Ebrahime v. Dart

899 F. Supp. 2d 777, 2012 WL 5191202, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151657
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedOctober 22, 2012
DocketNo. 09 C 7825
StatusPublished

This text of 899 F. Supp. 2d 777 (Ebrahime v. Dart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ebrahime v. Dart, 899 F. Supp. 2d 777, 2012 WL 5191202, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151657 (N.D. Ill. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JEFFREY COLE, United States Magistrate Judge.

The plaintiff has been a pre-trial detainee at Cook County Jail since February [780]*7802007. His amended complaint, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, charges the Sheriff of Cook County, and several individual defendants with various civil rights violations stemming from an attack by a fellow detainee on October 20, 2009. The defendants have moved for summary judgment on those claims that allege they were deliberately indifferent to a substantial risk of harm to the plaintiff by failing to protect him from the attack and failing to respond quickly enough to put a stop to it.

I.

BACKGROUND

A.

Summary Judgment Under Local Rule 56.1

As always, the facts underlying this summary judgment proceeding are drawn from the parties’ Local Rule 56.1 submissions. “For litigants appearing in the Northern District of Illinois, the Rule 56.1 statement is a critical, and required, component of a litigant’s response to a motion for summary judgment.” Sojka v. Bovis Lend Lease, Inc., 686 F.3d 394, 398 (7th Cir.2012). Local Rule 56.1 requires a party seeking summary judgment to include with its motion “a statement of material facts as to which the ... party contends there is no genuine issue and that entitle the ... party to a judgment as a matter of law.” Local Rule 56.1(a)(3); Ciomber v. Cooperative Plus, Inc., 527 F.3d 635, 643 (7th Cir.2008). Each paragraph must refer to the “affidavits, parts of the record, and other supporting materials” that substantiate the asserted facts. Local Rule 56.1(a)(3); F.T.C. v. Bay Area Business Council, Inc., 423 F.3d 627, 633 (7th Cir. 2005).

The party opposing summary judgment must then respond to the movant’s statement of proposed material facts; that response must contain both “a response to each numbered paragraph in the moving party’s statement,” Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B), and a separate statement “consisting of short numbered paragraphs, of any additional facts that require the denial of summary judgment,” Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(C); Ciomber, 527 F.3d at 643. Again, each response, and each asserted fact, must be supported with a reference to the record. Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B); Cracco v. Vitran Exp., Inc., 559 F.3d 625, 632 (7th Cir.2009); Bay Area Business Council, Inc., 423 F.3d at 633.

The district court is entitled to enforce strict compliance with its local rules regarding summary judgment motions. Yancick v. Hanna Steel Corp., 653 F.3d 532, 537 (7th Cir.2011); Schmidt v. Eagle Waste & Recycling, Inc., 599 F.3d 626, 630 (7th Cir.2010). Responses and facts that are not set out and appropriately supported in an opponent’s Rule 56.1 response will not be considered, see Shaffer v. American Medical Ass’n, 662 F.3d 439, 442 (7th Cir.2011) (court need not consider any fact not contained in the parties’ Rule 56.1 statements); Bay Area Business Council, 423 F.3d at 633 (court properly disregarded affidavits not referenced in 56.1 submission).

B.

Facts

On October 20, 2009, plaintiff was a pretrial detainee housed in Division 10, Tier 2B of the CCDOC. (Defendants’ Statement of Material Facts (“Def.St.”), ¶ 15; Plaintiff’s Response to Def. St. (“Pl.Rsp.”), ¶ 15). Officers Jason Bobzin and Thomas Zriny were assigned to the 3 pm-llpm shift on that tier. (Def.St., ¶ 16; Pl.Rsp., ¶ 16). Sometime between 3 and 4 pm, the plaintiff reported the theft of some commissary item from his table to Officer Zriny. (Pl.Rsp., ¶ 17; Plaintiff’s Local Rule [781]*78156.1(b)(3)(B) Statement (“Pl.St.”), ¶ 9; Response to PlSt. (“Def.Rsp ”), ¶ 9). The plaintiff accused another fellow inmate, Corey Young. (Pl.St. ¶ 9; Def.Rsp., ¶ 9). The items didn’t belong to him; they belonged to two of his associates in the CCDOC, Koh and Diaz. (Pl.St. ¶ 11; Def. Rsp., ¶ 11). The plaintiff was known to congregate with those two on a regular basis, including the day the items were stolen from their table. (PlSt. ¶¶ 19-21; Def.Rsp., ¶ 19-21).

Officer Zriny searched Young’s cell while all the inmates were at the gym and discovered the stolen items. (PlSt. ¶ 12; Def.Rsp., ¶ 12). After learning of the theft, the shift commander — Captain Ortega — instructed Sergeant Helms to have Young transferred to another tier. (PlSt. ¶ 13; Def.Rsp., ¶ 13). This was a common response when an inmate had committed theft, and the idea was to avoid any problems like fights between inmates. (PlSt. ¶ 14; Def.Rsp., ¶ 14).

Sometime between 5 and a little after 6 pm, after all detainees had returned from the gym, plaintiff was seated at a table in the common area of Tier 2B. (Def.St, ¶ 18; PlRsp., ¶¶ 17-18). By that time, Young knew that he had been fingered by an inmate for stealing and that he was going to be punished by being sent to another tier. (Pl.St. ¶28; Def.Rsp., ¶28). Officer Zriny told Young to go to his cell to collect his belongings. (Pl.St. ¶ 16; Def.Rsp., ¶ 16). The plaintiff and Officer Zriny testified that Officer Zriny was walking behind Young through the common area when Young suddenly lunged and attacked the plaintiff. (Ebrahime Dep., at 39-40; Zriny Dep., at 71-73); Officer Bobzin testified that he and Officer Zriny and were still in the interlock1 and Young was unescorted when he attacked Ebrahime. (Bobzin Dep., at 107). Officer Zriny added that he was about five feet behind Young and Young was not restrained in any fashion as he walked through the common area. (Pl.St. ¶ 36; Def.Rsp., ¶ 36).

The plaintiff testified that Young hit him in his head, face, neck, and eyes before he fell down. (Ebrahime Dep., at 41). He thought Young may have hit him more than five times, but he didn’t count the blows and he didn’t know how many times Young hit him before he fell to the floor. (Ebrahime Dep., at 41, 44). After he was on the ground, he didn’t remember much because it was as if he “went into a coma somehow.” (Ebrahime Dep., at 43). He could not say how long the beating lasted. (Ebrahime Dep., at 44; see PlSt., ¶¶ 37-38; Def.Rsp., ¶¶ 37-38). The defendants also do not say how long the attack lasted before correction officers stepped in. They simply assert that “[s]everal officers stepped in to stop the attack, including [Officer] Zriny, and a call was immediately made for more officers to assist. (Def.St., ¶ 33; PlRsp., ¶ 33). Those additional officers — ten to fifteen in number — arrived a minute or two later. (Def.St., ¶ 33; PI. Rsp., ¶ 33).

Prior to this incident, Officer Zriny knew Young to be a compliant inmate, and had no knowledge of any violent or aggressive tendencies by Young. (Def.St., ¶ 22; PlRsp., ¶ 22). Plaintiff testified that he had known Young approximately 10 days at that time, and prior to this incident he did not have any problems with Young. (Def.St., ¶ 23; PlRsp., ¶ 23).

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Bluebook (online)
899 F. Supp. 2d 777, 2012 WL 5191202, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151657, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ebrahime-v-dart-ilnd-2012.