White v. Kautzky, C 02-0088-MWB.
| Decision Date | 08 September 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. C 02-0088-MWB.,C 02-0088-MWB. |
| Citation | 386 F.Supp.2d 1042 |
| Parties | Duane C. WHITE, Plaintiff, v. Walter L. KAUTZKY, Director of the Iowa Department of Corrections, and John F. Ault, Warden of Anamosa State Penitentiary, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
Duane C. White, Springfield, SD, pro se.
Patrick E. Ingram, Mears Law Office, Iowa City, IA, for Plaintiff.
William A. Hill, Des Moines, IA, for Defendants.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................1045
A. Claims And Prior Decisions ......................................1045
1. White's claims ..............................................1045
2. The first report and recommendation .........................1045
3. De novo review of the first report and recommendation .......1046
B. The Second Report and Recommendation ............................1047
1. Pertinent findings of fact ..................................1047
2. Recommendations .............................................1048
3. White's objections and the defendants' response .............1049
II. LEGAL ANALYSIS ......................................................1049
A. Standard Of Review ..............................................1049
B. An "Access To The Courts" Claim .................................1050
C. De Novo Consideration Of White's Claim ..........................1052
1. Impediment to meaningful access .............................1052
a. The recommendation and objections .......................1052
b. Analysis ................................................1053
2. Actual injury ...............................................1057
a. The recommendation and objections .......................1057
b. Analysis ................................................1058
3. The remedy ..................................................1059
a. White's arguments .......................................1059
b. Analysis ................................................1060
i. Compensatory damages ..............................1060
ii. Punitive damages ..................................1060
iii. Declaratory and injunctive relief .................1061
III. CONCLUSION ..........................................................1062
Is a "legal assistance" program for state prisoners constitutionally inadequate, if the legal advisor fails to or is precluded from conducting legal research? If so, was the "legal assistance" program provided to prisoners at the Anamosa State Penitentiary (ASP) constitutionally deficient in either respect? These are the questions that animate the court's analysis on review of the second report and recommendation by a magistrate judge on the merits of a prisoner's action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The prisoner asserts that he was denied access to the courts, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, when a "contract attorney," provided by the prison in lieu of an up-to-date law library, gave him "off the cuff" advice to file a petition for post-conviction relief without researching the extradition issue that the prisoner had raised. The prisoner contends that the consequences of filing a meritless petition for post-conviction relief were dire, because, pursuant to a plea agreement, filing any petition for post-conviction relief would subject him to reinstatement of dismissed charges carrying additional potential sentences of up to 150 years. After trial on the merits, the magistrate judge recommends denial of any relief, and the prisoner objects to that disposition of his claim.
In this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, plaintiff Duane White originally asserted "access to the courts" claims on behalf of himself and members of a class of inmates at the Anamosa State Penitentiary (ASP) based on the failure of the Iowa Department of Corrections to keep the law library at the ASP up to date and the ASP's use, instead, of a system that relies on "contract attorneys" to provide legal assistance to inmates. White's individual claim is based on the alleged failure of the "contract attorneys" to assist him with research to determine whether or not he has (or had) a viable claim for post-conviction relief. As the potential basis for post-conviction relief, White contends that Iowa officials violated Iowa's version of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act in transferring him back and forth between Iowa and South Dakota, without ever satisfying the requirements of the Act, before he pleaded guilty to charges in Iowa. White contends that the extradition violations may have deprived Iowa courts of jurisdiction to convict him. White contends that he needed advice and research as to the merits of his claim — that is, he could not risk simply filing for post-conviction relief — because, pursuant to the terms of his plea agreement, filing a post-conviction relief application would have allowed the prosecutor to reinstate additional charges bearing additional potential sentences of up to 150 years.
In a Report and Recommendation filed March 21, 2003 (docket no. 26), United States Magistrate Judge Paul A. Zoss recommended that summary judgment be granted in the defendants' favor on White's individual and class claims of denial of access to the courts. Somewhat more specifically, Judge Zoss noted that White had not resisted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on his purported class action claims. As to his individual claim, Judge Zoss concluded that White had failed to show how the legal assistance system at the ASP failed to meet the guarantees that an inmate would have "`a reasonably adequate opportunity to present claimed violations of fundamental constitutional rights to the courts.'" Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 351, 116 S.Ct. 2174, 135 L.Ed.2d 606 (1996) (quoting Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 825, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977)). Judge Zoss's conclusion in this regard was based on his finding that White admitted that the ASP contract attorney offered him a post-conviction relief application form, his attorney in the present action advised him to complete the post-conviction relief application and send it to the court immediately, and White was able to file for post-conviction relief in state court before the statute of limitations ran, but he made the decision to forego filing because of the possibility that several dismissed charges would be reinstated if he filed for post-conviction relief. Judge Zoss opined that White's "[m]ere dissatisfaction with the legal system by which assess [sic] to the courts is provided is not sufficient to establish a constitutional violation." Report and Recommendation (docket no. 26) at 11. Judge Zoss also concluded that White had alleged no facts suggesting an "actual injury"; rather, he had alleged only a "speculative" injury. This was so, Judge Zoss concluded, because prior to being paroled to the State of South Dakota on a detainer, White never attempted to file a post-conviction relief application before the statute of limitations ran.
In a published ruling filed July 3, 2003, upon de novo review pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), see White v. Kautzky, 269 F.Supp.2d 1054 (N.D.Iowa 2003), the undersigned accepted in part and rejected in part the March 21, 2003, Report and Recommendation (docket no. 26). The court accepted that part of the Report and Recommendation recommending that the defendants' motion for summary judgment be granted as to White's purported class action claim, but rejected that part of the Report and Recommendation recommending that the defendants' motion for summary judgment be granted as to White's individual claim.
This court concluded that, while the legal assistance system, involving contract attorneys, was not necessarily so flawed that it failed to provide meaningful access to the courts, and that White's claim would almost undoubtedly have failed if the contract attorneys had lived up to their contract, White had generated genuine issues of material fact as to whether or not the conduct of the contract attorneys in his case — which White averred consisted of simply handing him an application for post-conviction relief without even attempting to provide him with any advice concerning the merits of his claim, when he had no other source of information to assess the merits of his claim — constituted providing "`a reasonably adequate opportunity to present claimed violations of fundamental constitutional rights to the courts.'" Lewis, 518 U.S. at 351, 116 S.Ct. 2174 (quoting Bounds, 430 U.S. at 825, 97 S.Ct. 1491). This court observed that, because the "touchstone" of White's "access to the courts" claim is whether he was provided with "`meaningful access to the courts,'" see id. (quoting Bounds, 430 U.S. at 823, 97 S.Ct. 1491), not just some access to the courts, handing an inmate an application for post-conviction relief, standing alone, does not appear to be nearly enough.
Turning to the "actual injury" prong of White's "access to the courts" claim, the court found that White had generated genuine issues of material fact that his claim of violations of the Iowa Uniform Criminal Extradition Act was "nonfrivolous." See, e.g., IOWA CODE § 820.10 (). The court also concluded that the record evidence was sufficient...
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White v. Kautzky
...to provide reasonably competent legal advice sufficient for an inmate to present his claims to the court. White v. Kautzky, 386 F.Supp.2d 1042, 1057 (N.D.Iowa 2005) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The district court further concluded White's actual injury was the loss of a......