Conway v. Purves

963 F. Supp. 2d 708, 2013 WL 4042612, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112424
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 9, 2013
DocketCase No. 13-cv-10271
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 963 F. Supp. 2d 708 (Conway v. Purves) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conway v. Purves, 963 F. Supp. 2d 708, 2013 WL 4042612, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112424 (E.D. Mich. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING AS MOOT PLAINTIFFS’ JUNE 21,2013 EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER, PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, AND/OR PERMANENT INJUNtTION

PATRICK J. DUGGAN, District Judge.

This lawsuit challenges the nutritional adequacy of the meals provided to Michigan Department of Corrections’ prisoners during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Presently before the Court is an “Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary Injunction, and/or Permanent Injunction” filed by Plaintiffs on June 21, 2013. (ECF No. 35.) The Court has referred this action to Magistrate Judge Paul J: Komives for all pretrial proceedings, including a hearing and determination of all non-dispositive matters pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A) and/or a report and recommendation (“R & R”) on all dispositive matters pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B). (ECF No. 11.) On July 18, 2013, Magistrate Judge Komives issued a R & R recommending that this Court either: (a) deny Plaintiffs’ motion as moot based on an order entered by the Honorable Gordon J. Quist in Heard v. Finco, No. 1:13-cv-373 (W.D.Mich. July 8, 2013); or (b) grant Plaintiffs’ motion. (ECF No. 47.)

At the conclusion of his R & R, Magistrate Judge Komives advises the parties that they may object to and seek review of the R & R within fourteen days of service upon them. (Id. at 16.) He further specifically advises the parties that “[failure to file specific objections constitutes a waiver of any further right to appeal.” (Id.) Plaintiffs filed objections to the R & R on July 25, 2013.

Standard of Review

The parts of the R & R to which objections are made will be reviewed by the Court de novo. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); see also FedR.Civ.P. 72(b)(3). The Court must examine the relevant evidence previously reviewed by the magistrate judge and decide whether the recommendation should be accepted, rejected, or modified in whole or in part. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). The Court, however, “is not required to articulate all of the reasons it rejects a party’s objections.” Thomas v. Halter, 131 F.Supp.2d 942, 944 (E.D.Mich.2001) (citations omitted).

[710]*710Moreover, only those objections that are specific are entitled to a de novo review under the statute. Mira v. Marshall, 806 F.2d 636, 637 (6th Cir.1986) (quoting Nettles v. Wainwright, 677 F.2d 404, 410 n. 8 (5th Cir.1982) (“the district court need not provide de novo review where the objections are “[fjrivolous, conclusive or general.” ”)). “The parties have the duty to pinpoint those portions of the magistrate [judge’]s report that the district court must specially consider.” Id, (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

Procedural Background

On January 22, 2013, Plaintiff Charles Conway (“Conway”) initiated this lawsuit pro se by filing a Complaint against the following defendants: Michigan Department of Corrections (“MDOC”) Central Office Food Service Program Manager Brad Purves; MDOC Food Service Director Don Spaulding; MDOC Food Service Worker Glenn Kusey; and Lloyd Rapelje, Warden of the Saginaw Correctional Facility (“SRF”) where Conway was housed. Along with his Complaint, Conway filed an application to proceed without prepayment of fees which was granted on January 30, 2013. The initial partial filing fee paid was $3.11. (ECF No. 5.)

On April 3, 2013, Kusey, Purves, and Rapelje filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). On April 5, 2013, Spaulding filed a motion to dismiss adopting the arguments raised in the earlier filed motion. In response to the motions to dismiss, and now with the assistance of counsel, Conway and three additional MDOC inmates filed an Amended Complaint on April 24, 2013.

The three plaintiffs added to the Amended Complaint are: Antonio Hudson (incarcerated at MDOC’s Newberry Correctional Facility (“NCF”)), Jose Rodriguez (then incarcerated at MDOC’s Central Michigan Correctional Facility (“STF”) but now at Parnall Correctional Facility (“SMT”)), and Jeffrey Brown (an inmate at MDOC’s Alger Correctional Facility (“LMF”)) (hereafter collectively referred to, with Conway, as “Plaintiffs”). Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint named ten additional defendants: MDOC Director Daniel H. Heyns; MDOC Correctional Facilities Administration Deputy Director Dennis Straub; former STF Warden Tom Burkett; NCF Warden Mitch Perry; STF Warden Jeffrey Larson; LMF Warden Catherine S. Bauman; LMF Food Service Director Rice Ricciardi; and three unidentified defendants. The initially named defendants (i.e. Purves, Spaulding, Kusey, and Rapelje) moved to strike the Amended Complaint on April 30, 2013.

On June 7, 2013, Magistrate Judge Komives granted in part the motion to strike the amended complaint. (ECF No. 31.) Magistrate Judge Komives concluded that the additionally named plaintiffs are proportionally liable for the filing fee and thus must submit a proportional share of the fee or file applications to proceed informa pauperis. (Id. at 7.) Magistrate Judge Komives also concluded that the Plaintiffs’ claim for monetary damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) are not cognizable and must be dismissed. (Id. at 11.) Accordingly, Magistrate Judge Komives struck the Amended Complaint, quashed the summonses issued pursuant to that complaint, and directed Plaintiffs to file an amended complaint consistent with his decision within fourteen days of the decision or, if objections were filed, any order affirming the decision. (Id. at 13.)

Plaintiffs paid the full filing fee and subsequently filed a Second Amended Complaint on June 20, 2013. (ECF Nos. 32, 34.) Before summonses issued for the newly named defendants, Plaintiffs filed their June 21, 2013 emergency motion for [711]*711injunctive relief. In their motion, Plaintiffs seek a temporary, preliminary, and/or permanent injunction “enjoining Defendants and all statewide facilities, prisons and institutions that Defendants have supervisory and/or operational controls over, from denying Plaintiffs, and other Muslim inmates, participating in the Ramadan fast, a balanced nutritional diet containing between 2600 and 2900 calories on any given day during Ramadan.” (See ECF No. 35 Ex. 1.)

Within days of Plaintiffs’ motion being fully briefed, Judge Quist entered his decision on a motion for preliminary injunction filed in Heard, a similar action pending in the District Court for the Western District of Michigan.1 Judge Quist initially entered an opinion and order on July 8, 2013, denying the plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief. Op. and Order, Heard v. Finco, No. 1:13-cv-373 (W.D.Mich.), ECF No. 21.

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Bluebook (online)
963 F. Supp. 2d 708, 2013 WL 4042612, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conway-v-purves-mied-2013.