through answers to interrogatories.

Veteto also submitted a status report, as well as a motion for recusal⁴ and a second motion "to provide access to case law decisions" or, alternatively for appointment of counsel.⁵ Veteto's report on the status of discovery indicated, among other things, that the defendants produced many but not all of the photographs of prison guards assigned to Lewisburg in 1985. Veteto admitted that his interrogatories had been answered, but maintained that the interrogees were evasive and nonresponsive, which...