Enriquez v. Nettleship

580 F. Supp. 1270, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19370
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 17, 1984
DocketCiv. No. 82-2583 HL
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 580 F. Supp. 1270 (Enriquez v. Nettleship) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Enriquez v. Nettleship, 580 F. Supp. 1270, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19370 (prd 1984).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

LAFFITTE, District Judge.

On January 16, 1984, plaintiffs were granted ten days to show cause as to why this case should not be dismissed, pursuant to defendants’ motion for summary judgment, and particularly in the light of the Opinion and Order in Rondon Prieto, et al. v. Carlos Jimenez Nettleship, Civil 82-2582, dated October 12, 1983.

Plaintiffs seek anchorage to their claim in 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 1983, and 1985, as parents of Rubén Cancel González, mur[1272]*1272dered while under custody at the Bayamón Regional Jail. Defendant Carlos Jiménez Nettleship was the Director of the Administration of Corrections, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and has long ceased to hold office. Defendant Victor Maldonado Vázquez was the Warden of Bayamón Regional Jail. An examination of the complaint reveals the following basic allegations:

“7. At said penal institution there was an extreme condition of over-crowding, lack of vigilance and protection of inmates due to lack of sufficient prison guards.
“8. Defendant, Victor Maldonado, as Superintendent of the Bayamón Regional Jail, was physically incapable of providing protection to the life of any inmate in his institution.
“9. The decedent’s death and the plaintiffs’ consequential damages were caused by the denial of adequate protection to decedent, by the imposition of cruel and unusual punishment, and by the failure of the defendants and each of them to guarantee plaintiffs’ decedent his constitutional rights and physical protection to which he was entitled.
“10. The acts of the defendants and each of them herein, do not constitute an isolated incident, but are part of a concerted pattern of action by the defendants and all of them, in failing to guarantee the prisoners in custody of the Administration of Correction of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico their constitutional rights and their physical protection.” 1

Defendants promptly moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the complaint fails to state a cognizable claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Defendants argue that plaintiffs failed to state specific acts on defendants’ part contravening plaintiffs decedent’s constitutional rights. It is further contended that plaintiffs failed to allege specific acts by defendants to constitute a conspiracy to deprive plaintiff’s decedent of his constitutional rights. In support thereof, defendants submitted five sworn statements, one each from defendants Nettleship and Maldonado; one from José Guadarrama, Shift Commandant at the Bayamón Regional Jail; one from José L. Roque, Penal Guard Supervisor, and one from Carlos Colón, a Social Penal Technician at said institution. The statements may be capsulized to the extent that: (1) defendants have provided the inmates at the Bayamón Jail with maximum amount of protection and security allowed by resources at their disposal; (2) decedent Rubén Cancel González never stated nor signaled that he was in special danger, nor requested special protection from the Warden or from prison officials; (3) defendant Maldonado has requested on numerous occasions the hiring of additional guards and has transferred inmates to other penal institutions to alleviate overcrowding; (4) defendant Nettleship has made serious efforts to eliminate the principal problems of overcrowding and of insufficient number of guards by requesting an increase of thirty-three percent in the number of guards, and by requesting twenty-five million dollars for the purpose of building additional living quarters for inmates.

Plaintiffs filed a reply brief in opposition to the motion for summary judgment. No affidavits or documents were attached thereto. Plaintiffs argue that summary judgment should be denied because the general conditions of the Bayamón prison, as set forth in Morales Feliciano v. Romero Barcelo, 497 F.Supp. 14 (D.P.R.1979), violated plaintiffs decedent’s constitutional rights.

We must reject this argument because it is against the current state of the law to hold a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 defendant liable for acts performed by others over which he had no control or in which he was not personally involved. A basic concept to [1273]*1273keep in mind is that, with respect to damages, a Section 1983 action is always directed against a public officer in his individual capacity and not in his official capacity. Otherwise, there would occur an inevitable collision with the Eleventh Amendment. Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974); Fernandez v. Chardon, 681 F.2d 42, 59 (1st Cir.1982). The Supreme Court has refused to accept Section 1983 actions premised on theories of respondeat superior. Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 96 S.Ct. 598, 46 L.Ed.2d 561 (1976). In Chardon, supra, the Court noted: “... defendant must commit the constitutional tort ... Defendant will be liable for failures to meet his statutory responsibilities that amount to constitutional violations, Dimarzo v. Cahill, 575 F.2d 15, 17-18 (1st Cir.); cert. denied, 439 U.S. 927 [99 S.Ct. 312, 58 L.Ed.2d 320].”

Plaintiffs have not opposed defendants’ averments that decedent Rubén Cancel González never requested protection nor made defendants aware of any particular danger. The facts, as set forth by defendants in the affidavits accompanying the request for summary judgment, are not disputed. Thus, the motion for summary judgment challenges the legal sufficiency of plaintiffs’ claim. Rule 56 of FRCP is intended to promote the expeditious disposition of cases and to avoid unnecessary trials when no genuine issues of fact have been raised. In such a case, summary judgment should be granted as a matter of law “if appropriate.” Stepanischen v. Merchants Despatch Transportation Corporation, 722 F.2d 922 (1st Cir., 1983); Hahn v. Sargent, 523 F.2d 461 (1st Cir. 1975).

In the complaint, plaintiffs have set forth what amounts to be a theory of absolute liability for all injuries suffered by prisoners as a result of attacks of other inmates in a penal institution. Plaintiffs, however, do not specifically allege that the defendants, and particularly the Warden, Victor Maldonado Vázquez, were personally involved. As to this issue, in Kish v. County of Milwaukee, 441 F.2d 901, 904 (7th Cir. 1971), the Court stated that:

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Bluebook (online)
580 F. Supp. 1270, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19370, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/enriquez-v-nettleship-prd-1984.