Jackson v. Clear

District Court, W.D. Virginia·Decided March 23, 2020·No. 7:18-cv-00593·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA ROANOKE DIVISION

ROBERT CLAY JACKSON, III, ) Civil Action No. 7:18CV00593 Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION ) STEVE CLEAR, et al., ) By: Norman K. Moon Defendants. ) Senior United States District Judge

Robert Clay Jackson, III, a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se, filed this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In it, he names three defendants: Steve Clear, the Director of the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority, Major Brian Parks, the Superintendent of the Southwest Virginia Jail in Duffield (“Duffield”), and Nurse Scott, who he describes as the “head nurse” at Duffield.1 Three motions in the case are pending and ripe for disposition: (1) a motion to dismiss by defendant Scott (Dkt. No. 20); (2) a motion for summary judgment by defendants Clear and Parks (Dkt. No. 23); and (3) Jackson’s motion for summary judgment (Dkt. No. 38). For the reasons set forth herein, I will grant Scott’s motion to dismiss and the motion for summary judgment by Clear and Parks, and I will deny Jackson’s motion for summary judgment. I. BACKGROUND Jackson’s claims stem from an alleged assault that occurred, according to his complaint, on September 28, 2018, while he was incarcerated at Duffield. Specifically, in his verified complaint, he alleges that his cooperation with a local drug task force (“DTF”) resulted in the arrest and charges against a correctional officer, Burke, and against Matthew Howard, a fellow

1 His complaint also names a “Defendant Jane Doe RN,” but he has failed to identify that individual and that defendant has never been served. The claims against Jane Doe will be dismissed without prejudice. inmate.2 Thereafter, “on or about September 28, 2018,” Howard and two other inmates assaulted Jackson. During the assault, one of the inmates slammed him on the ground, “hyperextending his arm” and resulting in a “broken tendon” in his left arm, bruising to his face, and a lump on his head that lasted for about ten days. (Compl. ¶ 10.) Jackson claims that, after he complained for several days, the guards finally allowed him to see the medical staff and an unidentified nurse (the “Jane Doe” defendant named in his complaint) simply looked at his arm and told him he was “too old to be fighting.” (Compl. 3,

Dkt. No. 1.) His complaint appears to imply that she did not provide any other treatment. He was then sent to a segregation cell where he stayed in administrative segregation until his transfer to a jail in Haysi. (Id.) Critically, Jackson’s complaint does not identify any action or inaction by any of the named defendants giving rise to liability. Nonetheless, he claims that Clear and Parks acted with deliberate indifference toward him. (Id., ¶ 15.) He claims that they knew: the events that took place resulting failing to [protect and] the Plaintiff being Assaulted after the events that took place resulting in unsafe conditions for the Plaintiff wich violated plaintiffs rights and constituted Cruel and Unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. [sic].

(Id., ¶ 15.) As to Nurse Scott, he contends that she was deliberately indifferent to his serious medical need. (Id., ¶ 16.) II. DISCUSSION A. Scott’s Motion to Dismiss In her motion to dismiss, Scott argues that the claims against her should be dismissed for

2 According to Parks’s affidavit, the correctional officer eventually was charged with smuggling drugs into the jail that that he received from Howard’s girlfriend. (Parks Aff. ¶ 3, Dkt. No. 24-1.) Parks’s affidavit does not mention any charges against Howard or the girlfriend. three independent reasons. Specifically, she contends that Jackson’s complaint (1) fails to allege any actions by Nurse Scott, and fails to allege facts stating a claim for supervisory liability against Nurse Scott; (2) fails to allege a sufficiently serious injury; and (3) admits that Plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. (Mem. Supp. Mot. Dismiss 1, Dkt. No. 21.) I find the first of these requires dismissal of the claims against Nurse Scott, and so I decline to address the other two as to the motion to dismiss. Cf. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c)(2) (permitting a court to dismiss a prisoner complaint challenging prisoner conditions for failure to state a claim, even if a prisoner

has not exhausted administrative remedies). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests the complaint’s legal and factual sufficiency. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 677–80 (2009); Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 554–63 (2007); Giarratano v. Johnson, 521 F.3d 298, 302 (4th Cir. 2008). To withstand a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a pleading must “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. In considering the motion, the court must construe the facts and reasonable inferences “in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Massey v. Ojaniit, 759 F.3d 343, 347 (4th Cir. 2014). A court need not accept as true a complaint’s legal conclusions, “unwarranted inferences, unreasonable conclusions, or arguments.” Giarratano, 521 F.3d at 302. Pro se complaints are afforded a liberal construction.

Laber v. Harvey, 438 F.3d 404, 413 n.3 (4th Cir. 2006). 1. Eighth Amendment—Deliberate Indifference to Medical Need “It is beyond debate that a prison official’s deliberate indifference to an inmate’s serious medical needs constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.” Gordon v. Schilling, 937 F.3d 348, 356 (4th Cir. 2019). To demonstrate deliberate indifference, an inmate must show that (1) he has a medical condition that has been “diagnosed by a physician as mandating treatment or is so obvious that even a lay person would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor’s attention” and (2) the defendant “had actual knowledge of the plaintiff’s serious medical needs and the related risks, but nevertheless disregarded them.” Id. at 356–57; Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 105 (1976). The first component is an objective inquiry and the second is subjective. Heyer v. U.S. Bureau of Prisons, 849 F.3d 202, 209–10 (4th Cir. 2017). As I noted in describing Jackson’s claims, his complaint does not contain any facts to suggest that Nurse Scott had “actual knowledge” of his medical needs, nor does he identify any action or inaction by Nurse Scott that shows she actually disregarded any medical need.

Accordingly, he has failed to state an Eighth Amendment claim against her arising from these incidents. 2. Supervisory Liability By his reference to Scott as the “Head Nurse,” it is possible that Jackson may be attempting to hold her liable under a theory of supervisor liability. “[S]upervisory officials may be held liable in certain circumstances for the constitutional injuries inflicted by their subordinates.” Slakan v. Porter, 737 F.2d 368, 372 (4th Cir. 1984) (citation omitted).

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