Ingram v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 17, 2021
Docket3:19-cv-00638
StatusUnknown

This text of Ingram v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc. (Ingram v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ingram v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc., (S.D. Ill. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

EDMUND INGRAM,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 19-cv-638-NJR

WEXFORD HEALTH SOURCES, INC., et al.,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROSENSTENGEL, Chief Judge:

Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Edmund Ingram’s Motion to Revise or Amend Judgment (Doc. 93). Also pending are Defendants Dr. Mohammed Siddiqui, Dr. Craig Asselmeier, and Wexford Health Sources, Inc.’s (“the Wexford Defendants”) Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Summary Judgment as to Counts IV and VI (Doc. 92). For the reasons set forth below, Ingram’s Motion to Revise or Amend Judgment is denied, and the Wexford Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Summary Judgment as to Counts IV and VI are granted in part and denied in part. BACKGROUND Ingram, an inmate of the Illinois Department of Corrections (“IDOC”) previously housed at Menard Correctional Center (“Menard”), initiated this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that the Wexford Defendants and others were deliberately indifferent to his medical conditions in violation of the Eighth Amendment (Docs. 1, 66). After threshold review of his complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, Ingram was permitted to proceed on the following claims:

Count I: Nicholas Bebout was deliberately indifferent under the Eighth Amendment by delaying dental care for Plaintiff’s broken tooth.

Count II: Jacqueline Lashbrook, Dr. Siddiqui, Dr. Asselmeier, John Baldwin, Medical Director Louis Shicker, Frank Lawrence, and Healthcare Unit Administrator Gail Walls were deliberately indifferent under the Eighth Amendment by delaying dental care for Plaintiff’s broken tooth.

Count III: Wexford Health Sources, Inc. was deliberately indifferent in maintaining a policy of understaffing the dental and healthcare unit at Menard which led to Plaintiff not receiving timely care in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Count IV: Wexford, Louis Shicker, John Baldwin, Frank Lawrence, Jacqueline Lashbrook, Dr. Asselmeier, Dr. Siddiqui, and Gail Walls’ failure to provide Plaintiff with timely care amounted to intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Count V: Louis Shicker, John Baldwin, Frank Lawrence, and Jacqueline Lashbrook were deliberately indifferent to overcrowding at Menard which caused delays in Plaintiff’s treatment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Count VI: Illinois Medical Negligence claim against Jacqueline Lashbrook, Dr. Siddiqui, Dr. Asselmeier, John Baldwin, Louis Shicker, Frank Lawrence, Gail Walls, Nicholas Bebout, and Wexford for delaying dental care for Plaintiff’s broken tooth.

(Docs. 6, 65). The Wexford Defendants timely filed a Motion for Summary Judgment Limited to the Issue of Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies arguing Ingram failed to exhaust his administrative remedies prior to filing this lawsuit when he did not file the January 23, 2019 grievance through the normal grievance process under the Illinois Administrative Code (Docs. 44, 47, 50). See 20 ILL. ADMIN. CODE § 504.800 et seq. The Wexford Defendants asserted that Ingram’s January 23, 2019 grievance was deemed not an emergency by the

Chief Administrative Officer (“CAO”) and was returned to Ingram with an instruction to “submit the grievance in the normal manner” (Doc. 45-2, p. 1). Ingram then sent this grievance to the Administrative Review Board (“ARB”), but it was returned on February 21, 2019, because he failed to provide a counselor or grievance officer response (Doc. 45- 3). In response, Ingram argued that he was not required to pursue the January 23,

2019 grievance further after receiving a response from the ARB (Doc. 60). Ingram also argued that he submitted another emergency grievance on April 10, 2019 (Doc. 60, pp. 22- 23). The Court held a hearing pursuant to Pavey v. Conley, 544 F.3d 739 (7th Cir. 2008), on July 16, 2020. In its subsequent order granting summary judgment to Defendants, the Court acknowledged that the administrative procedures were changed, and, as a result,

Ingram was required to resubmit the January 23, 2019 grievance deemed through the normal process. See Doc. 91, pp. 7-8 (citing Williams v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc., 957 F.3d 828, 832 (7th Cir. 2020)). Ingram argued he was unaware that the grievance process had changed, but the Court explained that “Ingram was informed on two occasions that his [January 23, 2019] grievance was not an emergency and he needed to process his

grievance through the normal process” (Id. at p. 8). The Court further noted that Ingram’s argument was unpersuasive as the response from the ARB clarified that Ingram’s “medical claims had to first be reviewed at his current facility before submitting his grievance to the ARB” (Id. at p. 9). As to the missing April 10, 2019 grievance, the Court did not find Ingram’s testimony to be credible (Id. at pp. 9-12). Not only was there no evidence of the grievance,

but Ingram’s counseling summary shows a history of grievances being received from Ingram by the prison (Doc. 45-1). The Court found it “implausible that this one grievance would go missing when the prison had a history of receiving and responding to Ingram’s grievances” (Doc. 91, p. 10). The Court continued noting that Ingram met with his counselor on May 17, 2019, more than 30 days after the alleged April 10, 2019 grievance, but there was no indication that he inquired about the status of the April 10 grievance.

Besides the history of grievances and the counselor meeting, Ingram attached the January 23, 2019 grievance to his original Complaint, but made no mention of any additional grievances (Id. at p. 11). Accordingly, on July 30, 2020, the Court granted the Wexford Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment Limited to the Issue of Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies

(Doc. 91), and held that “[t]he claims against [the Wexford Defendants] are DISMISSED without prejudice for Ingram’s failure to exhaust his administrative remedies” (Doc. 91, p. 12). The Wexford Defendants note, however, that “the Court’s Order at Doc. 91 did not dispose of the state law claims against the undersigned Defendants” (Doc. 94, p. 2). As a result, on August 6, 2020, the Wexford Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of

Jurisdiction and Motion for Summary Judgment as to Counts IV and VI (Doc. 92). On August 10, 2020, Ingram filed a “Motion to Revise and/or Alter or Amend a Judgment – Re (Doc. 91) Order” and cited Rules 54(b) and 59(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Doc. 93). DISCUSSION I. Ingram’s Motion to Revise or Amend Judgment The Court begins its analysis with Ingram’s Motion to Revise or Amend Judgment

(Doc. 93). Notably, the Court’s summary judgment order was an interlocutory order, and Rule 59(e) applies only to final judgments. Still, the Court retains power to reconsider and modify an interlocutory order at any time prior to the entry of a final judgment. See FED. R. CIV. P. 54(b). Reconsideration of an interlocutory order is proper where the Court has misunderstood a party, where the Court has made a decision outside the adversarial

issues presented to the Court by the parties, where the Court has made an error of apprehension (not of reasoning), where a significant change in the law has occurred, or where significant new facts have been discovered. Bank of Waunakee v. Rochester Cheese Sales, Inc.,

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