Batson v. Hoover

355 F. Supp. 3d 604
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedDecember 21, 2018
DocketCase Number 17-12214
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 355 F. Supp. 3d 604 (Batson v. Hoover) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Batson v. Hoover, 355 F. Supp. 3d 604 (E.D. Mich. 2018).

Opinion

Batson had some difficulty identifying the defendants in person or by photographs presented at his deposition and saying what roles they took in the incident. The most he could say about Lieutenant Broecker was that she resembled the female officer who put handcuffs on him during the Code Green incident. He could not definitely recall Sergeant Kennamer, except to say that he thought Kennamer was "very mean" to him. Batson also stated that he was blinded by the OC spray - the "mace" - and consequently could not clearly see who beat him. Batson also conceded that he had "no idea" if any of the individual defendants were involved in denying him the medication that he was supposed to receive.

Deputy David Hoover attested that during the incident, he stood up, told Batson to back away from the desk, drew and pointed his Taser weapon when Batson did not comply, and then called the Code Green. Hoover stated that after he signaled the Code Green, the other officers arrived in about a minute, then Hoover sat back down at his desk.

Deputy Nicolas Leonowicz testified that he responded to the Code Green and that during the incident he used a "one-second burst" of OC spray to subdue Mr. Batson. In his incident report, Leonowicz wrote that he used the OC spray because Batson refused to follow verbal commands, was "talking loudly," and "turned quickly toward" Leonowicz. After Batson was sprayed, Leonowicz escorted him to the Restricted Housing Unit (RHU), where he offered Batson a shower to remove the OC residue.

Sergeant (now Lieutenant) David Kennamer testified that he was present during the "Code Green" response and arrived after Deputy Leonowicz. Kennamer saw Leonowicz use OC spray on Batson, which according to Kennamer occurred after Batson disobeyed direct verbal commands. Kennamer said that Batson was handcuffed after he was sprayed, and then taken by Leonowicz and Kennamer to the RHU.

The plaintiff filed his complaint in this case on July 6, 2017. Initially he named more than 80 individuals whom he identified, apparently, from the employee roster of the Genesee County Sheriff Department, although it is undisputed that no more than three or possibly four persons were involved in the principal incidents alleged in the complaint. On December 18, 2017, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint that dropped all but four of the named individuals and added Genesee County as a defendant. The case was reassigned *610to the undersigned on July 3, 2018. On September 5, 2018, after a conference with the parties, the Court entered an order dismissing the complaint as to all but the remaining four individually named defendants and the County. The present defendants are Sergeant David Kennamer, Deputy Nicolas Leonowicz, Lieutenant Leona Broecker, and Deputy David Hoover (named only as "Deputy Hoover" in the pleadings).

The amended complaint pleads claims via 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for (1) individual and supervisory liability for denial of necessary medical care and excessive force under the Eighth Amendment ("First Claim for Relief"); (2) congruent deprivations of the plaintiff's rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, purportedly due to his status as a pretrial detainee ("Fourth Claim for Relief"); and an inscrutable claim for "Res Ipsa Loquitur" ("Fifth Claim for Relief"). The plaintiff's "Third Claim for Relief," embodying certain state law claims, was dismissed by the parties' stipulation on August 16, 2018. ECF No. 57. No mention is made in the amended complaint of the mysteriously omitted "Second Claim for Relief," which also conspicuously was absent from the original complaint.

The defendants filed a "motion to amend or correct" the caption to excise David Hoover as a party, which will be adjudicated as a motion for partial summary judgment. In that motion, Hoover argues that he never was served with the summons, despite the fact that counsel for the County agreed to accept service on behalf of another deputy also named Hoover. Hoover filed a second motion for summary judgment, in which he argues along with the other individual defendants that the claims should be dismissed based on qualified immunity. The County also argued that the plaintiff has not offered evidence to support a claim for municipal liability.

II. Discussion

The defendants moved for summary judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(a). "Summary judgment is proper 'if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.' " Pittman v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc. , 901 F.3d 619, 627 (6th Cir. 2018) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) ). "The moving party bears the burden of showing that no genuine issues of material fact exist," and it "must demonstrate the 'basis for its motion, and identify[ ] those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.' " Id. at 627-28 (quoting Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317, 323-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) ).

To oppose that showing, "[t]he nonmoving party 'must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.' " Id. at 628 (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) ). "[T]he party opposing the summary judgment motion must do more than simply show that there is some 'metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.' " Highland Capital, Inc. v. Franklin Nat'l Bank , 350 F.3d 558, 564 (6th Cir. 2003) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp. ,

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Bluebook (online)
355 F. Supp. 3d 604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/batson-v-hoover-mied-2018.