Goetsch v. DOC

District Court, E.D. Wisconsin·Decided June 19, 2023·No. 2:23-cv-00252·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN ______________________________________________________________________________ RICHARD LEE GOETSCH,

Plaintiff, v. Case No. 23-cv-252-pp

JODI FIELDS and JOHN or JANE DOE HEALTH SERVICES MANAGER,

Defendants. ______________________________________________________________________________

ORDER DENYING AS MOOT PLAINTIFF’S FIRST REQUEST FOR LEAVE TO PROCEED WITHOUT PREPAYING FILING FEE (DKT. NO. 2), GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S SECOND MOTION FOR LEAVE TO PROCEED WITHOUT PREPAYING FILING FEE (DKT. NO. 6), DENYING WITHOUT PREJUDICE PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST FOR APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL AND SCREENING AMENDED COMPLAINT UNDER 28 U.S.C. §1915A ______________________________________________________________________________

Richard Lee Goetsch, who is incarcerated at Racine Correctional Institution and is representing himself, filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging that the defendants failed to provide him adequate medical treatment. About a month after receiving the complaint, the court received the plaintiff’s amended complaint. Dkt. No. 10. This decision resolves the plaintiff’s motions for leave to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, dkt. nos. 2, 6, and screens his amended complaint, dkt. no. 10. I. Motions for Leave to Proceed without Prepaying the Filing Fee (Dkt. Nos. 2, 6)

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) applies to this case because the plaintiff was incarcerated when he filed his complaint. See 28 U.S.C. §1915(h). The PLRA lets the court allow an incarcerated plaintiff to proceed with without prepaying the civil case filing fee. 28 U.S.C. §1915(a)(2). When funds exist, the plaintiff must pay an initial partial filing fee. 28 U.S.C. §1915(b)(1). He then must pay the balance of the $350 filing fee over time, through deductions from his prison trust account. Id.

With his complaint, the plaintiff filed an incomplete motion for leave to proceed without prepaying the filing fee. Dkt. No. 2. The next day, the clerk’s office sent the plaintiff a letter instructing him to file, among other things, a completed request for leave to proceed in the district court without prepaying the filing fee. Dkt. No. 3. On March 6, 2023, the court received the plaintiff’s second, complete motion to proceed without prepaying the filing fee. Dkt. No. 6. On March 14, 2023, the court ordered the plaintiff to pay an initial partial filing fee of $22.76. Dkt. No. 9. On March 27, 2023, the court received

the full $350 filing fee. The court will grant the plaintiff’s second motion for leave to proceed without prepaying the filing fee. The plaintiff’s institutional trust account statement showed that he did not have the funds to pay the full $350 filing fee plus the $52 administrative fee. The court will not require him to pay the $52 administrative fee in addition to the $350 filing fee that he has paid in full. The court will deny as unnecessary the plaintiff’s first, incomplete motion to proceed without prepaying the filing fee. Because the plaintiff has

paid the full filing fee, he is not required to make payments from his institutional account to pay any outstanding balance. II. Screening the Amended Complaint A. Federal Screening Standard Under the PLRA, the court must screen complaints brought by incarcerated persons seeking relief from a governmental entity or officer or

employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. §1915A(a). The court must dismiss a complaint if the incarcerated person raises claims that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §1915A(b). In determining whether the amended complaint states a claim, the court applies the same standard that it applies when considering whether to dismiss a case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See Cesal v. Moats, 851

F.3d 714, 720 (7th Cir. 2017) (citing Booker-El v. Superintendent, Ind. State Prison, 668 F.3d 896, 899 (7th Cir. 2012)). To state a claim, the amended complaint must include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). The amended complaint must contain enough facts, “accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). “A claim has facial

plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows a court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). To state a claim for relief under 42 U.S.C. §1983, a plaintiff must allege that someone deprived him of a right secured by the Constitution or the laws of the United States, and that whoever deprived him of this right was acting under the color of state law. D.S. v. E. Porter Cty. Sch. Corp., 799 F.3d 793,

798 (7th Cir. 2015) (citing Buchanan–Moore v. Cty. of Milwaukee, 570 F.3d 824, 827 (7th Cir. 2009)). The court construes liberally complaints filed by plaintiffs who are representing themselves and holds such complaints to a less stringent standard than pleadings drafted by lawyers. Cesal, 851 F.3d at 720 (citing Perez v. Fenoglio, 792 F.3d 768, 776 (7th Cir. 2015)). B. The Plaintiff’s Allegations The complaint names as defendants Jodi Fields and a John or Jane Doe Health Services Unit (HSU) Manager. Dkt. No. 10 at 1. The complaint notes

that these defendants are Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) employees who work at Dodge Correctional Institution. Id. The plaintiff alleges that sometime in 2021, the Health Services manager failed to help him rehabilitate his “serious injury of left foot” after the plaintiff pleaded with him or her as the supervisor of the “D.C.I.” Health Services Unit. Id. at 3–4. He says he requested “reasonable accommendations [sic]” including a “wheelchair and other accommendations [sic],” but the defendant was

deliberately indifferent to his requests and “to every attempt of treatment request made and after in-patient appointment.” Id. The plaintiff alleges he was sent to the emergency room at Ascension Mercy Hospital after his medical emergency was left unattended for over eleven weeks. Id. He says that Dodge transferred him to “Winnebago Institution,” even though he “was never to leave [D]odge Corr and a medical hold should have been placed on [his] transfer.” Id.

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