Hodges v. Jones

873 F. Supp. 737, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6351, 1995 WL 3975
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 4, 1995
Docket6:92-cv-00992
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 873 F. Supp. 737 (Hodges v. Jones) 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
Hodges v. Jones, 873 F. Supp. 737, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6351, 1995 WL 3975 (N.D.N.Y. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

CHIN, District Judge. 1

Pro se plaintiff Richard Hodges commenced this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violations of his constitutional rights in connection with a disciplinary proceeding held in March 1992 while he was incarcerated at Washington Correctional Facility (the “Facility”). Before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment and certain of the defendants’ motion to vacate the Clerk’s entry of default. Plaintiff also moves for a writ of attachment pursuant to the entry of default.

Facts

Plaintiff is an inmate at the Facility where he was employed in the law library as a library assistant. On March 8, 1992, defendant William Weaver, the corrections officer in charge of the law library, orally ordered the inmate law library assistants to remove all legal work, including other inmates’ legal materials, from their personal possession and to store them in the library. Plaintiff asserts that he was not present in the law library on the day that this order was issued.

After overhearing certain conversations between other inmates, Weaver concluded *741 that plaintiff had violated his order and was engaging in unauthorized legal work. Consequently, plaintiffs cell was searched on March 13, 1992 and certain documents were seized, including approximately “500 blank legal forms and personal legal materials belonging to numerous inmates.” (PI. Motion for Summary Judgment, Exhibit J). The personal legal materials were later determined not to belong to any inmate incarcerated at the Facility at that time. 2 A “client list” in plaintiffs handwriting listing several inmates’ names, numbers and cube locations was also confiscated. At this time, plaintiff was removed from the “honor dorm” where he was housed and placed in keeplock, or administrative confinement, pending the disciplinary hearing. He remained in keeplock from March 13 to March 25,1992, suffering a loss of privileges.

On March 16, 1992, plaintiff was served with formal charges of disobeying a direct order, providing unauthorized legal assistance, and maintaining property in an unauthorized area. Plaintiff chose an assistant, Colin Thompson, to help him defend against the charges. Mr. Thompson met with plaintiff on March 17,1992, and gathered information on plaintiffs behalf. Plaintiff also called for three witnesses to be examined at the disciplinary hearing.

The hearing was conducted on March 19, 20, 24, and 25, 1992 before defendant Lieutenant Kannegiser. 3 Plaintiff testified at the hearing, as did his three witnesses: corrections officer Cosey, who searched plaintiffs cell; defendant deputy Adler, in charge of programs at the Facility; and Weaver. Plaintiff also submitted various documents, including the contraband receipt tag dated March 13, 1992, a copy of Directive #4483 (the New York State Department of Corrections’ policy concerning use of law libraries and legal assistance), an affidavit by a fellow inmate alleging that Weaver made defamatory statements about plaintiff, and copies of the misbehavior report. The hearing transcript reveals that plaintiff was not prevented from presenting any evidence he deemed necessary to his defense.

At the hearing, plaintiff did not deny having the offending documents in his possession. Rather, he claimed that he was not present when the order was issued and that he had no notice of any rule proscribing the possession of legal documents in his cell. In addition, plaintiff argued that the documents did not fall within the scope of the order, since the documents were blank legal forms and legal materials that did not belong to any inmate at the Facility.

Plaintiff was found guilty of disobeying a direct order and having property in an unauthorized area and not guilty of unauthorized legal work. The hearing officer imposed a penalty of 12 days keeplock and 15 days loss of privileges. Plaintiff received credit for the 12 days he had already spent in keeplock. Plaintiff was advised of his right to appeal and was provided with a written explanation of the disposition. Plaintiffs administrative appeal of the hearing officer’s determination was denied.

Procedural History

On July 31, 1992, plaintiff filed a pro se complaint seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages against Weaver, and injunctive relief. Plaintiff alleged that defendants violated his constitutional rights by: 1) placing him in a Special Housing Unit and confiscating his documents based on false charges, in violation of his due process rights, 2) arbitrarily prohibiting him from providing legal assistance to other inmates without a legitimate penological interest, and 3) violating his privacy rights by disseminating information found in the confiscated documents. Plaintiff also complains that he was arbitrarily denied release from his pre-hearing confinement and that the hearing officer at the disciplinary hearing was not impartial.

On December 17, 1992, Weaver filed an answer and defendants Jones, Keenan, Adler and Kannegiser moved to dismiss. Plaintiff *742 cross-moved for summary judgment on December 23, 1992. Defendants’ motion to dismiss was denied on December 20, 1993 and defendants were instructed to respond to plaintiffs motion within 30 days. Defendants did not respond until March 8, 1994, at which time they cross-moved for summary judgment.

Discussion

Defendants’ Motion to Vacate Default

On March 8, 1994, the Clerk of the Court entered a default, apparently pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 55(a), against all defendants except Weaver for their failure to plead, answer, or otherwise defend. Defendants now move to vacate the default. For the reasons stated below, the motion is granted.

Rule 55(a) provides that a clerk may enter a default upon being advised by affidavit that a party against whom judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend. After entry of a default, the defaulting party may move to set it aside for “good cause” shown. Fed. R.Civ.P. 55(c). Three criteria must be assessed to determine whether “good cause” has been shown: 1) whether the default was willful, 2) whether setting aside the default would prejudice the opposing party, and 3) whether a meritorious defense is presented. Enron Oil Corp. v. Diakuhara, 10 F.3d 90, 96 (2d Cir.1993) (citing cases). Each of these three factors must be considered. Commercial Bank of Kuwait v. Rafidain Bank, 15 F.3d 238, 243 (2d Cir.1994).

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

Related

Brown v. Venettozi
S.D. New York, 2019
Richard v. Fischer
38 F. Supp. 3d 340 (W.D. New York, 2014)
Collins v. Goord
581 F. Supp. 2d 563 (S.D. New York, 2008)
Muhammad v. Warithu-Deen Umar
98 F. Supp. 2d 337 (W.D. New York, 2000)
MacEwen Petroleum, Inc. v. Tarbell
173 F.R.D. 36 (N.D. New York, 1997)
Hadix v. Johnson
947 F. Supp. 1100 (E.D. Michigan, 1996)
Bryan v. Butler
163 F.R.D. 175 (N.D. New York, 1995)
Martin v. Coughlin
895 F. Supp. 39 (N.D. New York, 1995)
Canfield v. VSH Restaurant Corp.
162 F.R.D. 431 (N.D. New York, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
873 F. Supp. 737, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6351, 1995 WL 3975, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hodges-v-jones-nynd-1995.