Gill v. Willson

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJune 5, 2025
Docket2:23-cv-00256
StatusUnknown

This text of Gill v. Willson (Gill v. Willson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gill v. Willson, (E.D. Wis. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN ______________________________________________________________________________ CHARLES B. GILL, SR.,

Plaintiff, v. Case No. 23-cv-256-pp

JOSEPH TEIGEN, et al.,

Defendants. ______________________________________________________________________________

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT (DKT. NO. 126), GRANTING DEFENDANT SCHUBART’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (DKT. NO. 142) AND DISMISSING DEFENDANT SCHUBART _____________________________________________________________________________

Plaintiff Charles B. Gill, Sr., who is incarcerated and is representing himself, is proceeding under 42 U.S.C. §1983 on various claims against state officials. The plaintiff has separately moved for summary judgment against the remaining defendants, and each defendant or set of defendants has responded and filed their own cross-motions for summary judgment. The court already has denied the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment against defendant Teigen (Dkt. No. 95), granted Teigen’s cross-motion for summary judgment against the plaintiff (Dkt. No. 119) and dismissed defendant Teigen. Dkt. No. 190. This order addresses the plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment against defendant Jennifer Schubart, dkt. no. 126, and defendant Schubart’s cross-motion for summary judgment, dkt. no. 142. The court concludes that Schubart is entitled to judgment as a matter of law and will grant her motion and deny the plaintiff’s motion. The court will address the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment against defendants Willson and Beauvais and those defendants’ cross-motion for summary judgment against the plaintiff in a separate order.

I. Facts A. Procedural Background1 On August 19, 2024, the court issued an amended scheduling order setting new deadlines for the remaining parties to complete discovery and file dispositive motions on the merits of the plaintiff’s remaining claims. Dkt. No. 93. On November 18, 2024, the court granted defendants Schubart and Lieutenants Beauvais and Willson’s joint motion to extend the discovery deadline to December 30, 2024 and to extend their dispositive motion deadline

to January 29, 2025. Dkt. No. 112. On December 2, 2024, the plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment against Schubart. Dkt. No. 126. On December 20, 2024, the court granted Schubart’s motion for leave to file a consolidated response to the plaintiff’s motion and cross-motion for summary judgment. Dkt. No. 141. Only three days later, Schubart filed her consolidated response and cross-motion for summary judgment. Dkt. No. 142.

1 This section addresses the procedural history of the case only as it pertains to Schubart, because the court issued the previous order granting partial summary judgment for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) defendants and dismissing the plaintiff’s claim under RLUIPA, his state law claim of defamation against Schubart and defendant Kevin A. Carr. Dkt. No. 90. On January 8, 2025, the court granted the plaintiff’s motion to extend his time to file a combined response to Schubart’s motion and reply in support of his own motion for summary judgment to February 25, 2025. Dkt. No. 157. On February 3, 2025, the court again extended this deadline to March 25,

2025. Dkt. No. 173. Nonetheless, on February 20, 2025, the court received the plaintiff’s combined reply in support of his motion for summary judgment and response to Schubart’s motion for summary judgment. Dkt. Nos. 178–181. On March 6, 2025, the court received Schubart’s reply in support of her motion for summary judgment and response to the plaintiff’s additional proposed findings of fact. Dkt. No. 187–188. B. Factual Background The court considers the parties’ proposed facts “only to the extent they are

clearly and obviously supported by citations to the . . . record.” Jenkins v. Syed, 781 F. App’x 543, 545 (7th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation marks omitted). The court will deem admitted any facts that the opposing party does not properly contest by citing admissible evidence in the record. See Civil Local Rule 56(b)(4) (E.D. Wis.); Smith v. Lamz, 321 F.3d 680, 683 (7th Cir. 2003) (“[A] failure to respond by the nonmovant as mandated by the local rules results in an admission.”).

1. Screening Order The court allowed the plaintiff to proceed on a Fourth Amendment claim that Schubart “pass[ed] along allegedly false information that led to the plaintiff’s arrest and probation revocation.” Dkt. No. 14 at 14. The court expressed its suspicion that Schubart’s reporting of those allegations “while perhaps investigatory, was required by the duties of her job,” which would mean that she is absolutely immune from liability for those actions. Id. (citing Tobey v. Chibucos, 890 F.3d 634, 650 (7th Cir. 2018)). The court nonetheless

allowed this claim to proceed “out of an abundance of caution.” Id. The court also allowed the plaintiff to proceed against Schubart on a state law claim of defamation related to her passing along the allegedly false information. Id. at 18–19. But the court dismissed that claim in the July 24, 2024 order granting the DOC defendants’ converted motion for summary judgment. Dkt. No. 90 at 35–38. Only the Fourth Amendment claim remains. 2. The Parties’ Proposed Facts Schubart is a Probation/Parole Agent for the DOC, Division of Community

Corrections (DOC-DCC). Dkt. No. 144 at ¶2. Between November 11, 2022 and November 11, 2023, Schubart was the parole agent for Liza Naumann. Id. at ¶3. On December 28, 2022, Schubart had a scheduled office visit with Naumann. Id. at ¶4. Naumann reported to Schubart that the plaintiff had sexually assaulted her at the Rodeway Inn Hotel in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. Id. She told Schubart that the plaintiff was associated with room numbers 203 and 248 and that he had drugs and guns in the rooms. Id. Schubart avers that Naumann appeared to

be “upset and scared for her safety,” and Naumann told Schubart that she was not comfortable speaking with law enforcement. Dkt. No. 146 at ¶5. Schubart avers that she believed Naumann was homeless at the time and could be staying at a hotel. Id. at ¶6. She says that she had no reason to doubt the truth of Naumann’s statements. Id. The plaintiff asserts that Schubart failed to obtain a written statement from Naumann in violation of Wisconsin law. Dkt. No. 179 at ¶4; Dkt. No. 127-1

at 9. He contests Schubart’s description of Naumann’s mental state but cites no evidence in support of that dispute. Dkt. No. 179 at ¶5. He asserts that “We know” that Naumann was not homeless and was living at an address in Appleton, but again he cites no evidence in support of this dispute. Id. at ¶6. The plaintiff was on extended supervision in December 2022, but Schubart was not his parole agent. Dkt. No. 144 at ¶10. She nonetheless avers that she was obligated to inform the plaintiff’s agent of any potential violations of the rules of his supervision. Id. Schubart called the office of Heather Fredrich,

the plaintiff’s agent, to inform Fredrich of what Naumann had reported to her. Id. at ¶11. Fredrich was away from the office, so Schubart reported what Naumann had told her to agent Denise Wiley, who was covering for Fredrich. Id. at ¶¶11–12. Schubart avers that under the mandatory custody policy in Wisconsin Administrative Code §DOC 328.27, “offenders suspected of violating their rules of supervision, federal, state, county, and municipal laws and ordinances, or

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Gill v. Willson, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gill-v-willson-wied-2025.