Cheatham (ID 96193) v. Dedeke

CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedNovember 21, 2022
Docket5:22-cv-03132
StatusUnknown

This text of Cheatham (ID 96193) v. Dedeke (Cheatham (ID 96193) v. Dedeke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cheatham (ID 96193) v. Dedeke, (D. Kan. 2022).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS

RYAN CHRISTOPHER CHEATHAM,

Plaintiff,

v. CASE NO. 22-3132-JWL-JPO

ANDREW DEDEKE, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

Plaintiff Ryan Christopher Cheatham is hereby required to show good cause, in writing to the undersigned, why his claims regarding his dental care, his medical care for his injured finger, and his claims regarding his STD test, should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff must also show good cause why his claims against Sheriff Dedeke should not be dismissed. Plaintiff’s claims regarding his mental healthcare and medications survive screening. I. Nature of the Matter before the Court Plaintiff filed this pro se civil rights case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff is in custody at the Leavenworth County Jail in Leavenworth, Kansas (“LCJ”). On July 12, 2022, the Court entered an Order (Doc. 5) dismissing Plaintiff’s claim regarding the processing of his mail and ordering a Martinez Report regarding Plaintiff’s medical care. The Report has been filed (Doc. 6) and Plaintiff has filed a response (Docs. 10, 19). Plaintiff alleges in his Complaint that Nurse Melissa Wardrop denied him mental health treatment and medications at the LCJ from 2019 to 2022. (Doc. 1, at 2.) Plaintiff alleges that he was denied medication because he failed a urine test in court. Id. Plaintiff alleges that Nurse Wardrop requested a second “ROI” even though had previously provided one. Id. at 6. Plaintiff claims that when he returned to the LCJ again in May 2022, he was denied medication by Nurse Wardrop because he failed his UA test. Id. at 7. Plaintiff also alleges that Nurse Wardrop refused to treat his finger that was injured during his arrest, but acknowledges that she ordered an x-ray of his finger “because Sargent Patterson ordered her to.” Id. Plaintiff claims that Nurse Wardrop told him the x-ray showed no

broken bones, but when Plaintiff requested an MRI he did not receive a response. Id. Plaintiff also claims that he requested to be seen regarding an STD test on June 13, 2022, but his request to be seen was ignored. Id. at 7. Plaintiff claims that he was denied antibiotics or ibuprofen for tooth pain due to a lockdown. Id. at 9. Plaintiff names Sheriff Andrew Dedeke and Nurse Melissa Wardrop as defendants and seeks seven million dollars in damages. II. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C.

§ 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff has raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). “To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must allege the violation of a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and must show that the alleged deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law.” West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988) (citations omitted); Northington v. Jackson, 973 F.2d 1518, 1523 (10th Cir. 1992). A court liberally construes a pro se complaint and applies “less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007). In addition, the court accepts all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint as true. Anderson v. Blake, 469 F.3d 910, 913 (10th Cir. 2006). On the other hand, “when the allegations in a complaint, however true, could not raise a claim of entitlement to relief,” dismissal is appropriate. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 558 (2007).

A pro se litigant’s “conclusory allegations without supporting factual averments are insufficient to state a claim upon which relief can be based.” Hall v. Bellmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir. 1991). “[A] plaintiff’s obligation to provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitlement to relief’ requires “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (citations omitted). The complaint’s “factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level” and “to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. at 555, 570. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has explained “that, to state a claim in federal court, a complaint must explain what each defendant did to [the pro se plaintiff]; when the defendant

did it; how the defendant’s action harmed [the plaintiff]; and, what specific legal right the plaintiff believes the defendant violated.” Nasious v. Two Unknown B.I.C.E. Agents, 492 F.3d 1158, 1163 (10th Cir. 2007). The court “will not supply additional factual allegations to round out a plaintiff’s complaint or construct a legal theory on a plaintiff’s behalf.” Whitney v. New Mexico, 113 F.3d 1170, 1173-74 (10th Cir. 1997) (citation omitted). The Tenth Circuit has pointed out that the Supreme Court’s decisions in Twombly and Erickson gave rise to a new standard of review for § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) dismissals. See Kay v. Bemis, 500 F.3d 1214, 1218 (10th Cir. 2007) (citations omitted); see also Smith v. United States, 561 F.3d 1090, 1098 (10th Cir. 2009). As a result, courts “look to the specific allegations in the complaint to determine whether they plausibly support a legal claim for relief.” Kay, 500 F.3d at 1218 (citation omitted). Under this new standard, “a plaintiff must ‘nudge his claims across the line from conceivable to plausible.’” Smith, 561 F.3d at 1098 (citation omitted). “Plausible” in this context does not mean “likely to be true,” but rather refers “to the scope of the allegations in a complaint: if they are so general that they encompass a wide swath of conduct, much of it

innocent,” then the plaintiff has not “nudged [his] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible.” Robbins v. Oklahoma, 519 F.3d 1242, 1247 (10th Cir. 2008) (citing Twombly, 127 S. Ct. at 1974). III. Discussion A. Deliberate Indifference to Medical Needs “[D]eliberate indifference to a pretrial detainee’s serious medical needs includes both an objective and a subjective component.” Strain v. Regalado, 977 F.3d 984, 989 (10th Cir. 2020) (finding that although a pretrial detainee’s claim is based on the Fourteenth Amendment, the same standard for Eighth Amendment claims applies). To establish the objective component,

“the alleged deprivation must be ‘sufficiently serious’ to constitute a deprivation of constitutional dimension.” Id. at 989–90 (citations omitted). A medical need is sufficiently serious “if it is one that has been diagnosed by a physician as mandating treatment or one that is so obvious that even a lay person would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor’s attention.” Id. at 990 (citation omitted).

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Cheatham (ID 96193) v. Dedeke, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cheatham-id-96193-v-dedeke-ksd-2022.