BOUYE v. HOWARD

• Court: District Court, S.D. Indiana
• Decided: August 9, 2022
• Docket: 1:21-cv-02968
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

BRADFORD DEAN BOUYE, JR., ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 1:21-cv-02968-JMS-MPB ) MARTZ, ) COOKE, ) J. WILLIAMS, ) BYERS, ) K. ALDERSON, ) C. QUARRIER, ) K. CARTER, ) C. TYLER, ) Z. FAWVER, ) J. FISH, ) GUST, ) ) Defendants. )

ORDER

On May 12, 2022, Plaintiff Bradford Bouye filed a Motion for Court Assistance. He asks the Court to order prison officials to stop retaliating against him for filing this lawsuit. The Court interprets the Motion for Court Assistance as a motion for preliminary injunction. For the reasons explained below, the motion is DENIED. I. Legal Standard A preliminary injunction is "an extraordinary remedy that may only be awarded upon a clear showing that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief." Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council, 555 U.S. 7, 22 (2008) (citing Mazurek v. Armstrong, 520 U.S. 968, 972 (1997) (per curiam)). As a threshold matter, "a party seeking a preliminary injunction must satisfy three requirements." Valencia v. City of Springfield, Illinois, 883 F.3d 959, 966 (7th Cir. 2018) (internal quotations omitted)). It must show that: (1) "absent a preliminary injunction, it will suffer irreparable harm in the interim period prior to final resolution of its claims"; (2) "traditional legal remedies would be inadequate"; and (3) "its claim has some likelihood of succeeding on the merits." Id. Only if the moving party meets these threshold requirements does the court then proceed to the balancing phase of the analysis. Id. In the balancing phase, "the court weighs the

irreparable harm that the moving party would endure without the protection of the preliminary injunction against any irreparable harm the nonmoving party would suffer if the court were to grant the requested relief." Id. II. Discussion Mr. Bouye is suing prison officials for excessive force, failure to intervene, and deliberate indifference to a serious medical need. His motion alleges widespread corruption at his facility, and he asserts that he believes prison officials are targeting his family members outside the facility because he has not been able to reach them on the phone. He asks the Court to check in on his family members and prevent prison officials from harming them. Mr. Bouye also alleges that his mail and tablet have been tampered with.

Mr. Bouye's motion is denied because he has not shown that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary injunction. The Seventh Circuit has explained that to prevail on a motion for preliminary injunction, "[t]he moving party must demonstrate that he will likely suffer irreparable harm absent obtaining preliminary injunctive relief." Orr v. Shicker, 953 F.3d 490, 502 (7th Cir. 2020) (emphasis in original). This requires "more than a mere possibility of harm." Id. (citing Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Counsel, 555 U.S. 7, 22 (2008). "Issuing a preliminary injunction based only on a possibility of irreparable harm is inconsistent with our characterization of injunctive relief as an extraordinary remedy that may only be awarded upon a clear showing that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief." Id. There is no evidence in the record to support Mr. Bouye's speculation that his family is at risk from prison officials or that prison officials are tampering with his mail and tablet. Moreover, these issues are not the subject of this lawsuit. Because he has not shown that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary injunction, his motion, dkt. [19], is DENIED. IT IS SO ORDERED.

Date: 8/9/2022

Distribution: Hon. Jane tyes Judge ‘United States District Court BRADFORD DEAN BOUYE, JR. Southern District of Indiana 914329 PENDLETON - CF PENDLETON CORRECTIONAL FACILITY Inmate Mail/Parcels 4490 West Reformatory Road PENDLETON, IN 46064 Douglass R. Bitner Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC doug. bitner@skofirm.com Sarah Jean Shores-Scisney Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC (SKO) sarah.shores@Wskofirm.com Eric Ryan Shouse Lewis And Wilkins LLP shouse@lewisandwilkins.com Julie Tront Office of Indiana Attorney General julie.tront@atg.in.gov