Lacedra v. Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility

334 F. Supp. 2d 114, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18182, 2004 WL 2030107
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedSeptember 13, 2004
DocketC.A. 99-458L
StatusPublished
Cited by91 cases

This text of 334 F. Supp. 2d 114 (Lacedra v. Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lacedra v. Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, 334 F. Supp. 2d 114, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18182, 2004 WL 2030107 (D.R.I. 2004).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

LAGUEUX, Senior District Judge.

This case involves constitutional claims filed by Glenn Pi LaCedra (“Plaintiff’). He alleges that while he was incarcerated at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility (“Wyatt Facility”), Defendants, Cornell Corrections Corporation, Cornell Corrections of Rhode Island, Inc. (“Cornell Defendants”), Chief Wayne Salisbury (“Salisbury”); Jean Singleton (“Singleton”); Lieutenant Sharon Johnson (“Johnson”), and other known and unknown employees of the Cornell Defendants deprived him of his rights under the First, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Plaintiff presents this Court with statutory causes of action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983 and also appears to assert claims pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971)(hereinafter “Bivens ”). See Am. Compl., at para. 5 (alleging that Defen= dants acted in their official capacity under *120 the color of law prescribed to them by the United States Marshals Service and the Federal Government). The matter is here on the Cornell Defendants’ objection to a Report and Recommendation issued by Magistrate Judge David L. Martin on January 16, 2001, pertaining to Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiffs Amended Complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Cornell Defendants’ additional motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rules 12(b)(2),(4), and (5)for lack of jurisdiction over the person, insufficiency of process and insufficiency of service of process.

Judge Martin recommended that this Court grant the motion to dismiss all claims against Salisbury, Johnson, and Singleton on statute of limitations grounds. Report & Recommendation, at 28-29. As to the Cornell Defendants, Judge Martin recommended that this Court grant the motion to dismiss Plaintiffs claims based on exposure to second-hand smoke and his claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983, but deny the motion to dismiss Plaintiffs Bivens claims and his constitutional claims based on violations of Plaintiffs privacy rights by female officers. Id., at 29. Judge Martin also recommended that the Cornell Defendants’ motions to dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(2),(4), and (5) be denied and that the Wyatt Facility be dismissed from this litigation. Id.

The Cornell Defendants objected to the Report and Recommendation, arguing that their motion to dismiss should be granted in toto because the claims set forth against them in the Amended Complaint do not relate back to the date that the original Complaint was filed and, therefore, are barred by the statute of limitations. Mem. of Law in Supp. Of Defs.’ Cornell Corrs. of R.I., Inc. & Cornell Corrections, Corp., Objection to the Report & Recommendation of Jan. 16, 2001, (hereinafter Cornell Defs.’Mem.) at 1. Alternatively they argue that, in any event, Plaintiff cannot assert Bivens claims against them.

For the reasons that follow, this Court agrees with Judge Martin’s conclusion that the Amended Complaint satisfies the requirements set forth in Rule 15(c)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and relates back to the date that Plaintiff filed his original Complaint. Therefore, the claims asserted against the Cornell Defendants are not time barred and that objection to the Report and Recommendation is overruled. Since Plaintiffs claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983 and Bivens remain against the Cornell Defendants, this Court must also address Judge Martin’s conclusions regarding the validity of those claims.

This writer agrees with Judge Martin’s conclusion that Plaintiff is unable to state a claim for relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 against the Cornell Defendants. However, this Court disagrees with Judge Martin’s conclusion that Plaintiff has no cause of action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, but does have viable Bivens claims including a constitutional claim for violation of his privacy rights. Therefore, this Court writes separately on each claim in order to expound upon this subject matter and bring a modicum of clarification to this muddled area of the law. The final result in the present case is that judgment will be entered for all Defendants on Plaintiffs Amended Complaint.

I. Background and Procedural History

Plaintiff, Glenn P. LaCedra, is a Massachusetts resident who was confined at the Wyatt Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, from January 26, 1996, until April 6, 1997. Plaintiff was detained at the Wyatt Facility while awaiting trial in the United States District Court for the District of *121 Massachusetts in the case of United States v. Glenn P. LaCedra. The trial took place between late September and early October 1996. Plaintiff was convicted, sentenced to a lengthy prison term and then incarcerated at F.M.C. Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts.

The Creation of the Wyatt Facility

The Wyatt Facility is a unique creature of state law. 1 On July 11, 1991, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed the Municipal Detention Facility Corporations Act (“MDFCA”), R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-54-1, et seq (1991). The MDFCA’s purpose was to promote economic development in Rhode Island by allowing the construction of a prison which would provide the United States Marshals Service with space to house federal pretrial detainees. The MDFCA authorized a municipality to create a corporation that would own and operate a detention facility.

The Central Falls City Council passed a resolution that adopted a plan enabling the City of Central Falls to construct a prison facility pursuant to the MDFCA. That City created the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation (“CFDFC”) which became the owner of the Wyatt Facility.

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334 F. Supp. 2d 114, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18182, 2004 WL 2030107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lacedra-v-donald-w-wyatt-detention-facility-rid-2004.