LaMarca v. Turner

662 F. Supp. 647, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10598
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJune 4, 1987
Docket82-8196-Civ.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 662 F. Supp. 647 (LaMarca v. Turner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LaMarca v. Turner, 662 F. Supp. 647, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10598 (S.D. Fla. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER ON REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF MAGISTRATE

PAINE, District Judge.

This cause comes before the court on the report and recommendation of the Magistrate (DE 128), defendants’ amended response and objections (DE 155), and plaintiffs’ reply (DE 170). The court has studied these submissions and has reviewed the voluminous transcripts, exhibits, and other materials in the case file as well as the relevant authorities. Now being fully advised, the court renders the following memorandum and order.

I.

BACKGROUND

This class action for damages and injunc-tive relief was brought by inmates who claim that their federal constitutional rights were violated when they were gang raped or otherwise assaulted while incar *651 cerated at the Glades Correctional Institution (GCI), a state prison in Belle Glade, Florida. The procedural history of the case is set out at length by the Magistrate. Briefly, this litigation was commenced on May 14, 1982 with the handwritten pro se complaint of Anthony LaMarca, who alleged that he was subjected to ongoing physical violence and harassment by other GCI inmates because he refused to participate in homosexual activity and that prison officials failed to act to alleviate the situation (DE 1). As the lawsuit continued, counsel was obtained and the complaint was amended several times (DE 23, 62, 93, 129, 131). On April 13, 1984, the undersigned district judge ordered that for purposes of injunctive relief the case proceed as a class action defined as those persons within the Florida prison system who are or will be incarcerated at GCI (DE 47).

The third amended complaint contains claims for damages by ten inmates. Named plaintiffs LaMarca, Saunders and Johnson also seek equitable remedies on behalf of the class. Defendant Turner is sued in his individual capacity as former superintendent of GCI. Defendant Lamb-din, the current superintendent, is sued solely in his official capacity for purposes of injunctive and equitable relief (DE 129). The State of Florida is a defendant for purposes of attorneys’ fees and expenses.

The district court referred the case to United States Magistrate Peter Nimkoff for a report and recommendation pursuant to Magistrate Rule 1(f) of the Local Rules of the Southern District of Florida. The Magistrate conducted two weeks of eviden-tiary hearings, reviewed deposition testimony and numerous exhibits, and heard oral argument. The Magistrate then filed a 135-page report and recommendation containing findings of fact and conclusions of law (DE 128) which found Turner liable to the ten named plaintiffs in the aggregate amount of $201,500 and recommended the creation of two committees to assist the court in formulating specific injunctive relief.

Defendants filed extensive objections to the Magistrate’s report in accordance with Local Magistrate Rule 4(b) (DE 155). Defendants dispute the Magistrate’s failure to grant a continuance, to grant a jury trial, and to recuse himself from the proceedings, and also lodge numerous objections to specific findings of fact and conclusions of law. Plaintiffs submitted an equally extensive reply (DE 170).

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The court’s review of the Magistrate’s findings and recommendations is governed by a de novo standard:

A District Judge shall make a de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which objection is made and may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the Magistrate. The District Judge, however, need conduct a new hearing only in his discretion or where required by law, and may consider the record developed before the Magistrate, making his own determination on the basis of that record. The District Judge may also receive further evidence, recall witnesses, or recommit the matter to the Magistrate with instructions.

Magistrate Rule 4(b), Local Rules of the Southern District of Florida; accord 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) (1982).

The Supreme Court has held that, in providing for a de novo “determination” rather than a de novo hearing, “Congress intended to permit whatever reliance a district judge, in the exercise of sound judicial discretion, chose to place on a Magistrate’s proposed findings and recommendations.” United States v. Raddatz, 447 U.S. 667, 676, 100 S.Ct. 2406, 2413, 65 L.Ed.2d 424 (1980). The former Fifth Circuit has held that, in situations involving the constitutional rights of a criminal defendant, a district court should not enter an order inconsistent with the Magistrate’s credibility determinations without personally hearing the live testimony of the witnesses whose testimony is determinative. Louis v. Blackburn, 630 F.2d 1105, 1109 (5th

*652 Cir.1980). 1 Although the Louis court expressly limited its holding to criminal- cases, see id. n. 3, the exercise of sound judicial discretion compels this court to extend substantial deference to the Magistrate’s credibility choices absent counterveiling considerations. In a criminal case which preceded Louis, the Fifth Circuit stated:

In our view it would be a rare case in which a district judge could resolve credibility choices contrary to the recommendations of the magistrate without himself having had an opportunity to see and hear the witnesses testify. Certainly, in such a rare case there should be found in the transcript an articulable basis for rejecting the magistrate’s original resolution of credibility and that basis should be articulated by the district judge.

United States v. Marshall, 609 F.2d 152, 155 (5th Cir.1980).

III.

FAILURE TO GRANT JURY TRIAL

Defendants first object to the Magistrate’s failure to grant a jury trial. The Magistrate found that defendants waived that right by failing to make a demand within ten days of November 2,1983, when they filed an answer to the first amended complaint (DE 23, 41). Defendants first demanded a jury trial on November 8,1985, over two years later, in response to the second amended complaint (DE 62, 69, 83). Following the Magistrate’s denial of a jury trial (DE 105), defendants filed an emergency appeal with the district court (DE 104), which the undersigned denied (DE 112).

Defendants again argue that the second and third amended complaints introduced new issues into the lawsuit which merited a jury trial and that therefore their demand was timely. As the Magistrate correctly concluded, the right to jury trial is waived by a failure to make a demand within ten days of the “last pleading directed to such issue.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 38(b). If the original pleadings effectively waive jury trial, the right cannot be revived by amending the original pleadings. Walton v. Eaton Corp., 563 F.2d 66, 71 (3d Cir.1977).

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662 F. Supp. 647, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lamarca-v-turner-flsd-1987.