Covert v. Kelley

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 27, 2023
Docket4:20-cv-00202
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Covert v. Kelley, (E.D. Ark. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS CENTRAL DIVISION

HAROLD MOSES COVERT PLAINTIFF ADC #151511

V. No. 4:20-CV-202-BSM-JTR

JAMES PLUMMER, Captain, MARY LLOYD, Lieutenant, LAQUISTA SWOPES, Sergeant, and HAMPTON, Sergeant DEFENDANTS

RECOMMENDED DISPOSITION This Recommended Disposition (“Recommendation”) has been sent to United States District Judge Brian S. Miller. You may file written objections to all or part of the Recommendation. If you do so, those objections must: (1) specifically explain the factual and/or legal basis for your objection; and (2) be received by the Clerk of this Court within fourteen (14) days of the date of this Recommendation. If you do not file objections, Judge Miller may adopt this Recommendation without independently reviewing all of the evidence in the record. By not objecting, you may waive the right to appeal questions of fact. I. Introduction Plaintiff Harold Moses Covert (“Covert”), a prisoner in the Varner Supermax Unit of the Arkansas Division of Correction (“ADC”), filed this pro se § 1983 action alleging that his constitutional rights were violated. Doc. 2. After screening the Complaint, the Court permitted Covert to proceed with: (1) his Eighth Amendment claim that Defendants were deliberately indifference to a substantial risk of harm to

his safety and; (2) his First Amendment claim that Defendants Captain James Plummer (“Plummer”), Lieutenant Mary Lloyd (“Lloyd”), Sergeant Laquita Swopes (“Swopes”), and Sergeant Hampton (“Hampton”) subjected him to a retaliatory cell

search, on October 27, 2019, after he reported to the “Arkansas State Crime information line” that drugs were being smuggled into Varner Supermax. Doc. 20. On September 19, 2022, Judge Miller entered an Order granting Defendants’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Covert’s deliberate indifference claims

because he failed to fully and properly exhaust his administrative remedies on those claims before he initiated this action. Doc. 74. Thus, Covert’s only remaining claim is his First Amendment retaliation claim against Plummer, Lloyd, Swopes, and

Hampton. On January 3, 2023, Defendants Plummer, Lloyd, and Swopes1 filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, Brief in Support, and a Statement of Undisputed Facts. Docs. 88–90. On January 11, 2023, Covert filed a Response, Brief in Support of

Response, and Statement of Disputed Facts. Docs. 92–94. Thus, the legal issues raised in the Motion for Summary Judgment are joined and ready for disposition.2

1 Defendant Hampton has never been served in this matter. See Doc. 22; Doc. 51. 2 Summary judgment is appropriate when the record, viewed in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, demonstrates that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the II. Relevant Facts In support of their Motion for Summary Judgment, Defendants submit their

verified discovery responses to Covert’s First Set of Interrogatories and Request for Production of Documents (Doc. 88-1) and a letter from Arkansas State Police counsel indicating that she had contacted several State agencies but not one of them had any records to support Covert’s claim that, on October 27, 2019, he placed a

phone call from Varner Supermax reporting that prisoners in his cell block were selling drugs (Doc. 88-2). In support of his Response, Covert submits the following relevant documents:

(1) his own sworn Declaration (Doc. 95); (2) a grievance he filed immediately after the allegedly retaliatory cell search on October 27, 2019 (Doc. 92 at 7–12);3 (3) Swopes and Lloyd’s Answers to his Requests for Admission (Doc. 92 at 21–29);4 and ADC Administrative Directive 18-15, “Searches of Inmates, Unit Searches and

Control of Contraband” (“AD 18-15”) (Doc. 92 at 31–35).

moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249-50 (1986). The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323. Thereafter, the nonmoving party must present specific facts demonstrating that there is a material dispute for trial. See Fed R. Civ. P. 56(c); Torgerson v. City of Rochester, 643 F.3d 1031, 1042 (8th Cir. 2011).

3 In an attached Affidavit, Covert declares under penalty of perjury that the facts contained in that grievance are “true to the best of [his] knowledge.” Doc. 92 at 12.

4 These Answers to Covert’s Requests for Admission are signed by Defendants’ counsel in accordance with Rule 36(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The relevant undisputed facts, which the Court has gleaned from the attachments to the parties’ summary judgment papers and Covert’s verified

Complaint (Doc. 2),5 are set forth below:6 1. At 8:50 a.m. on October 27, 2019, Covert used the “state phone”7 at Varner Supermax to place a call to the “Arkansas State Crime information line.”

Compl., Doc. 2 at 14; Doc. 95 at 1. 2. In this phone call, he “reported” that prisoners in his cellblock, “Cellblock 5,” were selling drugs. Doc. 2 at 14, 31; Doc. 95 at 1. It is unclear whether Covert spoke with a person or simply left a message relaying that information.8

5 Because Covert’s Complaint is signed under penalty of perjury, it is “the equivalent of an affidavit for purposes of summary judgment.” Roberson v. Hayti Police Dep't, 241 F.3d 992, 994– 95 (8th Cir. 2001). 6 Defendants argue that the Court should consider the statements in their Answer to Covert’s Complaint as support for their Statement of Undisputed Material Facts. Doc. 90 at 1, ¶ 4. The Court is not permitted to consider a party’s unverified Answer as a source for facts which can be considered to be true in deciding a motion for summary judgment. The Court also will not consider the letters and Affidavit about the events that took place in January 2023 (Doc. 92 at 13– 14) or the discovery correspondence between Covert and Defendants’ counsel (Doc. 92 at 15–19). None of those documents are in any way relevant to whether Covert’s constitutional rights were violated in the cell search that took place on October 27, 2019. 7 “[I]nmates housed in Varner Supermax are permitted to use a state phone that is brought to an inmate's cell on a rolling cart; the inmates use the phone through the cell traps.” Shirhashirim v. Gibson, No. 5:19-CV-11-DPM-JJV, 2021 WL 4530042, at *2 (E.D. Ark. Sept. 14, 2021). 8 It is also unclear which State “information line” Covert allegedly called. According to the Arkansas Crime Information Center’s website, it “is the state agency responsible for providing information technology services to law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies in Arkansas.” Arkansas Crime Information Center, ARK. DEP’T OF PUB. SAFETY, https://www.dps.arkansas.gov/crime-info-support/arkansas-crime-information-center/about-us/ (last visited January 24, 2023). Based on this description, it is unlikely that this is the agency Covert intended to call. 3. Thirty-five minutes after Covert made this phone call, Sergeants Swopes and Hampton handcuffed and removed Covert from his one-man cell in

Cellblock 5 of Varner Supermax.

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Covert v. Kelley, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/covert-v-kelley-ared-2023.