Eaton v. Coupe

CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedFebruary 14, 2017
DocketN15C-09-245 VLM
StatusPublished

This text of Eaton v. Coupe (Eaton v. Coupe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eaton v. Coupe, (Del. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

SUPER|OR COURT oF THE

STATE OF DELAWARE

VWIAN L. Mb;l)lNlLLA LEoNoARD L. WlLL\Ar\/\s JusT\cE CENTER JUDGE 500 NORTH KlNG STREET, sule 10400

WxLMlNGToN, DE 19801-3733

TELEPHONE (302) 255-0626

February 14, 2017

Robert E. Eaton Roopa Sabesan, Esquire SBI # 002()2()59 Departrnent of Justice

J ames T. Vaughn Correctional Center Carvel State Building 1181 Paddock Road 820 North French Street Srnyrna, DE 19977 Wilmington, DE 19801

Re: Robert E. Eaton v. Robert Coupe, et al. Case No.: N15C-09-245 VLM

Dear Mr. Eaton and l\/Is. Sabesan:

This is the Court’s ruling on three motions filed in the above-captioned case. The first is Plaintiff` Robert E. Eaton (“Plaintiff”)’s Motion to Re-Open Case, filed on Gctober 17, 2016. The second is Plaintist Motion for Appointment of Counsel, filed on November 7, 2016. The third and final motion is Def`endants, Commissioner Robert Coupe, Deputy Warden Philip Parker, James Scarborough, Ron Drake, and Steven Bilbroughl (“Defendants”)’s l\/lotion to Dismiss the Complaint, filed on December 8, 2015.

For the reasons stated below, Plaintif`f’s Motion to Re-()pen Case is GRANTED. Plaintist Motion for Appointment of Counsel is I)ENIED. Defendant’s l\/lotion to Dismiss is GRANTED.

l Def`endant Bilbrough’s surname is spelled differently in the record. The Com`plaint spells his name “Billsborough.” However, counsel for Defendant uses “Bilbrough.” The Court will use the surname implemented by Defendants’ counsel in this Letter Opinion.

PRoCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGRoUND

Plaintiff, an inmate at J ames T. Vaughn Correctional Center (“Center”), filed a civil action in this Court on September 29, 2015.2 The Complaint alleges Defendants, Department of Correction (“DOC”) officers and supervisors, retaliated against Plaintiff When he reported What is alleged to be an “unconstitutional and unhumane [sic]” practice at the Center: “making food trays out of left-over scraps of previously served meals, and fooding [sic] it to inmates When there is not enough trays sent to feed, instead of ordering from the l

The Complaint alleges that Plaintiff Was removed from his employment in the Center’s canteen after disclosing this allegedly unconstitutional practice in a letter to Deputy Warden Parl

2 The Complaint Was filed conventionally on that date and docketed online on the following day. See D.l. #57940502 [hereinaf`ter Complaint].

3 complaint ar 2. 4 la at 1-2. 5 Ia,’. at 2. 6 ld.

714 ara

The Complaint seeks monetary and injunctive relief for the “past and continual violation of the First Amendment and employment protection under Delaware’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, and lost wages/with interest.”8

Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint on the basis of a failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted on December 8, 2015. Plaintiff responded on February 2, 2016. While a decision on the l\/[otion was pending, the Prothonotary received a handwritten letter, dated April 5, 2016, stating: “l would like to dismiss voluntarily the above-captioned civil action.”9 The letter is signed by “Robert Eaton.” The docket was noted accordingly and the case was closed.

On August 22, 2016, Plaintiff sent a letter to the Prothonotary requesting a status on the l\/[otion to Dismiss.lo The Prothonotary instructed Plaintiff that he had dismissed his case and no decision was pending. Plaintiff responded, stating that he did not file the purported notice of voluntary dismissal and “request[ed] a full investigation and prosecution of the person(s) who . . . falsely mislead this Court into dismissing this civil action.”]l The Prothonotary instructed Plaintiff to file a motion should he wish to re-open his case, which he did on October 12, 2016.12 The Motion to Re-Open Case contains a notarized affidavit from Plaintiff claiming the voluntary dismissal was “fraudulent” and again instructing the Court to investigate the matter.

While awaiting a response from Defendants to the Motion to Re-Open Case, Plaintiff filed a l\/Iotion for Appointment of Counsel in which he requests counsel be appointed in this matter on several bases outlined more fully below.13

After Defendants’ response to the l\/Iotion to Re-Open Case, Plaintiff filed a reply of sorts, claiming that the notice of voluntary dismissal was orchestrated by a

8 1a

9 D.l. #58880543 (dockei@d Apr. 18, 2016). ‘° D.l. #59577002 (dockered sep. 19, 2016). “ D.l. #59702854 (dockered oct 14, 2016). 12 D.l. #59727373 (d@ckered oct 17, 2016).

‘3 D.l. #59901847(51€¢1 Nov. 7, 2016; docketed Dec. 2, 2016). 3

“jailhouse lawyer” that originally helped him prepare his Complaint.14 He also claims that he did not receive notice of the dismissal until the Prothonotary answered his letter seeking a status on the Motion to Dismiss.

Having considered the filings and record in this case, the Court will now address the three pending l\/[otions. The Court will address, first, Plaintist Motion to Re-Open Case. Then, the Court will decide Plaintiff s l\/Iotion for Appointment of Counsel, concluding with Defendants’ l\/Iotion to Dismiss.

Q_I_S_QQ§M I. Plaintiff’s Motion to Re-Open Case A. Standard of Review

Delaware Superior Court Civil Rule 4l(a)(l) permits the plaintiff to voluntarily dismiss the “action” in most civil cases by filing a notice of dismissal “at any time before service by the adverse party of an answer or of a motion for summary judgment.”15 To be effective, the notice must voluntarily dismiss all pending claims against a particular party.16

B. Analysis

While it is clear that Plaintiff could have dismissed his case in the manner he purportedly did in this case, there is a notable caveat: Plaintiff claims that he never voluntarily dismissed the case and that any such filing was fraudulent

In response, Defendants argue that the writing style in the notice of voluntary dismissal resembles Plaintiff` s handwriting in all other filings with this Court. While conceding that they have not engaged a handwriting expert to analyze the notice of dismissal, Defendants implore the Court to compare the notice with the style seen in the other submissions

14 D.l. #59970836 (rtled Deo. 9, 2016; docketed Deo. 19, 2016). 15 DEL. SUPER. CT. CIv. R. 41(a)(1).

16 See AT&T Wireless Servs., ]nc. v. Fed. lns. Co., 2005 WL 2155695, at *2 (Del. Super. Aug. 18, 2005) (citing 8 JAMEs W. MooRE, et al., MooRE’s FEDERAL PRACTlCI-; § 41.21[1]).

The Court has at its disposition presumably multiple exemplars of Plaintiff`s handwriting because all of his filings and correspondence with the Court is handwritten From a review of the notice, the handwriting appears similar to Plaintiff s rather distinctive calligraphy.

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

Related

Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Will v. Michigan Department of State Police
491 U.S. 58 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Collins v. City of Harker Heights
503 U.S. 115 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri
131 S. Ct. 2488 (Supreme Court, 2011)
Daniel Lee Vanskike v. Howard A. Peters, III
974 F.2d 806 (Seventh Circuit, 1992)
Mark Mitchell v. Martin F. Horn
318 F.3d 523 (Third Circuit, 2003)
Powell v. Alabama
287 U.S. 45 (Supreme Court, 1932)
Hall v. McGuigan
743 A.2d 1197 (Superior Court of Delaware, 1999)
Tomei v. Sharp
902 A.2d 757 (Superior Court of Delaware, 2006)
Johnson v. State
442 A.2d 1362 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1982)
In Re General Motors (Hughes) Shareholder Litigation
897 A.2d 162 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2006)
Abdul-Akbar v. Department of Corrections
910 F. Supp. 986 (D. Delaware, 1995)
Bryan v. State
571 A.2d 170 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1990)
Savor, Inc. v. FMR Corp.
812 A.2d 894 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2002)
Spence v. Funk
396 A.2d 967 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1978)
Boulware v. Battaglia
344 F. Supp. 889 (D. Delaware, 1972)
Price v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co.
26 A.3d 162 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2011)
Joseph Watson v. Gerald Rozum
834 F.3d 417 (Third Circuit, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Eaton v. Coupe, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eaton-v-coupe-delsuperct-2017.