Collymore v. Commissioner of D.O.C.

74 F.4th 22
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJuly 14, 2023
Docket21-2292
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 74 F.4th 22 (Collymore v. Commissioner of D.O.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collymore v. Commissioner of D.O.C., 74 F.4th 22 (2d Cir. 2023).

Opinion

21-2292 Collymore v. Commissioner of D.O.C. IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ____________________

August Term, 2022 Argued: March 21, 2023 Decided: July 14, 2023

No. 21-2292 ____________________ ANTHONY T. COLLYMORE,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

KRYSTAL MYERS, RN; all defendants are being sued in their individual capacity, K. PHILLIPS, RN/MEDICAL SUPERVISOR; all defendants are being sued in their individual capacity, CHENA MCPHERSON, APRN; all defendants are being sued in their individual capacity,

Defendants - Appellees,

COMMISSIONER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities, WARDEN, OF MACDOUGALL, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities, ROBERT MARTIN, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities, LIGHTNER, MS., H.S.A. OF MACDOUGALL, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities, JOHN DOE #1, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities, JOHN DOE #2, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities, JOHN DOE #3, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities, JANINE BRENNAN, All defendants are being sued in their individual and official capacities,

Defendants

____________________

Before: JACOBS, LYNCH, and LEE, Circuit Judges.

Anthony T. Collymore appeals from the order of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Covello, J.) dismissing his initial and amended § 1983 complaints alleging deliberate indifference to his painful scalp condition by several prison officials and medical providers. The district court dismissed several defendants identified in his initial complaint sua sponte under the prisoner screening statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b), and granted limited leave to amend against two defendants. After Collymore amended his complaint, the district court again dismissed, this time on the ground that Defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, as Collymore had failed to plead a sufficiently “serious medical condition.”

We VACATE and REMAND.

LAUREN E. MATLOCK-COLANGELO (Omar A. Khan, on the brief), Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant. THOMAS J. PLUMRIDGE (Edward W. Mayer, Jr., on the brief), Danaher Lagnese, P.C., Hartford, CT, for Defendant-Appellee Chena McPherson, APRN. JAMES M. BELFORTI, Assistant Attorney General (William Tong, Attorney General, Joshua Perry, Solicitor General, on the brief), Hartford, CT for Defendants-Appellees Myers and Phillips.

2 DENNIS JACOBS, Circuit Judge:

Anthony T. Collymore, an inmate at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional

Institution, sued pro se under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that the defendants failed

for years to provide him with adequate medical care for painful infections and

lesions on his scalp, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. He appeals by

counsel from a final judgment of the United States District Court for the District

of Connecticut (Covello, J.), dismissing his claims. His initial complaint (“Initial

Complaint”) named five administrators (collectively, the “Administrator

Defendants”) and three John Doe medical professionals. That complaint was

dismissed sua sponte prior to service on the defendants and without leave to

amend as to the administrators. An Amended Complaint omitted the

administrators (no leave to amend having been given as to them), and named in

addition three nurse defendants: Krystal Myers, K. Phillips, and Chena

McPherson (collectively, the “Nurse Defendants”). The Amended Complaint

was dismissed, after service, on the ground of qualified immunity because there

is no Supreme Court or Second Circuit decision holding that a scalp condition

constitutes a serious medical condition.

3 We conclude that the appeal from the judgment brings up for review the

dismissal of both complaints, that the Initial Complaint should not have been

dismissed against the Administrator Defendants on the ground of frivolousness

prior to service and without leave to amend, and that the Amended Complaint

should not have been dismissed on the qualified immunity ground adduced by

the district court. We therefore VACATE and REMAND for further

proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The Initial Complaint is considered in Point I and the Amended

Complaint, in Point II. Both were filed pro se, and are somewhat disordered; so

too is the course of procedure. We do our best.

I

The facts adduced are drawn from the Initial Complaint, filed on March 8,

2021, which alleges that starting in 2014 or so, Collymore experienced “a serious

condition of [the] scalp” that over time resulted in itching, irritation, and the

formation of painful scabs and open sores that bled and oozed pus. Complaint

at 8.

4 The condition worsened in 2017, while Collymore was in the MacDougall-

Walker Correctional Institution (“MacDougall”). After reaching out to other

officials, Collymore on August 11, 2017, requested medical care from a Health

Services Administrator, defendant Lightner (“HSA Lightner”). Writing again to

HSA Lightner on April 22, 2019, Collymore advised that his condition had

worsened and was again infected, that his pain was “intolerable,” and that his

efforts to get medical attention had failed to yield a diagnosis or effective

treatment. Id. HSA Lightner allegedly “failed in her administrative role to

ensure that [Collymore] received adequate medical care. And because of

Defendant Lightner’s failure to act[,] [Collymore’s] condition persisted and

worsened.” Id. at 8B.

The treatments administered by the John Doe Defendants were allegedly

ineffective, and requests to see a specialist were denied. One John Doe

Defendant sent by the block officer at first refused to treat Collymore, and later

prescribed a course of antibiotics that cleared up his infections only temporarily.

In the period 2014 to 2019, when Collymore was first at MacDougall, he

told the warden (defendant Chapdelain) in writing and in person that he was

receiving inadequate treatment.

5 At the end of 2019, Collymore was transferred from MacDougall to

Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center (“Corrigan”), where an unidentified

doctor administered antibiotics and a medicated shampoo, but advised that there

would be a long wait to see a dermatologist. When the prescription ran out,

Collymore’s condition regressed. A medical grievance filed on March 1, 2020

claimed that the pain was intolerable and demanded further treatment. Three

weeks later, Collymore wrote to the Corrigan warden (defendant Martin), who

wrote back on March 23, 2020, to say that “I have been informed by medical that

you have been referred to dermatology, but due to COVID-19, all non-urgent

appointments are being postponed.” Id. at 8G. On July 13, 2020, Collymore

wrote to the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections (defendant Cook),

who did not respond.

In August and October 2020, Collymore sent more grievances to defendant

health services review coordinator Janine Brennan (“HSRC Brennan”) which

were “Returned Without Disposition.” Id at 8I. HSRC Brennan allegedly

“obstruct[ed] . . .

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