Caswell v. Uhler

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedMarch 16, 2020
Docket9:19-cv-00141
StatusUnknown

This text of Caswell v. Uhler (Caswell v. Uhler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caswell v. Uhler, (N.D.N.Y. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK REGGIE CASWELL, Plaintiff, -against- 9:19-CV-0141 (LEK/ATB) DONALD G. UHLER, et al., Defendants.

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Reggie Caswell has brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against several employees of Upstate Correctional Facility (“Upstate C. F.”): Superintendent Donald G. Uhler,

Assistant Deputy Superintendent Denise E. Sauther, Lieutenant Thomas F. Quinn, Lieutenant Craig S. Rowe, Sergeant Charles E. Coryea, Sergeant Paul L. Fletcher, Sergeant Darren Pilon, Sergeant Randal J. Smith, Sergeant Bruce A. Truax, Correction Officer Austin A. Helms, Correction Officer Dustin J. Hollenbeck, Correction Officer Chris King, and Correction Officer Matthew B. Welch (collectively, “Defendants”). Dkt. No. 1 (“Complaint”). Plaintiff’s claims arise out of his confinement in Upstate C. F.’s Special Housing Unit (“SHU”) in 2016. Fletcher, Rowe, Truax, Quinn, and Coryea (collectively, “Moving Defendants”)1 have moved this Court to dismiss one count of Plaintiff’s Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedural 12(b)(6)

for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Dkt. Nos. 25 (“Motion to Dismiss”); 25-1 (“Moving Defendants’ Memorandum”). Plaintiff has filed a response, Dkt. No. 1 Helms, Hollenbeck, Pilon, Sauther, Smith, Uhler, and Welch answered the Complaint on May 20, 2019, Dkt. No. 24, while King answered the Complaint on July 11, 2019, Dkt. No. 34. 32 (“Plaintiff’s Response”), to which Moving Defendants have filed a reply, Dkt. No. 35 (“Moving Defendants’ Reply”). For the reasons that follow, Moving Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is granted in part and denied in part.

II. BACKGROUND The Court draws all facts, which are assumed to be true, from the Complaint. Bryant v. N.Y. State Educ. Dep’t, 692 F.3d 202, 210 (2d Cir. 2012). “For purposes of a motion to dismiss,” the Second Circuit “deem[s] a complaint to include any written instrument attached to it as an exhibit or any statements or documents incorporated in it by reference . . . and documents that the plaintiffs either possessed or knew about and upon which they relied in bringing the suit.” Rothman v. Gregor, 220 F.3d 81, 88–89 (2d Cir. 2000). Below is a summary of the facts relevant

to the Motion to Dismiss. A complete set of facts may be found in the Complaint. Plaintiff, an inmate in the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (“DOCCS”), was transferred to Upstate C. F. on or about March 21, 2016 to serve a disciplinary sanction. Compl. ¶¶ 5, 13. Upon admission, Plaintiff informed Fletcher he is homosexual and requested that he not be housed with a bunkmate known to be hostile toward gays. Id. ¶ 14. Fletcher responded that Plaintiff should “save the semen” if he were ever raped by his bunkmate and assigned Plaintiff to a SHU cell that already housed “an alleged rapist” (“Cellmate No. 1”). Id. ¶¶ 15–16. Cellmate No. 1 threatened to physically assault Plaintiff

if he ever stepped foot off the top bunk of the cell unless Plaintiff needed to relieve himself or shower. Id. ¶ 17. Cellmate No. 1 “also routinely made inappropriate overtures of sexual favors in exchange for Plaintiff’s freedom to move about their shared cell.” Id.

2 After moving in with Cellmate No. 1, “Plaintiff wrote DOCCS staff, including Defendants Uhler and Sauther, explicitly notifying them of his well-founded fears for his physical safety at the hands of his first cellmate and others at Upstate, and requesting to be housed in a single-occupancy cell.” Id. § 18. On March 27, 2016, Plaintiff filed a grievance requesting to be placed in a single-occupancy cell given his sexual orientation and Cellmate No. 1’s threats. Id. 4 19. The next day, Rowe interviewed Plaintiff in connection with the grievance. Id. 20. In determining whether Plaintiff should be transferred to his own cell for protection, Rowe inquired whether Plaintiff was “gay” or “really, really gay.” Id. §] 21 (internal quotation marks omitted). Rowe decided Plaintiff should remain in a two-bunk cell because “he did not appear to be ‘too gay.’” Id. Rowe promised to find Plaintiff a “more compatible” bunkmate. Id. 4] 22. “By the time Plaintiff returned to his cell after the Rowe interview, a new cellmate had been assigned and had already moved into Plaintiff's cell” (“Cellmate No. 2”). Id. 4 23. However, Rowe knew Cellmate No. 2 was “homophobic,” id. 4 25, and Cellmate No. 2 proceeded to “terrorize[] every aspect of Plaintiff's life at Upstate.” Id. 27. For instance, Cellmate No. 2 informed Plaintiff that he “hates gays” and “immediately began restricting Plaintiff's movements within the shared cell with threats of violence.” Id. § 26 (internal quotation marks omitted). He “also forced [Plaintiff] always to remain on the top bunk except to use the toilet or shower” and “only permitted Plaintiff to use the recreation cage connected to the cell when [Cellmate No. 2] wanted privacy to masturbate.” Id. 427. On April 2, 2016, Plaintiff sought assistance from Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York regarding “the abuse he was experiencing at Upstate for being gay and [Plaintiffs] fears for his

physical safety.” Id. | 28. Both Plaintiff and Cellmate No. 2 then submitted grievances’ requesting reassignment to different cells given their incompatibility in sexual preferences. Id. 4] 29-30. After Plaintiff's attorneys made inquiries with Upstate C. F. officials regarding the status of Plaintiff's complaints against Cellmate No. 2, Truax interviewed Plaintiff on or about May 12, 2016. Id. 31-34. Truax then sent Plaintiff back to his cell while pledging to investigate Plaintiff's concerns. Id. 435. Plaintiff then met with Quinn on May 19, 2016 about his complaint against Cellmate No. 2, but “Quinn informed Plaintiff that Upstate was a double- bunk facility and that ‘you guys got to get along.’” Id. 9 37. After Plaintiff's attorneys tried to have DOCCS officials reassign Plaintiff to a new cell, Coryea interviewed Plaintiff on May 25, 2016 regarding his grievance against Cellmate No. 2. Id. Jj 38-41. Plaintiff asked Coryea to assign him to his own cell, but Coryea instead placed Plaintiff with a new cellmate (“Cellmate No. 3”). Id. 4 42. Cellmate No. 3 “restricted [Plaintiff's] movement in the shared cell due to Plaintiffs sexual orientation.” Id. 4 43. In mid-June 2016, Upstate C. F. transferred Cellmate No. 3 to a different prison. Id. J 54. In July 2016, Smith and Hollenbeck moved Plaintiff into a cell with “inmate Jones” (“Cellmate No. 4”) who was “homophobic and a member of the Bloods gang.” Id. J] 58-60. Thereafter, Cellmate No. 4 assaulted Plaintiff. Id. §] 73. Specifically, the Complaint alleges: Jones repeatedly punched Plaintiff in the face with a closed fist. Plaintiff fell to the ground, whereupon Jones began repeatedly stomping on and hitting him in his shoulders, back, and ribs. Plaintiff managed to hoist himself up from the floor while Jones continued swinging at him. Jones then smashed Plaintiff's face twice into the table.

* Plaintiff technically submitted an addendum to his March 27, 2016 grievance instead of an additional grievance. See id. 29.

Id. Moving Defendants have moved to dismiss Plaintiff's claims that they have violated Plaintiffs Eighth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment’ rights under § 1983 by failing to protect Plaintiff from threats of assault made by Cellmate Nos. 1-3 and actual assault perpetrated by Cellmate No. 4. Id. 9] 100-15." I.

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Bluebook (online)
Caswell v. Uhler, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caswell-v-uhler-nynd-2020.