Gibbs v. Coupe

192 F. Supp. 3d 503, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84340, 2016 WL 3547946
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Gibbs v. Coupe. Read the opinion of the Court — 316 F.R.D. 84
District Court, D. Delaware·Decided June 28, 2016·No. Civ. No. 14-790-SLR·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROBINSON, District Judge

I.INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Arson I, Gibbs, Sr. (“plaintiff’) proceeds pro. se and has been granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Plaintiff was incarcerated at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (“VCC”), Smyrna, Delaware, when he initiated this lawsuit. He has since been released. He raises medical needs claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Presently before the court are motions to dismiss filed by plaintiff and defendants Rita Robinson (“Robinson”) and Correct Care Solutions (“Correct Care”).1 (D.I. 60, 71, 81) The court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331. For the following reasons, the court will grant Robinson’s motion to dismiss and will deny Correct Care’s and plaintiffs motions to dismiss.

II. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff commenced this lawsuit on June 20, 2014. (D.I. 1) On July 1, 2014, the court entered an order noting that plaintiff had three strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) and finding that he had alleged imminent harm at the time the complaint was filed. (See D.I. 3) An amended complaint was filed on July 28, 2014 and, on December 3, 2014, a service order was entered. Serving defendants with the complaint took an unusually long time. To date, defendants Robert Coupe (“Coupe”), David Pierce (“Pierce”), and James Welch (“Welch”) (collectively “State defendants”) have answered the complaint (see D.I. 75), defendant Lee Anne Dunne (“Dunne”) has been served but has not answered or otherwise appeared (see D.I. 51), plaintiff has until June 30, 2016 to provide a correct address to serve defendant Michael Hawke (“Hawke”) (see D.I. 76) and, as noted above, Robinson and Correct Care seek dismissal of the claims against them. Robinson moves for dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) and Correct Care moves for dismissal on the grounds that the. instant complaint abuses the judicial process as a frivolous action.

III. LEGAL STANDARDS

Because plaintiff proceeds pro se, his pleading is liberally construed and his complaint, “however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (internal quotation marks omitted). In reviewing [506] a motion filed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), the court must accept all factual allegations in a complaint as true and take them in the light most favorable to plaintiff. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. at 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197. To survive a motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face. See Williams v. BASF Catalysts LLC, 765 F.3d 306, 315 (3d Cir.2014) (citing Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) and Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)).' The court may consider the pleadings, public record, orders, exhibits attached to the complaint, and documents incorporated into the complaint by reference. Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322, 127 S.Ct. 2499, 168 L.Ed.2d 179 (2007).

A complaint must contain- “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief, in order to give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 545, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (internal quotation marks omitted) (interpreting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)). Under the pleading regime established by Twombly and Iqbal, a court reviewing the sufficiency of a complaint must take three steps: (1) take note of the elements the plaintiff must plead to state a claim; (2) identify allegations that, because they are no more than conclusions, are not entitled to the assumption of truth; and (3) when there are well-pleaded factual allegations, the court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief. Connelly v. Lane Const. Corp., 809 F.3d 780, 787 (3d Cir.2016) (internal citations and quotations omitted). A claim is facially plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937. In addition, a plaintiff must plead facts sufficient to show that a claim has substantive plausibility. See Johnson v. City of Shelby, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 346, 347, 190 L.Ed.2d 309 (2014). A complaint may not dismissed for imperfect statements of the legal theory supporting the claim asserted. See id. at 346. Deciding whether a claim is plausible will be a “context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

iy. DISCUSSION

A. Failure to State a Claim

Robinson moves to dismiss the claims against her for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. (D.I. 60) Robinson is not mentioned in the original complaint. The amended complaint added Robinson, stating that she was a member of the grievance committee and alleging that all grievance members repudiated and refused to grant or support plaintiffs request for prescription eyeglasses when they had the power to do so, (D.I. 7, ¶¶ 2-3) The amended complaint further alleges that the grievance committee members were deliberately indifferent to plaintiffs serious medical needs and violated his constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Id. at ¶ 4) An exhibit to the amended complaint contains Robinson’s name as a grievance committee member. (D.I. 7, ex. J) There are no other allegations directed towards Robinson.

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

Gibbs v. Coupe, 192 F. Supp. 3d 503, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84340, 2016 WL 3547946 (D. Del. 2016).

192 F. Supp. 3d 503 (Gibbs v. Coupe) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd.
551 U.S. 308 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Woods v. First Correctional Medical Inc.
446 F. App'x 400 (Third Circuit, 2011)
Debro S. Abdul-Akbar v. Roderick R. Mckelvie
239 F.3d 307 (Third Circuit, 2001)
Kimberlee Williams v. BASF Catalysts LLC
765 F.3d 306 (Third Circuit, 2014)
Johnson v. City of Shelby
135 S. Ct. 346 (Supreme Court, 2014)
Robinson v. Taylor
204 F. App'x 155 (Third Circuit, 2006)
Sandra Connelly v. Lane Construction Corp
809 F.3d 780 (Third Circuit, 2016)