Manasco v. Rogers

337 F. App'x 145
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJuly 29, 2009
DocketNos. 06-4300, 07-1892
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 337 F. App'x 145 (Manasco v. Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Manasco v. Rogers, 337 F. App'x 145 (3d Cir. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

McKEE, Circuit Judge.

Keith Miller, a Correctional Officer (“CO”) employed by the New Jersey Department of Corrections (“NJDOC”), appeals an order of the district court denying his motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified. immunity. Charles H. Manasco, who has been civilly committed under the laws of New Jersey, cross-appeals from the district court’s order granting summary judgment to Grace Rogers and Lt. Gonzalez, employees of NJDOC, and Glenn Ferguson and Al Compoly, employees of the New Jersey Department of Health Services (“NJDHS”), on the basis of qualified immunity. For the reasons that follow, we will vacate the district court’s order as to Miller and Gonzalez, vacate with respect to Ferguson and Com-poly as to Manaseo’s medical care claims only, and affirm the district court’s order in all other respects.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2000, Manasco was civilly committed pursuant to the New Jersey Sexually Violent Predator Act. Since then, he has been detained in the Special Treatment Unit (“STU”) in Kearney, New Jersey. Manasco alleges that on February 1, 2001, he saw Miller escorting another STU resident from the housing unit, and that Miller was treating the resident inappropriately. According to Manasco, as Miller passed, Manasco said: “Why don’t you leave this man alone? ... Why don’t you go back to where you’re supposed to be working?” Manasco claims that Miller reacted hostilely, shoving his finger in Manasco’s face and saying: “Shut the fuck up Manasco,” and calling Manasco a “pussy mother fucker from Avenal.” Manasco claims he re[148]*148sponcled by telling Miller to “take your finger out of my fucking face.”

Pursuant to DOC procedure, Miller wrote a report detailing the incident. Miller’s report states that Manasco threatened him by using inappropriate language directed at him in an “angry, aggressive and hostile manner.” Manasco contends that Miller’s report was false. Shortly after the incident involving Miller and Manasco, Correctional Officer Qualls, who is not a defendant, placed Manasco in handcuffs and escorted him to the medical unit for clearance to place him in a Restricted Activities Program (“RAP”) unit. Manasco claims he was strip-searched in the process. Qualls notified defendant Lt. Gonzalez of Manasco’s placement. Soon after Manasco’s placement in RAP, Manasco observed another officer tell Qualls that Gonzalez had instructed that Manasco was to “get nothing” while in the RAP unit.

Manasco claims to have several chronic illnesses including anxiety and a medical condition that results in seizures that are brought on by stress. These conditions, he contends, rendered his continued placement in RAP inappropriate and dangerous. In fact, Manasco contends that within minutes of being placed in the RAP unit, he suffered a seizure — largely because of the stress of the situation. According to him, another STU resident walked by his room and saw that Manasco was on the floor having a seizure. The resident was not able to enter the locked room and could only watch as Manasco seized and banged his head repeatedly on the toilet, causing his head to bleed.

During or after this seizure, Manasco lost control of his bladder and soiled his clothing. At some point thereafter, he asked a CO for clean clothes, but the CO ignored him. Manasco claims that this denial was because of Gonzalez’s order that he “get nothing” while in RAP. Manasco claims to have had at least one additional seizure, on February 3, which also caused him to urinate on himself. However, he was not provided a change of clothing or an opportunity to bathe until he saw the treatment team on February 5.

Manasco argues that prison officials knew of his medical and mental health issues, but nonetheless failed to assess his capacity to withstand detention in the RAP unit. Manasco claims that he was never afforded any of the procedural safeguards required under the policies applicable to detention in the RAP unit. Although the policies require that a RAP team meet with a resident within 24 hours of confinement in the RAP unit — in order to assess the assignment and provide an opportunity to communicate with treatment personnel — Manasco’s RAP team purportedly did not meet with him until four days after he was confined in the RAP unit, did not give him an opportunity to challenge Miller’s “false charges,” did not conduct any investigation, and simply assumed that Manasco was lying. Although RAP is intended as a form of thex-apeutic intervention, Manasco claims it was used to punish him because he was never provided with any therapeutic treatment during his confinement in the RAP unit.

Manasco filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, challenging the constitutionality of his placement and detention in the RAP unit. Eventually, defendants all moved for summaxy judgment on the basis of qualified immunity. The district court denied Miller’s claim for summary judgment based on qualified immunity because the court believed that claim tuimed on disputed factual issues — Miller’s motivation for placing Manasco in RAP and the vex-acity of his disciplinary report. The district coux't granted each of the other defendants’ motions because the record contained no evidence that they were [149]*149aware of Manasco’s seizures or that he had soiled himself. These appeals and cross-appeals followed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review a district court’s decision to grant summary judgment de novo, and we apply the same standard the district court should have applied in determining whether summary judgment was appropriate. State Auto Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Pro Design, P.C., 566 F.3d 86, 89 (3d Cir.2009). We must review the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant and determine whether genuine issues of material fact exist for trial, or whether the movant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Busch v. Marple Newtown School Dist., 567 F.3d 89, 95 n. 7 (3d Cir.2009).

III. ANALYSIS

A. Miller’s appeal

Miller contends that the district court erred in denying his motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity. However, at oral argument, counsel for Manasco conceded that Manasco’s own experts had testified that Manasco’s initial placement in the RAP unit was proper even under Manasco’s own version of his confrontation with Miller. Since Manasco also acknowledged that his claim against Miller is based only on his initial placement in the RAP unit, he has clearly abandoned any claim he may have had against Miller based on that placement. We will therefore vacate the order of the district court insofar as it denied Miller qualified immunity.

B. Manasco’s Appeal

Manasco contends that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor Rogers, Compoly, Ferguson and Gonzalez on the basis of qualified immunity. He claims that the court should have separately determined whether he raised genuine issues of material fact for each claim against each defendant rather than awarding them “blanket” qualified immunity.

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Bluebook (online)
337 F. App'x 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manasco-v-rogers-ca3-2009.