Harlow v. St. Andrews

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedOctober 1, 2020
Docket9:18-cv-00648
StatusUnknown

This text of Harlow v. St. Andrews (Harlow v. St. Andrews) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harlow v. St. Andrews, (N.D.N.Y. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DARRELL HARLOW, Plaintiff, -against- 9:18-CV-0648 (LEK/DJS) SERGEANT ST. ANDREWS, et al., Defendants.

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Darrell Harlow, currently incarcerated at the Attica Correctional Facility, brings this pro se action against Sergeant Benjamin St. Andrew,1 Sergeant Robert Feldman, Deputy

Shedrick Williams, Sergeant Corey Moore, Deputy David Mazzoni, Deputy Michael McCarty, Deputy Jordan Dodge, Lieutenant Edward Salvagni, Sergeant Amy Burton, Deputy Marc Sarno, Deputy Kevin Koebler, Deputy Christopher Cornish, Deputy Patrick Picciotto, and Deputy Codee Phillips, alleging violations arising out of his confinement as a pretrial detainee at the Onondaga County Justice Center. See Docket. Plaintiff commenced this action on June 4, 2018, Dkt. No. 1 (“Complaint”), and filed his application to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) the same day, Dkt. No. 2. Plaintiff later submitted an amended complaint adding new defendants. Dkt. No. 9 (“Amended Complaint”). Plaintiff was subsequently granted IFP status. Dkt. No. 12.

Plaintiff submitted a second amended complaint on December 17, 2018. Dkt. No. 19 (“Second Amended Complaint”). Following initial review under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e) and 1915A, this 1 This defendant’s last name is spelled alternatively as Andrews and Andrew throughout the docket. See Docket. This Court will refer to him as Andrew since that is how he spelled his name in his answer to the Amended Complaint. See Dkt. No. 21. case has proceeded with four distinct claims: (1) Fourteenth Amendment excessive force and failure to protect claims against numerous defendants arising out of an incident on March 10, 2016; (2) Fourth Amendment invasion of privacy claims against multiple defendants arising out of a separate March 10, 2016 incident; (3) Fourteenth Amendment conditions of confinement

claims against Andrew and Williams arising out of the conditions of Cell 10 in the 5C pod; and (4) Fourteenth Amendment claims against Burton, Sarno, and Phillips arising out of the conditions of Pod 5C, Cell 42. Dkt. No. 70 (“Report-Recommendation”). On October 16, 2019, Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. Dkt. Nos. 50 (“Motion”), 50-11 (“Statement of Material Facts”), 50-12 (“Defendants’ Memorandum of Law”), 50-2 to -10 (Exhibits). On December 9, 2019, Plaintiff filed a response opposing the motion. Dkt. Nos. 62 (“Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law”), 62-1 (“Response to Statement of Material

Facts”). On September 3, 2020, the Honorable Daniel J. Stewart, United States Magistrate Judge, recommended that Defendants’ summary judgment motion be granted for Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment privacy claims and Fourteenth Amendment conditions of confinement claims against Burton, Sarno, Phillips, and Andrew and denied for all other claims. See generally R. & R. Plaintiff timely filed objections to the Report-Recommendation. Dkt. No. 71 (“Objections”). II. BACKGROUND A. The Second Amended Complaint and the Report-Recommendation The following facts are detailed in the Report-Recommendation, familiarity with which is

assumed. See R. & R. at 2–3. For convenience, the Court summarizes them here. On March 10, 2016, Plaintiff was brought to the Onondaga County Justice Center to be booked on criminal charges. Id. at 2. During booking, Plaintiff alleges that he was assaulted by 2 Defendants. Id. at 2; Pl.’s Mem. of Law at 14–17. Defendants claim that while force was used, it was necessary to stop a suicide attempt by Plaintiff. R. & R. at 2 (citing Defs.’ Mem. of Law at 6–8). Later that day, Plaintiff was moved from his booking cell to a separate cell after being physically restrained while naked. Id. at 3. There is no dispute that Plaintiff was moved after

being physically restrained while naked. Id.; Statement of Material Facts at 3; Resp. to Statement of Material Facts at 4–5. Plaintiff was subsequently moved to different cells within the facility. R. & R. at 3. Plaintiff was placed in Pod 5C, Cell 10, which was covered in feces, vomit, blood, spoiled food, and fruit flies for four days. Id.; Pl.’s Mem. of Law at 3–4. Plaintiff was later moved to Pod 5C, Cell 42 for three days, where the temperature was over 90 degrees. R. & R. at 3; Pl.’s Mem. of Law at 4. There is no dispute that Plaintiff was housed in these cells, or that Cell 42 exceeded 90

degrees for three days. R. & R. at 3; Statement of Material Facts at 3; Defs.’ Mem. of Law at 10–11. Defendants do, however, contest the condition of Cell 10. Defs.’ Mem. of Law at 9–10; Mot. Ex. G. B. The Report-Recommendation Judge Stewart first concluded that Plaintiff’s constitutional claims were governed by a three-year statute of limitations and not a one-year-and-ninety-day statute of limitations governing tort claims against municipal defendants. R. & R. at 5. Thus, Plaintiff’s claims were timely. Id.

Judge Stewart then recommended granting summary judgment to Defendants on Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment privacy claim because a single incident of being stripped naked and restrained briefly was not sufficient to state a bodily privacy claim. Id. at 15. Judge Stewart 3 also recommended granting summary judgment on Plaintiff’s conditions of confinement claim against Andrew because Andrew denied observing the feces, vomit, blood, spoiled food, and fruit flies in Cell 10 of Pod 5C and Plaintiff did not allege that Andrew himself observed the cell conditions. Id. at 12–13. Lastly, Judge Stewart recommended granting summary judgment on

Plaintiff’s conditions of confinement claims against Burton, Sarno, and Phillips for the extreme heat in Cell 42 for three days because Plaintiff was not exposed to the extreme heat for a “prolonged period.” Id. at 14. Judge Stewart recommended denying summary judgment for Plaintiff’s excessive force claim because there was an insufficient record from Defendants to dismiss the claim and recommended denying summary judgment for Plaintiff’s conditions of confinement claim against Williams because he did not deny observing feces, vomit, blood, spoiled food, and fruit flies in

Cell 10. Id. at 8–11, 13. C. Objections Plaintiff objects to the grant of summary judgment as to his Fourth Amendment privacy claims and Fourteenth Amendment conditions of confinement claims. See generally Objs. For the privacy claim, Plaintiff argues that the distance between himself and female staff members should be considered, rather than just the amount of time he was naked while in transit to another cell. Objs. at 2–5. For the conditions of confinement claim against Andrew, Plaintiff argues that Andrew either knew or should have known that Cell 10 was covered in vomit, feces, and other

filth. Objs. at 6. For the conditions of confinement claims against Burton, Sarno, and Phillips in Cell 42, Plaintiff argues that his exposure to extreme heat for three days should be considered prolonged 4 under applicable case law. Objs. at 5. In addition to the time exposed, Plaintiff suggests that the extremity of the conditions should be considered before granting summary judgment on his confinement claim. Id. I. STANDARD OF REVIEW A. Review of a Report-Recommendation Within fourteen days after a party has been served with a copy of a magistrate judge’s report-recommendation, the party “may serve and file specific, written objections to the proposed findings and recommendations.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b); see also L.R. 72.1(c).

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Harlow v. St. Andrews, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harlow-v-st-andrews-nynd-2020.