Delrico Oliver v. Karl Greene

613 F. App'x 455
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMay 27, 2015
Docket14-3330
StatusUnpublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 613 F. App'x 455 (Delrico Oliver v. Karl Greene) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Delrico Oliver v. Karl Greene, 613 F. App'x 455 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinions

OPINION

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.

In this interlocutory appeal, defendant Karl Greene challenges the district court’s denial of his assertion of qualified immunity in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 prisoner civil rights action alleging excessive force. We AFFIRM.

I.

Delrico Oliver was a prisoner at an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility where Karl Greene was a guard. In an altercation between the two on February 10, 2011, Greene grabbed ahold of Oliver, wrestled him to the ground, choked him, and struck him in the face repeatedly, causing injury. Surveillance video recorded the altercation. When Oliver sued, claiming excessive force, Greene moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity, arguing that Oliver had provoked the use of force, which was necessary and reasonable.

The district court denied Greene’s motion upon “findfing] that there are genuine disputes as to material facts regarding whether Plaintiff [Oliverj’s actions created a threat to Defendant Greene and other employees and whether Greene’s initial use of force was reasonable under the circumstances.” R. 33 at 17-18. Greene filed this timely interlocutory appeal.

II.

Ordinarily, such a decision would implicate Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 313, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995), which holds, generally, that we lack jurisdiction over an appeal from a denial of qualified immunity when the denial rests on a genuine dispute of material facts, such as here, whether Oliver’s actions created a threat to Greene and others. But Johnson v. Jones is narrow and applies only when the challenge on appeal is to an underlying decision that “merely decided a question of evidentiary sufficiency, ie., which facts a party may, or may not, be able to prove at trial.” Plumhoff v. Rickard, 572 U.S.-, 134 S.Ct. 2012, 2019, 188 L.Ed.2d 1056 (2014) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). As we have said elsewhere, “Plumhoff appears to cabin the reach of Johnson to ‘purely factual issues that the trial court might confront if the case were tried.’ ” Roberson v. Torres, 770 F.3d 398, 403 (6th Cir.2014) (quoting Plumhoff, 134 S.Ct. at 2019). See also Family Service Ass’n ex rel. Coil v. Wells Twp., 783 F.3d 600, 607 (6th Cir.2015) (“[The defendant] may be wrong on the merits but that does not deny us jurisdiction to say so — or for that matter deny [the plaintiff] the benefit of a merits ruling that establishes on this record that a jury reasonably could rule for him.”).

Here, Greene raises two arguments on appeal, neither of which directly challenges the district court’s finding of a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether Oliver’s actions created a threat to Greene and others. . Instead, Greene argues that his evidence, including the surveillance video, so overwhelms (i.e., blatantly contradicts) Oliver’s version that it renders the facts undisputed (and in his favor). See Austin v. Redford Twp. Police Dept., 690 F.3d 490, 496 (6th Cir.2012) (“In exceptional circumstances, an appellate court may overrule a district court’s determination that a factual dispute exists where evi[457]*457dence in the record establishes that the determination is ‘blatantly and demonstrably false.’” (citation omitted)). Alternatively, Green argues that he was entitled to qualified immunity even if we accept Oliver’s version, thus rendering the facts undisputed (in Oliver’s favor). See Roberson, 770 F.3d at 405 (“We have jurisdiction over this question on interlocutory review because it asks whether the facts, as alleged, indicate a violation of clearly established law, such that the denial of qualified immunity was appropriate.”). Consequently, we have jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal.

III.

As the district court framed it, the ultimate question was whether Oliver had created a threat that justified Greene’s use of force that was necessary and reasonable. Because both parties offered competing evidence, the court found a genuine dispute of material facts and, hence, a decision for a jury. Greene does not contest this decision directly. Instead, Greene attempts to re-cast the facts as undisputed (either in his favor or Oliver’s) and seeks a determination as a matter of law, based on one or the other “undisputed” version of the facts.

Greene’s primary contention is that his evidence, most notably the surveillance video, renders the facts and events in question undisputed, such that the district court erred by “accepting] the Plaintiffs version of events as true,” R. 33 at 12-13, and “viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, as required on summary judgment,” R. 33 at 14. While Greene is partially correct about the value of a surveillance video, he is incorrect about the district court’s analysis and whether the material facts are subject to genuine dispute here.

Typically, “[a]t the summary judgment stage, facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party,” but “only if there is a ‘genuine’ dispute as to those facts.” Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380, 127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007). More to the point:

When opposing parties tell two different stories, one of which is blatantly contradicted by the record, so that no reasonable jury could believe it, a court should not adopt that version of the facts for purposes of ruling on a motion for summary judgment.... [Rather,] [the court] should [] view[] the facts in the light depicted by the videotape.

Id. at 380-81, 127 S.Ct. 1769. But in finding a “blatant contradiction” the Court was considering a situation in which the video would “speak for itself.” Id. at 378 n. 5,127 S.Ct. 1769; see also Carter v. City of Wyoming, 294 Fed.Appx. 990, 992 (6th Cir.2008) (“Appellate judges are free to trust their eyes when a videotape unequivocally shows what happened during an encounter with the police and unequivocally contradicts the claimant’s version of events.”). Inferences supported by the record, including the video, remain drawn in favor of the non-moving party. See Scott, 550 U.S. at 381 n. 8, 127 S.Ct. 1769.

Here, Oliver contends that Greene needlessly subjected him to excessive force by taking him to the ground, choking him, and repeatedly punching him in the face. Greene replies that, initially, he was trying to restrain Oliver, an unruly inmate, and later was just defending himself. Moreover, Greene argues that his evidence, including not only the video but also certain deposition testimony and exhibits, blatantly contradict Oliver’s version and therefore render “undisputed” the events at the initiation of the altercation and prove unequivocally that Oliver initiated it. Greene also cites cases to support his contention that [458]*458courts can, pursuant to Scott, rely on evidence other than video (e.g., medical records) to refute a party’s version of events.

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Bluebook (online)
613 F. App'x 455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/delrico-oliver-v-karl-greene-ca6-2015.