Pack v. MartinPack v. Martin
Lead Opinion
Plaintiff Terry Pack, a pro se Michigan prisoner, appeals the district court’s judgment dismissing his action under
BACKGROUND
In 2000, Pack was working as a cook in the Ryan Correсtional Facility kitchen and suffered second and third degree burns while attempting to drain hot hamburger meat. He complains that his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) officials for denying him proper medical treatment after his injuries were sustained. This argument appears to rely on facts indicating that at times, Pack disagreed with the type and/or amount of medical treatment provided by MDOC officials. He alsо claims his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by MDOC officials for creating an unsafe work environment. Finally, he complains that officials retaliated against him in violation of the First Amendment by terminating him from his prison job.
The magistrate judge recommended dismissal of the MDOC defendants, and the district court adopted the recommendation, dismissing all defendants.
ANALYSIS
Pack appeals the district court’s decision on the grounds listed hereafter.
1. Failure to State a Claim
This court reviews de novo a district court’s dismissal of an аction for failure to state a claim. Dismissal is appropriate if the complaint fails to set forth an allegation of a required element of a claim. Craighead v. E.F. Hutton & Co.,
In order to state a valid claim under the Eighth Amendment or
Pack fails to state with specificity a set of facts that give rise to an Eighth Amendment or a
Even assuming that Pack stated sufficient facts to establish an Eighth Amendment or
The party asserting a claim that medical care received was lacking or inadequate bears the burden of proving that the decision to provide no, or substandard, medical care was deliberate or “knowing.” Bar-gery,
A similar analysis, applied to Pack’s First Amendment retaliation claim, suggests affirmance of the district court’s dismissal for failure to state a claim. To establish a First Amendment retaliation claim, Pack is required to prove that: (1) he engaged in protected conduct; (2) an adverse action was taken against him that would deter a person of ordinary firmness from continuing to еngage in such conduct; and (3) there is a causal connection between the adverse action and his protected conduct. Muhammad v. Close,
2. Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies
This court reviews de novo a district court’s dismissal of an action fоr failure to exhaust administrative remedies. Curry v. Scott,
The Prisoner’s Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) requires a prisoner to exhaust all internal administrative remedies before filing suit under
Pack failed to attach to his complaint copies of such administrative deci
Even assuming that Pack did exhaust his internal administrative procedures, the district court may still dismiss a claim, without requiring exhaustion, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Because Pack failed to state a claim, dismissal of his action was proper nonetheless.
3. District Court’s Review of Recommendation
We review a district court’s consideration of a magistrate judge’s recommendation of dismissal of an action for failure to exhaust administrative remedies de novo. Massey v. City of Ferndale,
AFFIRMED.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority’s judgment insofar as it affirms the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs claims against Respondents Valley, Williamson, Thomas, Brown, Butler, Reed, Pasard, Short, Martin, Mus-tafa, Deputy Smith, Barbee, Behrman, O’Brien, Freed, Tate, Sermo, Jamrog, Bell, Klee, Oswalt, Butts, Epps, Franklin, Glad-is, Roggnabuck, Dr. Barbara Smith and Detroit Receiving Hospital. I dissent from the remainder of the majority’s judgment, however, because Plaintiff both exhausted the prison grievance procedures and stated a claim for relief as to Respondents Johnson, Nobles, Correctional Medical Services, Inc. (“CMS”), and Metzmaker. I would therefore REVERSE the portion of the district court’s order dismissing Plaintiffs claims against Respondents Jоhnson, Nobles, CMS, and Metzmaker.
I.
BACKGROUND
The case arises out of an accident that occurred on May 5, 2001 at Ryan Correctional Facility (“RCF”). Plaintiff, an inmate of RCF, was working in the kitchen preparing dinner. He encountered difficulty straining grease from hamburger meat and unplugged the kettle to facilitate drainage in a manner RCF staff allegedly instructed inmates to use. While unplugging the kettle, grease spurted out and hit Plaintiffs hands burning through his rubber gloves. Because of his burnt hand and a brokеn handle, Plaintiff was unable to close the kettle valve. Plaintiff backed away from the kettle to avoid the grease. While backing away he hit a table and fell to the ground. Several gallons of boiling “grease water” landed on Plaintiff causing second and third degree burns. Plaintiff was trapped between two tables and unable to get off the floor because it was too slippery. He alleges that he screamed for help but that no supervisory staff сame. Eventually, another inmate, Larry Anthony, helped Plaintiff off the floor and Plaintiff went to RCF’s Health Services.
The next morning, Plaintiff awoke in severe pain. Resident Unit Officer Ponzo called for emergency medical assistance but no prison officials responded. Eventually, Plaintiff was forced to find his way back to Health Services. Plaintiff informed the nurses at Health Services that he was in severe pain. Additionally, he informed the nurses that his that Food Services was not feeding him the special diet prescribed by the doctors. The nurses again rushed him to DRH.
DRH again released Plaintiff and sent him back to RCF. At RCF, Plaintiff requested the pain medication, Vicaden, prescribed by the DRH doctors. A prison nurse informed Plaintiff that there was no doctor available to fill the prescription. Instead, she gave him motrin and sent him back to his cell where he was forced to use the genеral prison population’s facilities with open wounds.
In an attempt to remedy the situation, Plaintiff contacted family members and his former appeal attorney, Susan Meinberg. Susan Meinberg contacted the Health Care Supervisor at RCF. On June 12, 2000, RCF officials sent Plaintiff to DRH’s outpatient treatment center. Because Plaintiff continued to have problems, on July 31, 2000, Plaintiff filed grievance RRF-00-0701406-12Z, alleging that numerous prison officials were denying him proper mediсal treatment. In particular, the grievance named RCF’s deputy warden, Johnson, RCF’s assistant deputy warden, Nobles and CMS, RCF’s contract provider of medical services. RCF denied the grievance and Plaintiff appealed it all the way through the Michigan Department of Corrections three tier process, eventually receiving a denial of his grievance at stage III.
On May 9, 2001, Plaintiff was transferred from RCF to Gus Harrison Facility (GHF). Plaintiff continued to have problems аnd continued to file grievances at GHF. According to Plaintiff, a GHF Resident Unit Manager, Metzmaker, asked him to “sign off’ on several of the grievances that he filed. When Plaintiff refused to withdraw his grievances, Metz-maker placed him in “lock up.” Only July 31, 2001, Plaintiff filed grievance ARF 01-06-01137-12c4 complaining of Metzmaker’s behavior. The local prison authorities denied the grievances at stages I and II and Petitioner mailed a stage III appeal to the central prison authоrity in Lansing. Petitioner claims that he never received a response to this stage III appeal, but submitted a letter from GHF’s librarian indicating that he mailed the appeal to Lansing.
II.
DISCUSSION
A. Standard of Review
This Court reviews a district court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s
B. Exhaustion Under
1. Legal Framework
Moreover, the PLRA only requires exhaustion of available remedies. While this requires plaintiffs to use grievance procedures even where they believe the procedure to be ineffectual or futile, it does not require a plaintiff to use remedies not reasonably available. See Boyd,
Where a plaintiff exhausts his remedies as to one Respondеnt but not as to another, in a so-called mixed petition, Sixth Circuit precedent prohibits district courts from dismissing the entire action. Hartsfield v. Vidor,
Moreover, the rationale of Sixth Circuit cases requiring dismissal of mixed petitions is unpersuasive. The cases state that because 1997e refers to “action” as opposed to “claim,” a plaintiffs remedies must be exhausted as to the entire action. Id. at 807.
2. Plaintiff Has Exhausted His Claims Against Johnson, Nobles, CMS, and Metzmaker
Plaintiff has exhausted his administrative remedies as to Johnson, Nobles, CMS, and Metzmaker. On July 31, 2000, Plaintiff filed grievance RRF-00-7-1406-12Z expressly naming Johnson, Nobles and CMS, and alleging misconduct on their part.
Similarly, Plaintiff exhausted his administrative remedies as to Metzmaker. Plaintiff filed a grievance naming Metz-maker and specifying actual misconduct, and took all available appeals. Grievance ARF 01-07-01326-17B states that Metz-maker took Plaintiffs property and retaliated against him for filing grievances. Although Plaintiff did not submit a copy of his stage III appeal, he alleges that he is unable to because he never recеived a response. He did, however, submit a signed letter from the prison librarian, Mary Gray, stating that she received grievance ARF 01-07-01326-17B to mail to Lansing. (Am. Compl. Exh. B at 191.) Because only stage III grievances are processed in Lansing, the letter from Ms. Gray is sufficient evidence of Plaintiffs attempt to take his stage III appeal. Thus, Plaintiff, exhausted his remedies as to Metzmaker.
C. Plaintiff States Eighth Amendment Claims Against Johnson, Nobles, and CMS
To state a claim for relief under the Eighth Amendmеnt for a prison worker’s failure to provide adequate medical care, a plaintiff must allege that the prison worker was 1) deliberately indifferent, 2) to a serious medical need. Estate of Carter v. City of Detroit,
In this case, Plaintiff stated a claim for relief under the Eighth Amendment against Johnson, Nobles and CMS because Plaintiff pleaded facts sufficient to establish deliberate indifference and a serious medical need. Plaintiff pleads facts indicating that Johnson, Nobles and CMS were aware of his second and third degree burns. Specifically, Plaintiff claims that he saw Johnson and Nobles in the hallway while he was recovering from his burns. He explained that he was not receiving adequate medical care. Yet, Johnson and Nobles took no action despite their positions as RCF’s deputy warden and assistant deputy warden. Similarly, CMS was aware of Plaintiffs burn because Plaintiffs doctor, Dr. Williamson, sought approval for the costs of Plaintiffs burn care from CMS. Thus, Johnson, Nobles and CMS possessed subjective awareness of Plaintiffs injury sufficient to establish deliberate indifference. Moreover, it is indisputable that treatment for second and third degree burns qualifies as a serious medical need. A layperson would recognize the necessity for treatment in Plaintiffs case, and thus, Plaintiff need not present verifying medical evidence, аlthough he did submit such evidence to the court. Therefore, this Court should not dismiss Plaintiffs Eighth Amendment claims against Johnson, Nobles and CMS for failure to state a claim.
Plaintiff states a First Amendment retaliation claim against Metzmaker. To state a claim for retaliation under the First Amendment, a plaintiff must allege: (1) that he or she engaged in protected conduct; (2) that he or she was subjected to adverse action; and (3) that the protected conduct was a substantial motivating factor for the adverse action. Thaddeus-X v. Blatter,
III.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, I would AFFIRM the district court’s order dismissing Plaintiff’s claims as to Respondents Valley, Williamson, Thomas, Brown, Butler, Reed, Pasard, Short, Martin, Mustafa, Deputy Smith, Barbee, Behrman, O’Brien, Freed, Tate, Sermo, Jamrog, Bell, Klee, Oswalt, Butts, Epps, Franklin, Gladis, Roggna-buck, Dr. Barbara Smith and Detroit Receiving Hospital but REVERSE the order as the claims against Respondents Johnson, Nobles, CMS and Metzmaker.
Notes
. The magistrate judge erroneously determined that Plaintiff failed to provide documentation of this grievance, mis-citing the grievance as RRF 00-07-1406-2f instead of RRF 00-07-1406-/2z. (Rep. & Rec., February 18, 2003, at 15-16.) Similarly it erroneously stated that CMS was not named in RRF 00-07-1406-12z. (Op. Sept. 9, 2003, at 9.) Plaintiff did object to both findings and attached a copy of RRF 00-07-1406-12z to his objections.