Daniels v. Brown

District Court, S.D. Illinois·Decided November 6, 2020·No. 3:19-cv-01341·Unknown

Opinion

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

DARRIAN DANIELS, #K91046,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 19-cv-01341-SPM

TYSON BROWN, JOHN BALDWIN, and FRANK LAWRENCE,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MCGLYNN, District Judge: This matter is before the Court the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants Brown, Lawrence, and Baldwin. Defendants argue that Plaintiff Darrian Daniels failed to exhaust his administrative remedies prior to filing suit. (Docs. 48, 49). Daniels filed a Response in opposition to the Motion. (Doc. 53). On November 4, 2020, the Court held an evidentiary hearing. Defense Counsel Davis appeared on behalf of Defendants, and Plaintiff Daniels did not attend. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Darrian Daniels, an inmate of the Illinois Department of Corrections (“IDOC”) who is currently incarcerated at Menard Correctional Center (“Menard”), commenced this action by filing a Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that from September 5, 2019, through November 2019, he was served contaminated food and denied meals. (Doc. 1). Following preliminary review of the Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, Daniels is proceeding with the following claims: Count 1: Eight Amendment claim of cruel and unusual punishment against Brown, Baldwin, and Lawrence for serving Daniels contaminated food and denying him food. Daniels for filing a lawsuit by serving him contaminated food and denying him food.

In the Motion for Summary Judgment, Defendants argue that Daniels has only filed one grievance relating to the issues alleged in the Complaint. In grievance #377-10-19, Daniels grieves that since August 2018, he has been refused food trays while in segregation, served a food tray with feces in it, and threatened on a daily basis by Officer Brown. (Doc. 49, p. 2). Daniels filed the grievance October 30, 2019, and marked it as an emergency. (Doc. 49-1, p. 2-3). It was determined not to be an emergency by the Chief Administrative Officer, and Daniels was instructed to submit the grievance according to normal procedures. Rather than resubmitting the grievance in accordance with the standard grievance process, Daniels sent the grievance directly to the Administrative Review Board, along with a letter addressed to the “Director.” (Id. at p. 4- 5). The Administrative Review Board determined that the grievance was not submitted in the timeframe outlined in Department Rule 504. (Id. at p. 1). The Illinois Administrative Code requires that “a grievance must be filed with the counselor or grievance officer. . . within 60 days after the discovery of the incident, occurrence or problem that gives rise to the grievance.” (Doc. 49, p. 7) (quoting ILL. ADMIN. CODE § 504.810). In the grievance, Daniels states that the incidents with his food began in August 2018, but he did not file his grievance until October 30, 2019. Defendants argue that because Daniels failed to fully comply with the grievance procedures and to submit his grievance within the required timeframe, the October 30, 2019 grievance was not fully exhausted. Defendants further argue that the October 30, 2019 grievance does not meet the provisions of the Illinois Administrative Code requiring a grievance to “contain factual details regarding each aspect of the offender’s complaint, including what happened, when, where and the name of each

person who is the subject of or who is otherwise involved in the complaint.” (Doc. 49, p. 8) (quoting ILL. ADMIN. CODE § 504.810(c)). They state that Daniels cannot rely on this grievance to with his claims of food contamination and denial of meals. Daniels filed a Response to the Motion for Summary Judgment. He argues that when he

received the October 30, 2019 grievance back from the warden, after it was determined not to be an emergency, he filed it with the grievance officer. (Doc. 53, p. 4). The grievance officer returned the grievance back to him and instructed him to send it to the Administrative Review Board. He sent it to the Administrative Review Board but did not receive an answer. (Id. at p. 5). Daniels also claims he attempted to exhaust the prison’s administrative remedies by filing an emergency grievance on September 5, 2019, and an emergency grievance on November 3, 2019. (Id. at pp. 2, 12-15). He claims he sent these two grievances to the warden and the Administrative Review Board but did not receive any responses. Because these grievances were ignored, he argues his administrative remedies were exhausted.

LEGAL STANDARDS

“Summary judgment is proper if the pleadings, discovery materials, disclosures, and affidavits demonstrate no genuine issue of material fact such that [Defendants are] entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Wragg v. Village of Thornton, 604 F.3d 464, 467 (7th Cir. 2010) (citing FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c)). The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating the lack of any genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986). Once a properly supported motion for summary judgment has been filed, the adverse party “must set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986) (citations omitted). A genuine issue of material fact exists when “the evidence is

such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Estate of Simpson v. Gorbett, 863 F.3d 740, 745 (7th Cir. 2017) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248). In considering a draws all reasonable inferences in favor of, the nonmoving party. Apex Digital, Inc. v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 735 F.3d 962, 965 (7th Cir. 2013) (citation omitted).

Exhaustion Requirements Lawsuits filed by inmates are governed by the provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”). 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Pursuant to the PLRA, prisoners are required to exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing lawsuits in federal court. Id. The Seventh Circuit requires strict adherence to the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement. Dole v. Chandler, 438 F.3d 804, 809 (7th Cir. 2006) (noting that “[t]his circuit has taken a strict compliance approach to exhaustion”). “To exhaust remedies, a prisoner must file complaints and appeals in the place, and at the time, the prison administrative rules require.” Pozo v. McCaughtry, 286 F.3d 1022, 1025 (7th Cir. 2005). “[A] prisoner who does not properly take each step within the administrative process has failed to exhaust state remedies, and thus is foreclosed by § 1997(e) from litigation.” Id. at 1024.

Under Pavey, the Seventh Circuit held that “debatable factual issues relating to the defense of failure to exhaust administrative remedies” are not required to be decided by a jury but are to be determined by the judge. Pavey v. Conley, 544 F.3d 739, 740-41(7th Cir. 2008).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Daniels v. Brown, (S.D. Ill. 2020).

Daniels v. Brown (Daniels v. Brown) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Jones v. Bock
549 U.S. 199 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Wragg v. Village of Thornton
604 F.3d 464 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
Maddox v. Love
655 F.3d 709 (Seventh Circuit, 2011)
Dion Strong v. Alphonso David
297 F.3d 646 (Seventh Circuit, 2002)
Pavey v. Conley
544 F.3d 739 (Seventh Circuit, 2008)
Apex Digital, Incorporated v. Sears, Roebuck & Company
735 F.3d 962 (Seventh Circuit, 2013)
Gregory Turley v. Dave Rednour
729 F.3d 645 (Seventh Circuit, 2013)
Pyles v. Nwaobasi
829 F.3d 860 (Seventh Circuit, 2016)
Estate of Simpson v. Gorbett
863 F.3d 740 (Seventh Circuit, 2017)
Wilder v. Sutton
310 F. App'x 10 (Seventh Circuit, 2009)