Burrell v. Griffith

158 F.R.D. 104, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15318, 1994 WL 590846
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedOctober 26, 1994
DocketNo. 1:94-CV-67
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 158 F.R.D. 104 (Burrell v. Griffith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burrell v. Griffith, 158 F.R.D. 104, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15318, 1994 WL 590846 (E.D. Tex. 1994).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS IN PART AND DISMISSING SURVIVING CLAIM AS FRIVOLOUS

HINES, United States Magistrate Judge.

Pending is Defendant Carl Griffith’s Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted.

[105]*105The above-styled action was referred to the magistrate judge pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 636 and the Amended Order for the Adoption of Local Rules for the Assignment of Duties to the United States Magistrate, dated July 3, 1980, for findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendations for the disposition of the case. The parties subsequently executed a consent agreement to have the case tried by the magistrate judge.

I. Nature of the Case

Plaintiff Lester Burrell proceeds in forma pauperis and pro se. While playing basketball at the Jefferson County Detention Center, plaintiff, a convicted inmate awaiting transport to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division, fell and injured himself as he tried to avoid a large hole dug in the jail’s recreation yard. Plaintiff states there was a lack of warning or barriers around this hole. In avoidance of the three to four foot wide, irregularly-shaped cavity filled with rain water, plaintiff landed on his back on the concrete court.

An ambulance was called and a nurse appeared on the scene to assist plaintiff. Plaintiff was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital. Plaintiff was x-rayed and given an injection for pain. A fracture of the lower lumbar of the back was discovered.1

Plaintiff was not given a prescription for pain at this time. The doctor at the jail referred plaintiff to the Bone and Joint Clinic in Beaumont, Texas. At the clinic, another doctor, Dr. Wallace, interpreted the x-rays taken at the hospital and conducted a physical. Dr. Wallace prescribed two kinds of painkillers and a full course of physical therapy, relaxing massages, heat applications, ultrasound, and other medical treatments.

Plaintiffs claims of inadequate medical attention center on the ineffectiveness of the medicine prescribed in quelling his pain, the ultimate discontinuance of his medication, the failure to provide him with an elevated bed, which caused him stiffness in his back, and the failure to let him out of his cell twice a day to exercise, as prescribed by Dr. Wallace. Plaintiff further argues the inadequate medical attention encompasses the denial of his request for back support and crutches, the discontinuance of prescribed medicine due to its classification as “narcotic,” and the failure to provide relaxing massages as prescribed.

Through hard therapeutic work and diligence, plaintiff states he has made “a miraculous recovery.”

Over the course of a year, plaintiff saw a doctor between ten and twelve times, by his own estimate.

II. The Motion to Dismiss

On October 11,1994 this court held a Final Pre-Trial Conference and hearing on pending motions, at which time both parties were able to fully address their claims.

A. The Negligence Claims

Mere negligence resulting in injury is not a federal cause of action under section 1983. Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986). In Daniels v. Williams, a prison inmate, much in the same way as the plaintiff in this action, injured himself by falling over a pillow left by a guard on a staircase. In finding there was no underlying violation of any constitutional right necessary to support a § 1983 action, the United States Supreme Court quoted Chief Justice John Marshall, who said “we must never forget, that it is a constitution we are expounding.” Daniels, 474 U.S. at 332, 106 S.Ct. at 665 (quoting McColloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat (17 U.S.) 316, 407, 4 L.Ed. 579 (1819) (emphasis in original)).

Our Constitution deals with the large concerns of the governors and the governed, but it does not purport to supplant traditional tort law in laying down rules of conduct to regulate liability for injuries that attend living together in society. We have previously rejected reasoning that “ ‘would make of the Fourteenth Amendment a font of tort law to be superimposed [106]*106upon whatever systems may already be administered by the States.’ ”

Id (quoting Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 701, 96 S.Ct. 1155, 1160, 47 L.Ed.2d 405 (1976). See also Bowie v. Procunier, 808 F.2d 1142 (5th Cir.1987) (per curiam) (failure to provide safety goggles to inmate while chopping wood did not constitute a federal cause of action).

Plaintiff obviously seeks to further a claim of negligent maintenance of the jail grounds. He alleges only that the hole was present on the recreation yard, that it was a dangerous condition, and that there was an absence of warning present. He alleges nothing to indicate malicious behavior or some violation of a clearly recognized constitutional right. Indeed, the only reason plaintiff seeks to further this claim under section 1983 is because the allegedly negligent party is a county official instead of a private citizen. See id., 474 U.S. at 332, 106 S.Ct. at 666. “Where a government official’s act causing injury to life, liberty, or property is merely negligent, ‘no procedure for compensation is constitutionally required.’ ” Id. (quoting Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 548, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 1919, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981) (Powell, J. concurring in result)). This claim therefore is rightfully dismissed.

B. The Inadequate Medical Care Claims

In order to state a cognizable claim under the Eighth Amendment for inadequate medical care, a prisoner must allege acts or omissions sufficiently harmful to evidence deliberate indifference to serious medical needs. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 292, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976); Green v. McKaskle, 788 F.2d 1116, 1126 (5th Cir.1986); Johnston v. Lucas, 786 F.2d 1254, 1259 (5th Cir.1986). See Daniels, 474 U.S. 327, 106 S.Ct. 662. Deliberate indifference has recently been defined by the Supreme Court as official and actual knowledge and disregard of “an excessive risk of inmate health or safety and equated with the standard for criminal recklessness.” Farmer v. Brennan, — U.S. -, -, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 1979, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994).

A complaint alleging no more than mere negligence or lack of due care in treating a medical condition does not state a claim of medical mistreatment under the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments. Daniels, 474 U.S. 327, 106 S.Ct. 662; Estelle,

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158 F.R.D. 104, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15318, 1994 WL 590846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burrell-v-griffith-txed-1994.