Goode v. Berlanga

646 F. App'x 427
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 25, 2016
Docket15-1684
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 646 F. App'x 427 (Goode v. Berlanga) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goode v. Berlanga, 646 F. App'x 427 (6th Cir. 2016).

Opinions

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

This is a fact-intensive 42 U.S.C. § 1983 case by a deceased prisoner’s estate against a prison guard. The prisoner, Jesse Goode, died of “heroin intoxication.” The central question in this case is whether the prison guard, Deputy Domingo Ber-langa, is entitled to “qualified immunity” from suit based on the plaintiffs Eighth Amendment theory of “deliberate indifference” to Goode’s serious medical needs. We conclude that Berlanga’s conduct did not violate “clearly established ... constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known” under applicable Supreme Court doctrine. Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)). In addition, we conclude that Berlanga is entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs state law gross negligence claim. The governing law leads us to a conclusion that is fully [429]*429consistent with our sense of fairness concerning the outcome of this case.

I.

When Berlanga came on duty at approximately 3:00 P.M. on the day that Goode died, he observed Goode returning to his cell from taking a shower. Goode appeared normal. Shortly thereafter, Goode’s cell mate informed Berlanga that Goode was “hot and burning up” and would not be able to perform .his work duties that afternoon because he needed to lie down and rest. At approximately 4:15 P.M., Berlanga checked on Goode in his cell and found him sleeping normally on his bunk. Shortly thereafter at approximately 4:30 P.M., Goode’s cell mate' asked Berlanga to check on Goode because Goode “was not looking good,” was “making some type of gurgling sounds” with “heavy snoring,” and had “foam coming out of his mouth.” Goode’s cell mate and another prisoner state that, despite several further warnings along the same line, Ber-langa unreasonably “waited five to seven minutes” before he came to the cell. As soon as he observed Goode, Berlanga immediately called for medical assistance, and Goode was carried to the local hospital where he died of “heroin intoxication” shortly after arriving. The central question in this case is whether Berlanga’s alleged delay violated Goode’s “clearly established constitutional rights.”

II.

We find no case on point, nor any line of reasoning, that would clearly impose a duty on Berlanga — taking into account what he had observed about Goode during the last hour and his other responsibilities — to go to Goode’s cell without a short delay of five to seven minutes.

The estate of Jesse Goode (“Goode”) alleges that Berlanga is liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 because Berlanga’s deliberate indifference to Goode’s serious medical needs violated Goode’s rights under the Eighth Amendment. In defense, Berlanga has invoked the doctrine of qualified immunity,, which is a defense not just against liability, but against suit itself. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 231, 129 S.Ct. 808. Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727. Because the “driving force” behind the qualified immunity doctrine is the “desire to ensure that ‘insubstantial claims’ against government officials will be resolved prior to discovery,” immunity questions should be resolved at the earliest possible stage of litigation. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 231-32, 129 S.Ct. 808 (quoting Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640 n. 2, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted)). In determining whether government officials are entitled to qualified immunity, courts “ask two questions: First, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, has the plaintiff shown that a constitutional violation has occurred? Second, was the right clearly established at the time of the violation?” Phillips v. Roane Cnty., Tenn., 534 F.3d 531, 538-39 (6th Cir.2008). Courts have discretion to decide which of the “two prongs of the qualified immunity analysis should be addressed first in light of the circumstances in the particular case at hand,” Pearson, 555 U.S. at 236, 129 S.Ct. 808, and indeed “should think carefully before expending ‘scarce judicial • resources’ to resolve difficult and novel questions of constitutional or statutory inter[430]*430pretation that will ‘have no effect on the outcome of the case.’ ” Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 2080, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011) (quoting Pearson, 555 U.S. at 236-37, 129 S.Ct. 808). The plaintiff “bears the ultimate burden of proof to show that [government officials] are not entitled to qualified immunity.” Cockrell v. City of Cincinnati, 468 Fed.Appx. 491, 494 (6th Cir.2012) (quoting Garretson v. City of Madison Heights, 407 F.3d 789, 798 (6th Cir.2005) (internal quotation marks omitted)).

“We review de novo a district court’s denial of a defendant’s motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds.” Stoudemire v. Michigan Dep’t of Corr., 705 F.3d 560, 565 (6th Cir.2013). In reviewing a summary judgment motion, we view all facts and draw all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 378, 127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007). In the qualified immunity context, “this usually means adopting ... the plaintiffs version of the facts, unless the plaintiffs version is ‘blatantly contradicted by the record, so that no reasonable jury could believe it_’” Stoudemire, 705 F.3d at 565 (quoting Harris, 550 U.S. at 380, 127 S.Ct. 1769).

III.

A clearly established right “is one that is sufficiently clear that every reasonable official would have understood that what he is doing violates that right.” Mullenix v. Luna, — U.S. -, 136 S.Ct. 305, 308, 193 L.Ed.2d 255 (2015) (internal quotation marks omitted). While courts do not require a case directly on point in order to find that a right is clearly established, “existing precedent must have placed the statutory or constitutional questions beyond debate.” Id, (quoting al-Kidd, 563 U.S. at 741, 131 S.Ct. 2074).

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Bluebook (online)
646 F. App'x 427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goode-v-berlanga-ca6-2016.