Cooper, Jr. v. Florida Department of Corrections

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 27, 2020
Docket3:19-cv-00309
StatusUnknown

This text of Cooper, Jr. v. Florida Department of Corrections (Cooper, Jr. v. Florida Department of Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cooper, Jr. v. Florida Department of Corrections, (M.D. Fla. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA JACKSONVILLE DIVISION

KEITH LAVON COOPER, JR.,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 3:19-cv-309-J-39MCR

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, et al.

Defendants. _______________________________

ORDER I. Status Plaintiff, Keith Lavon Cooper, Jr., is proceeding on a third amended complaint (Doc. 34; TAC), filed by private counsel. All served Defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint (Docs. 44, 57, 60, 71).1 II. Motion to Dismiss Standard “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009); see also Lotierzo v. Woman’s World Med. Ctr., Inc., 278 F.3d 1180, 1182 (11th Cir. 2002). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is

1 Plaintiff and Defendant Baker County filed a joint stipulation for dismissal with prejudice of Defendant Baker County (Doc. 59). liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. A plaintiff should allege enough facts “to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence” supporting the plaintiff’s claims. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556 (2007). Though detailed factual allegations are not required, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) demands “more than an unadorned, the- defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. As such, a plaintiff may not rely on “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements.” Gill, 2019 WL 5304078, at *2 (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678). Rather, the well-pled allegations must nudge the claim “across the line from conceivable to plausible.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. In assessing the sufficiency of a complaint, all reasonable inferences should be drawn in favor of the plaintiff. See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. III. Complaint Allegations Plaintiff’s claims arise out of an incident that occurred on

April 30, 2015, at the Baker Correctional Center (the work camp). See TAC ¶¶ 40, 59, 72. According to Plaintiff, up to twenty-two other inmates, who were associated with a prison gang called the “Cutthroats,” were impermissibly granted access to Plaintiff’s housing unit and beat him to unconsciousness inside his cell while corrections officers watched. Id. ¶¶ 51, 71-75. Plaintiff alleges the gang-member inmates attacked him as retribution for falling behind on extortion payments demanded by the head of the Cutthroats, the “Terrorizer.”2 Id. ¶¶ 51-55. Plaintiff alleges he avoided other attempted gang attacks prior to the one that is the subject of his complaint. One day in April, a gang-member inmate attempted to strike Plaintiff with a lock in a sock, but Plaintiff was able to defend himself. Id. ¶¶

56, 57. Later in the week, Plaintiff avoided an attack by three gang members. Id. ¶ 58. On the day of the attack that is the subject of the complaint, four gang members surrounded Plaintiff in the yard, but Plaintiff “was able to fight [them] off.” Id. ¶¶ 60, 61, 64. Plaintiff alleges the officer-Defendants “were within the vicinity, could observe the attack [in the yard], and did nothing.” Id. ¶ 62. The subject attack occurred shortly after the incident in the yard, after officers allowed the gang-member inmates to enter his housing unit even though they were not residents of that unit and should not have gained access. Id. ¶¶ 66-70. The gang-member inmates entered with weapons, “including

locks, a plexiglass knife, and an ice pick.” Id. ¶ 70. After the attack, Plaintiff was air-lifted to Shands Hospital. Id. ¶ 89. He was discharged the following day. Id. ¶ 90.

2 Plaintiff spells this inmate’s nickname as both “Terrorizer” and “Terrorizor.” See TAC ¶¶ 51, 52. The Court will use the former, correct spelling. Plaintiff sustained “brain trauma, including 4mm of brain hemorrhaging and a right partial fracture of his skull.” Id. ¶ 91. Upon his return to Baker Correctional, Plaintiff was housed in the medical unit, though he did not see a doctor for three days. Id. ¶¶ 92-94. At that time, the Baker Correctional doctor ordered Plaintiff’s transfer to Taylor Correctional Institution (TCI). Id.

¶ 94. Plaintiff’s medical records were not transported with him, and officials at TCI placed Plaintiff in solitary confinement despite his physical condition and inability to walk. Id. ¶ 95- 97. Officers at TCI “threatened [Plaintiff] in an attempt to get him to walk or move,” which caused Plaintiff to urinate on himself. Id. ¶¶ 98, 99. When Plaintiff requested medical attention, he was taken to the infirmary. Id. ¶¶ 101, 102. About three weeks later, Plaintiff had an MRI at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, and he was told “to see a neurologist in 2 days.” Id. ¶ 103. Plaintiff was subsequently sent back to TCI where he remained for weeks without seeing a neurologist. Id. ¶ 104. A

second MRI was completed at the Reception and Medical Center, which revealed Plaintiff had a pinched nerve or swelling in his brain. Id. ¶ 105. Plaintiff alleges he developed cysts and bed sores, and due to the alleged inadequate medical care, his “injuries [from the attack] were exacerbated, took longer to heal, and became more complicated.” Id. ¶ 106, 107. Plaintiff attributes the following injuries to the attack: hand, arm and leg pain, lacerations to his head, deformity to his eyebrow, multiple stab wounds to his arm and head, bruising and injury to his rib cage and upper back, abrasions to his legs, nasal bone fracture requiring surgery, paralysis of his legs and lower extremities requiring physical therapy, numbness in his lower extremities, headaches, complications with his eyesight including blurred vision and a parietal fracture, brain trauma, and the inability to be mobile without a wheelchair.

Id. ¶115. Plaintiff sues the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), ten officers of different rank, the Warden of Baker Correctional, and the contract medical provider for the FDOC, Corizon Health, Inc. In Count I, Plaintiff alleges the officer-Defendants and Warden Freeman were deliberately indifferent to a serious risk of bodily harm. Id. ¶¶ 124-28. Plaintiff alleges the officers’ and Warden’s “failure to stop or take action to stop the unlawful assaults, attacks, injuries, and abuse constituted deliberate indifference to the known and obvious consequences of violating Plaintiff’s constitutional rights and causing him great bodily injury.” Id. ¶ 129. Plaintiff asserts Defendants (as a group) failed to take measures to ensure Plaintiff’s safety and failed to intervene during the attack. Id. ¶131. Additionally, Plaintiff alleges the following acts or omissions contributed to the attack: failing to protect inmates generally and Plaintiff in particular from gang violence; failing to check identification before inmates enter housing units and permitting inmates to enter units in which they do not reside; failing to check inmates for weapons; failing to intervene during inmate-on-inmate violence; and failing to “inform guards or take any precautionary action after observing gangmembers [sic] attack an inmate.” Id.

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Cooper, Jr. v. Florida Department of Corrections, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooper-jr-v-florida-department-of-corrections-flmd-2020.