Wilson v. Kelkhoff

• Decision Date: 18 June 1996
• Docket Number: 95-2225,Nos. 95-1483,s. 95-1483
• Citation: 86 F.3d 1438
• Parties: Timothy WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. Glenn KELKHOFF, Herbert D. Brown, Tommy L. Wells, and Delancey H. Moore, Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1438

86 F.3d 1438

35 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1062

Timothy WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. Glenn KELKHOFF, Herbert D. Brown, Tommy L. Wells, and Delancey H. Moore, Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees.

Nos. 95-1483, 95-2225.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Nov. 29, 1995.

Decided June 18, 1996.

Mark E. Wohlberg (argued) and Barbara J. Clinite (argued), Chicago, IL, for plaintiff.

Wendell D. Hayes, Office of the Attorney General, Springfield, IL and Paul Racette (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Civil Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, for defendants.

Before POSNER, Chief Judge, and COFFEY and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

Timothy Wilson filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against an employee of the Illinois Department of Corrections and three members of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, alleging that they violated his fourteenth amendment right to due process when they revoked his mandatory supervised release. The case was tried to a jury, and Wilson prevailed, securing compensatory and punitive damages. The defendants appeal the denial of their motion for judgment as a matter of law, arguing that they are entitled to either absolute or qualified immunity. Wilson cross-appeals, challenging the magistrate judge's decision to grant him less in attorney's fees than he requested. We vacate both the judgment in Wilson's favor and the award of attorney's fees.

I

On June 28, 1989, Wilson was convicted of forgery and sentenced to two years in an Illinois state penitentiary. ¹ Wilson's scheduled mandatory supervised release ("MSR") date was January 21, 1990. While Wilson was serving his sentence, Missouri lodged a detainer against him. He initiated proceedings under the Agreement on Detainers, 730 ILCS 5/3-8-9, to travel to Missouri and resolve the pending criminal charge.

On November 13, 1989, Wilson was transported to St. Louis for trial. He was convicted and, on January 17, 1990, sentenced to a term to run concurrent with his Illinois sentence and expire on the same date (four days later). On January 18, while Wilson was still in custody in Missouri, the Missouri authorities presented him with an Illinois MSR agreement that had been prepared by Illinois officials and forwarded to Missouri for Wilson's signature. The agreement provided that Wilson "shall not leave the state or county without prior written permission of [his] agent."

Wilson refused to sign the agreement after discussing the matter with his attorney. Wilson believed that if he signed the agreement while in Missouri he would be in immediate violation of his supervised release because the agreement provided that it was a violation for him to leave Illinois without permission. Wilson told the Missouri officials that he would sign the agreement once he was returned to Illinois. They offered him the agreement three more times during his stay in Missouri, but he still refused to sign it.

Wilson was not released on January 21. Instead, he was returned to Illinois custody at Menard Psychiatric Center. On January 23, Wilson met with Glenn Kelkhoff, the Field Services Supervisor at Menard. Kelkhoff had been in contact with a St. Louis police officer who informed him that Missouri officials had been unsuccessful in getting Wilson to sign the agreement. Based on the fact that Wilson refused to sign the MSR agreement in Missouri, Kelkhoff had already prepared a violation report and notice of charges recommending that Wilson's supervised release be revoked on the ground that he had failed to sign the MSR agreement. During the meeting with Kelkhoff, Wilson requested that Kelkhoff allow him to sign the agreement in Illinois. Kelkhoff refused and presented Wilson with the notice of charges and violation report. Wilson then waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Wilson's final revocation hearing was held on February 14, 1990. Herbert Brown, a member of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, was the only person other than Wilson present. ² Wilson did not receive any prior notice of the revocation hearing. Brown identified himself as being "with the Prisoner Review Board" but did not specifically tell Wilson that he was conducting the final revocation hearing. Wilson was confused about Brown's actual status; Wilson thought he was a parole counselor or investigator. Brown did tell Wilson that Brown would "be consulting with two other members of the Prison [sic] Review Board" and that "[w]e will make a decision on what is to be done in this particular case." However, Brown also said, in response to Wilson's question of when he would be released: "Well, that's entirely up to the Board. I have no control over your release." Wilson was not provided an opportunity to prepare and present witnesses, although he was afforded the opportunity to explain his failure to sign the agreement in Missouri. He gave several reasons, but he did not give the reason he asserts in this litigation: that he was concerned he would be in immediate violation of his supervised release if he signed the agreement while in Missouri.

Following the hearing, Brown consulted with Delancey Moore and Tommy Wells, two other members of the prisoner review board, and they decided to revoke Wilson's supervised release. Shortly thereafter, Wilson received a copy of the board's decision, dated February 13, 1990, which stated that the board had relied upon Kelkhoff's report in reaching its decision to revoke his supervised release because he had violated "Rule No. 1." The board's decision required Wilson to remain in prison until the expiration of his full sentence on July 20, 1990.

On April 28, 1992, Wilson brought suit against Kelkhoff, Brown, Moore, and Wells ³ under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Kelkhoff's decision to provide him the agreement in Missouri and Kelkhoff's decision to recommend revocation for Wilson's failure to sign in Missouri, as well as the procedures surrounding both the final revocation hearing conducted by Brown and the board's decision to revoke his supervised release, violated his right to due process. The parties consented to a trial before a magistrate judge.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss under FED. R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6), arguing that Wilson's complaint failed to state a claim because, among other things, Brown, Moore, and Wells were entitled to absolute or qualified immunity and Kelkhoff was entitled to qualified immunity. The magistrate judge denied the motion to dismiss without discussing the immunity arguments. Defendants then filed a motion for summary judgment, raising the same immunity arguments. The magistrate judge never ruled on the summary judgment motion. The magistrate judge granted Wilson leave to amend his complaint to provide that in addition to violating his right to due process, the defendants' conduct also violated his eighth amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment and his fourteenth amendment right to equal protection.

The magistrate judge held a jury trial on July 18-21, 1994. The defendants made a motion for judgment as a matter of law under FED. R. CIV. P. 50, again raising the immunity arguments. The magistrate judge reserved his ruling until after the jury's verdict. The jury returned a verdict for Wilson in the amount of $14,400 in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages. Following judgment, the defendants renewed their motion for judgment as a matter of law and, in the alternative, moved for a new trial under FED. R. CIV. P. 59(a). On January 27, 1995, the magistrate judge issued an order denying defendants' motions on the ground that the jury's verdict was supported by sufficient evidence that Wilson's due process rights were violated. The magistrate's order did not address the defendants' immunity arguments. ⁴ On February 22, the defendants filed a notice of appeal from the judgment and the denials of their motion for judgment as a matter of law and motion for a new trial.

Wilson filed a petition for attorney's fees, to which the defendants did not object. On April 19, 1995, the magistrate judge issued an order granting the petition, but for less than the amount requested. Wilson filed a notice of appeal from that decision on May 19.

II

Defendants argue that as a result of the pretrial order and jury instructions, the multiple claims raised in Wilson's complaint were reduced to one, that is, that the board member defendants violated Wilson's right to due process by the manner in which they conducted his final revocation hearing. Wilson does not directly respond to the defendants' argument that he waived his other claims. Instead, he states that the evidence at trial demonstrates multiple due process violations. Relative to Kelkhoff, Wilson argues that he raised two claims: (1) Kelkhoff violated his right to due process by not providing him an opportunity to sign the agreement in Illinois, and (2) Kelkhoff violated his right to due process by initiating revocation proceedings against him for failing to sign the agreement in Missouri. With respect to the prisoner review board members, Wilson argues he raised two other claims: (1) the procedures the board followed in revoking his supervised release failed to give him the process he was due, and (2) the board's decision to revoke his parole for failing to sign the agreement in Missouri violated due process. ⁵

Defendants argue that Wilson's complaint was superseded by the pretrial order, which they claim focused solely upon the proposition that Wilson did not receive the requisite procedural protections in the revocation proceeding. Defendants are correct to the extent that when the district court enters a pretrial order, "the pre-trial order is treated as superseding the pleadings and establishes the issues to be considered at trial." Erff v. MarkHon Indus., Inc., 781 F.2d 613, 617 (7th Cir.1986); see also FED. R. CIV. P. 16(e). However, the brief pretrial order in this case did not...