Blond v. Leonard

277 F. Supp. 3d 420
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 27, 2017
Docket1:12-CV-01082 EAW
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 277 F. Supp. 3d 420 (Blond v. Leonard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blond v. Leonard, 277 F. Supp. 3d 420 (W.D.N.Y. 2017).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

Elizabeth A. Wolford, United States District Judge

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Mark W. Blond (“Plaintiff’), pro se and formerly incarcerated at Attica Correctional Facility (“Attica”), moves the Court, pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 60(b) and 60(d), to reconsider the Decision and Order granting in part and denying in part Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (the “prior Decision and Order”). (Dkt. 91), For the reasons described below, Plaintiffs motion for reconsideration is denied.

BACKGROUND

The factual and procedural background underlying Plaintiffs civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Dkt. 62) is set forth in detail in the prior Decision and Order (Dkt. 91), familiarity with which is presumed for purposes of this Decision and Order.

Plaintiff filed his motion to reconsider the prior Decision and Order on December 16, 2016. (Dkt. 100). Defendants submitted their opposition papers on January 6, 2017. (Dkt. 103).

DISCUSSION

I. Legal Standard

Plaintiff brings this motion for reconsideration pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 60(b) and (d), and Defendants respond in kind. Rule 60(d) provides that Rule 60 “does not limit a court’s power” to “(1) entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding; (2) grant relief under 28 U.S.C. § 1655 to a defendant- who was not personally notified of the action; -or (3) Set aside a judgment for fraud on the court.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(d). Plaintiff has not filed an independent action; does not allege that he was not personally notified of the action; and does not allege fraud. Accordingly, Rule 60(d) does not apply in this case.

Rule 60(b) provides that the Court “may relieve a party ... from a final judgment, order, or proceeding.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). The Court’s prior Decision and Order is not a judgment as defined in Rule 54(a), in that it is not a “decree ... [or] order from which an appeal lies.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(a); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (stating that the courts of appeals “shall have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts of the United States”); Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 467, 98 S.Ct. 2454, 57 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978) (noting that a final decision “ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute.the judgment” (citation omitted)). The prior Decision and Order did not adjudicate all of Plaintiffs claims; it dismissed certain claims but ordered that others remain. (Dkt. 91 at 26-27). Thus, Rule 60(b) is also inapplicable here.

Under Rule 54(b), the Court has inherent power to reconsider any of its own entries prior to the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims. See Fed. R, Civ. P. 54(b) (“[A]ny order or other-decision ... that adjudicates fewer than all the claims ... does not end the action as to any of the claims ... and may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims....”). Because Plaintiff is pro se, the Court will liberally construe his motion as requesting relief under the appropriate standard in this case, Rule 54(b).

The Second Circuit has “limited district courts’• reconsideration of earlier decisions under Rule 54(b) by treating those decisions as law of the ease.” Official Comm. of Unsecured Creditors of the Color Tile, Inc. v. Coopers & Lybrand, LLP, 322 F.3d 147, 167 (2d Cir. 2003). Under the law of the cáse doctrine, “when a court decides upon a rule of law, that decision should continue to govern the same issues in subsequent stages in the same case.” Arizona v. California, 460 U.S. 605, 618, 103 S.Ct. 1382, 75 L.Ed.2d 318 (1983). A district court “[has] discretion to revisit earlier rulings in the same case, subject to the caveat that ‘where litigants have once battled for the court’s decisión, they should neither be required, nor without good reason permitted, to battle for it again.’”' Reyes v. Phillips, No. 02 CIV 7319(LBS), 2005 WL 2173812, at *6 (Sept. 6, 2005) (alteration in original) (quoting Zdanok v. Glidden Co., 327 F.2d 944, 953 (2d Cir. 1964). Decisions considered under Rule 54(b) “may- not usually be changed unless there is ‘an intervening change of-controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent a manifest injustice.’ ” Id. (quoting Virgin Atl. Airways, Ltd. v. Nat’l Mediation Bd., 956 F.2d 1245, 1255 (2d Cir. 1992)).

II. Intervening Change in Controlling Law

Plaintiff does not contend that there has been an intervening change in controlling law. Rather, Plaintiff takes issue with • the - Court’s application of ■ the legal standard that existed at the time that the Court considered Defendants’-motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff argues that the Court improperly dismissed his excessive force claim against Defendant Leonard because “the force applied by Defendant Leonard was ... used to maliciously and. sadistically cause[ ] Plaintiff harm.” (Dkt. 100 at 3); see Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 9, 112 S.Ct. 995, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992) (“When prison officials maliciously and sadistically use force to cause harm, contemporary standards of decency always are violated.”). The Court considered the applicable Eighth Amendment standards in the context of a claim of excessive force and' concluded that Plaintiffs allegations did not rise to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation because Plaintiff had alleged only de minimis force by Defendant Leonard. See Hudson, 503 U.S. at 9, 112 S.Ct. 995 (“The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of ‘cruel and unusual’ punishments necessarily excludes from constitutional recognition de minimis uses of physical force.... ”).

Plaintiff also contends that Defendant Noeth should be held liable as a supervisor. (Dkt. 100 at 7). In support of that argument, Plaintiff cites two cases, both of which were in existence at the time of the Court’s Decision and Order, and one of which the Court cited in its decision. (Dkt. 91 at 19).

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Bluebook (online)
277 F. Supp. 3d 420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blond-v-leonard-nywd-2017.