Cole v. Litscher

343 F. Supp. 2d 733, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22655, 2004 WL 2504516
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedOctober 25, 2004
Docket04-C-116-C
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 343 F. Supp. 2d 733 (Cole v. Litscher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cole v. Litscher, 343 F. Supp. 2d 733, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22655, 2004 WL 2504516 (W.D. Wis. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

CRABB, District Judge.

This is a civil action in which plaintiff Jonathan Cole seeks monetary, declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This action was filed in July 2002 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. On March 7, 2003, District Judge Lynn Adelman screened the voluminous first amended complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. The first amended complaint contained the claims of fifteen plaintiffs. On February 27, 2004, the action was transferred to this district when Judge Adelman granted the motions for change of venue filed by defendants Berge, Bartels, Catalano, and Prison Health Service, Inc. In an order dated March 15, 2004, I explained that prisoner plaintiffs are not allowed to file group complaints in this district and severed the claims of all plaintiffs pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 21.

This case is now before the court on the motion for partial dismissal. Defendants argue that plaintiff failed to exhaust all available administrative remedies with respect to 12 of the claims on which he was allowed to proceed. In support of their motion, defendants have submitted all 121 inmate complaints that plaintiff filed during the time he has been in the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel, Wisconsin up until the date on which he initiated this suit. Plaintiff has not filed a brief or any further documentation of his use of the inmate grievance system in opposition to defendants’ motion. 1 Because none of the 121 inmate complaints contain allegations about seven claims for which defendants seek dismissal, their motion will be granted with respect to these claims. In addition, I will grant defendants’ motion with respect to two claims *735 for which plaintiff filed an inmate complaint but failed to exhaust his remedies completely before initiating this action.

There is evidence that plaintiff filed grievances for two of the claims that defendants challenge in their motion. However, defendants did not submit any materials documenting the procedural history of these inmate complaints. It may be that plaintiff failed to exhaust these grievances completely but it is impossible to make this determination without further information. Accordingly, I will stay a decision with respect to these claims. If defendants fail to submit this missing information, I will deny their motion for failure to meet their burden. In addition, defendants’ motion will be denied with respect to one claim for which plaintiff filed an inmate complaint and later appealed its dismissal. Although the appeal was untimely, the reviewing official addressed the appeal on the merits. Finally, plaintiffs procedural due process claim will be dismissed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A for lack of legal merit.

OPINION

The 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), provides that “[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.” The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has held that “[ejxhaustion of administrative remedies, as required by § 1997e, is a condition precedent to suit” and that district courts lack discretion to decide claims on the merits unless the exhaustion requirement has been satisfied. Dixon v. Page, 291 F.3d 485, 488 (7th Cir.2002); see also Perez v. Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections, 182 F.3d 532, 535 (7th Cir.1999). “[I]f a prison has an internal administrative grievance system through which a prisoner can seek to correct a problem, then the prisoner must utilize that administrative system before filing a claim.” Massey v. Helman, 196 F.3d 727, 733 (7th Cir.1999). Exhaustion has not occurred unless an inmate follows the rules that the state has established governing the administrative process. Dixon, 291 F.3d at 491; Pozo v. McCaughtry, 286 F.3d 1022, 1025 (7th Cir.2002). Defendants contend that plaintiff has failed to exhaust twelve of his twenty-seven claims.

A. Plaintiff’s Claims

Before addressing the merits of defendants’ argument, I will address their contention that plaintiff is proceeding on twenty-seven separate claims. Because of the unique procedural posture of the case, it may not be clear to the parties just what the viable claims in this case are. As noted earlier, at the time Judge Adelman screened the complaint, there were fifteen co-plaintiffs involved. Plaintiff was not involved in all of the claims for which Judge Adelman granted leave to proceed. In the order severing the claims of the individual plaintiffs, I did not list those claims that apply to Cole. However, I did dismiss a claim common to all plaintiffs, that the level system at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility deprives inmates of all reading material except a dictionary and a religious text in Level 1 and certain other personal property, newspapers and magazines in Level 2. In Williams v. Lomen, 02-C-70-C, 2003 WL 23163053 (W.D.Wis. Jan.27, 2003), I concluded that the facility had a legitimate penological interest in its five-tiered incentive program, which was designed to provide inmates with an incentive to improve their conduct, and that prison officials do not violate an inmate’s *736 First Amendment rights by subjecting them to such a program.

After reviewing Judge Adelman’s screening order, I conclude that for the most part, defendants have accurately distilled those claims on which plaintiff has been allowed to proceed. Those claims are as follows:

1-4. Defendants Esser and Fursten-berg retaliated against plaintiff for filing inmate complaints by
(1) threatening him with having to eat “seg loaf’;
(2) issuing him a conduct report and placing him on a “restrictive continuum” for ten days;
(3) requiring him to sit on the floor without any clothes on when his cell was opened;
(4) turning on high beam lights in his cell for three hours.
5-10. Defendant Kussmaul retaliated against plaintiff for filing inmate complaints by

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Bluebook (online)
343 F. Supp. 2d 733, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22655, 2004 WL 2504516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cole-v-litscher-wiwd-2004.