Weiss v. Cooley

• Decision Date: 22 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-2880,98-2880
• Citation: 230 F.3d 1027
• Parties: (7th Cir. 2000) Morritz J. Weiss, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Brad Cooley, Defendant-Appellee
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1027

230 F.3d 1027 (7th Cir. 2000)

Morritz J. Weiss, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Brad Cooley, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 98-2880

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Argued February 15, 2000

Decided September 22, 2000

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. No. IP97-0471-C-H/G--David F. Hamilton, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Posner, Easterbrook, and Diane P. Wood, Circuit Judges.

Diane P. Wood, Circuit Judge.

Morritz Weiss was the principal suspect in a highly charged and well publicized case involving the rape of a 15- year-old African-American girl near Indianapolis. The present case concerns the treatment he received from three officers--Brad Cooley, Sheriff Terry Weddle, and Jail Commander Guy Fogelman--while he was in custody at the Morgan County, Indiana, jail before his trial. In short, he claims that the jail officials put him with other inmates who the officials knew would attack him, and who in fact did attack him. Weiss filed suit under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, claiming that the officers in so doing violated his constitutional rights. The district court dismissed his claims against Weddle and Fogelman under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1915A, on the ground that the complaint failed to allege facts that would amount to "deliberate indifference." It then granted summary judgment in Cooley's favor. We conclude that the district court properly dismissed the claims against Weddle and Fogelman, though not because of any lack of facts per se, but that there were genuinely disputed facts in the case against Cooley. We therefore affirm in part and reverse and remand in part for further proceedings.

I

The account of the facts that follows takes them, of course, in the light most favorable to Weiss. The dismissals with respect to Weddle and Fogelman were appropriate only if the complaint failed to give the defendants adequate notice of the claim, or if there was no set of facts that could be proven, consistently with Weiss's allegations, that would support relief. See, e.g., Walker v. National Recovery, Inc., 200 F.3d 500, 503 (7th Cir. 1999), citing Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73 (1984). This standard, derived from Rule 12(b)(6), also applies to the dismissal of claims under sec. 1915A. See Sanders v. Sheahan, 198 F.3d 626 (7th Cir. 1999); see also DeWalt v. Carter, 224 F.3d 607 (7th Cir. Aug. 11, 2000) (applying same rule to dismissals under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii)). The problem here was not notice; it was instead the sufficiency of Weiss's allegations. With respect to the summary judgment in Cooley's favor, we present the facts in the summary judgment record in the light most favorable to Weiss.

In early June 1995, Weiss (a white male) was charged by Morgan County authorities with the attempted murder, criminal confinement, and rape with a deadly weapon of a young African-American woman. He was not taken into custody immediately, because he could not be found. Only after a widely publicized manhunt did the police track him down in Tennessee. He was captured there, and on July 6, 1995, Detective Robert Betts of the Morgan County Sheriff's Department and another detective brought him back to the Morgan County Jail. During transport, the officers informed him that there had been extensive publicity about the case, that there was great public anger, and that racial tensions had been heightened by it. Detective Betts then commented that Weiss had "no idea" what was waiting for him inside the Morgan County Jail.

Weiss's arrival at the jail was filmed by television crews. The officer responsible for booking him was Cooley, who was aware of the news accounts both about the story and about Weiss's arrest in Tennessee. As booking proceeded, officers and inmate "trusties" congregated around the booking area to watch the spectacle. Cooley, meanwhile, asked Weiss several questions: whether (1) he had any enemies in the jail, (2) he needed any special care, or (3) he had ever assaulted anyone or was contemplating assaulting anyone. Weiss answered "no" to each of these.

With booking complete, Cooley began escorting Weiss toward C Block, which was used for holding persons accused of committing serious felonies. As they walked through A and B Blocks, other inmates (who had apparently learned who Weiss was and what he was charged with doing) shouted out a variety of threats and insults, including "we know who you are and what you did." Cooley claims now that the path through these cell blocks is lined with one-way glass, which allows inmates behind the glass to see that a person is moving, but makes it difficult or maybe impossible to identify the particular person. Weiss counters that the glass is not so opaque; instead, if inmates come close enough to it, they can identify the person walking through the area.

Hearing the shouts, Weiss alleges that he then asked Cooley to put him in isolation. Cooley retorted "you have to go where I put you." Then, as inmates from A and B Blocks continued to yell, the following exchange occurred

Weiss: You can't put me in here or there's going to be problems.

Cooley: You have to face the music sometime.

The two then proceeded into C Block, which was quiet but tense.

After dinner, a group of inmates went to Weiss's cell. One of them, Sid Bennett, said that he already knew about Weiss's case and then said to Weiss "we are going to kick you're a**." Another, Douglas Estep, assaulted Weiss, causing a cut that required sutures and fracturing his left eye socket (although the fracture was not discovered for nearly nine months). Weiss managed to alert the guards, who came and took him back to the receiving area. Sergeant Richard Allen asked him what he had done to deserve placement in C Block. When Weiss replied that he was new to the jail and that Cooley had taken him directly there, Allen commented "Cooley has been here long enough--he should be smarter than that."

II

Weiss's original complaint in the action named Weddle, Fogelman, and Cooley in their individual capacities. As required by 28 U.S.C. sec. 1915A, the district court reviewed the complaint prior to its being docketed. The court concluded that Weiss had failed to plead facts in his claims against Weddle and Fogelman that would have shown they were "deliberately indifferent" to his safety, as required by the Eighth Amendment standards, as incorporated in the due process clause for pretrial detention cases. See, e.g., Zarnes v. Rhodes, 64 F.3d 285, 289-90 (7th Cir. 1995). It therefore dismissed the claims against those two defendants, and, perhaps because those claims were dismissed before the complaint was even docketed or the defendants served, it entered no "final judgment" relating to that part of the case.

After that setback, Weiss moved on July 18, 1997, for appointment of counsel under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1915. The court initially denied the motion because Weiss had not yet sought private counsel. Weiss then looked around, but he was unable to persuade any lawyer to take his case. He returned on October 8, 1997, with another motion for appointment of counsel. This time, on February 26, 1998, the court denied the request on the ground that a lawyer was not required given the lack of complexity or merit to the case and Weiss's own ability to handle it.

On November 24, 1997, Cooley moved to strike the affidavit of inmate Steven Sherwood; at the same time, he moved for summary judgment. Sherwood had attested that Morgan County Jail officers knew that Estep would assault other inmates, and, worse than that, that they used Estep as a vehicle for abusing prisoners. Sherwood also claimed that Cooley used inmates to threaten him. In an order dated May 29, 1998, Judge Hamilton struck a substantial part of the Sherwood affidavit on the ground that it was not supported by personal knowledge, and he granted Cooley's motion for summary judgment.

On June 10, 1998 (within the 10 business days permitted by Rule 59), Weiss asked for relief under Fed. R. Civ. P. 59 and 60. Along with his motion, he proffered another affidavit that laid out more facts supporting his claims. The highlights included the following points

* The trusties were calling Weiss a "fucking nigger lover" and "fucking psycho" before Cooley told them to shut up.

* Weiss furnished a more detailed description of his explanation to Cooley about why he wanted to be put in isolation.

* Weiss gave more details of his trip through Blocks A and B, with a number of additional vulgar references like his first one.

* Weiss claimed that he heard the inmates ask Cooley to put Weiss in their cell blocks so that they could "fuck him up."

The district court denied both requests on June 23, concluding that even if the facts in Weiss's second affidavit were really new, he had failed to show how this new information created a genuine issue of fact.

Last, Weiss submitted a request to file an amended complaint, which the court denied on July 7. The amended complaint adds an official capacity claim against Weddle; it augments Weiss's allegations against Weddle and Fogelman, emphasizing that they personally failed to implement an adequate classification system for new inmates; and it provides more detail about the incidents during and after the booking process. The court denied his request both because it was out of order unless or until the prior final judgment was re-opened, and because it was legally insufficient in any event. Weiss appealed.

III

A.

The first question Weiss raises concerns our appellate jurisdiction; he is apparently worried that his notice of appeal might not be adequate to cover his claims against Weddle and Fogelman, as well as those against Cooley. The notice refers to the May 29, 1998, judgment, which itself names only Cooley as a party. Nevertheless, looking at the requirements for notices of appeal set forth in Fed. R. App. P. 3(c), we are...