Oliver Thomas v. Joey Paul and M. Vigneault

2019 DNH 153
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedSeptember 17, 2019
Docket16-cv-12-SM
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2019 DNH 153 (Oliver Thomas v. Joey Paul and M. Vigneault) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oliver Thomas v. Joey Paul and M. Vigneault, 2019 DNH 153 (D.N.H. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Oliver Thomas

v. Case No. 16-cv-12-SM Opinion No. 2019 DNH 153 Joey Paul and M. Vigneault

O R D E R

Before the court is defendants’ Supplemental Motion for

Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 77). Plaintiff, Oliver Thomas,

objects. See Doc. No. 79.

Background

Thomas alleges violations of his constitutional rights

while he was an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution

in Berlin, New Hampshire (“FCI Berlin”). Since filing this

action, he has been transferred to FCI Forrest City Medium, in

Arkansas.

Thomas, who is African American, filed a complaint in

federal district court on January 6, 2016, alleging that while

employed in the prison laundry at FCI Berlin he was subjected to

racial discrimination and violations of his First Amendment

right to free speech. In its preliminary review pursuant to 28

U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), the court construed Thomas’s Complaint as

asserting three types of claims:

1 In Claim 1, Thomas alleges that defendants, two FCI Berlin

laundry room supervisors, Corrections Officer (“C.O.”) Joey Paul

and C.O. M. Vigneault, violated his Fifth Amendment right to

equal protection by: (a) firing him because of his race; (b)

paying him less than they paid white inmates and denying him a

bonus paid to white inmates; and (c) demoting him so his

position could be given to a white inmate.

In Claim 2, Thomas asserts that defendants violated his

First Amendment right to petition the government by firing him

in retaliation for threatening to report their racially and

sexually motivated behavior to prison officials.

And in Claim 3, Thomas claims that defendants violated his

First Amendment right to free speech by coercing him to lie to

safety inspectors, by threatening to fire him if he told the

truth about improper practices in the laundry. See July 13,

2016 Order (Doc. No. 11) (approving May 16, 2016 Report and

Recommendation (“R&R”) (Doc. No. 5)).

Thomas seeks reinstatement with full benefits, back pay,

compensatory damages, punitive damages, declaratory relief, and

other unspecified injunctive relief. The court construed

Thomas’s damages claims as asserted against Paul and Vigneault

in their individual capacities under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named

Agents of the Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971).

2 In 2017, defendants moved to dismiss Thomas’s claims for

failure to state a claim and failure to exhaust administrative

remedies. The court denied the motion without prejudice as to

the exhaustion argument. See July 17, 2017 Order (Doc. No. 54)

(approving June 21, 2017 R&R (Doc. No. 53)). Defendants then

filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, focusing on Claims 1 and 2.

(Doc. No. 64).

The court denied the Motion for Summary Judgment without

prejudice to defendants’ ability to refile a similar dispositive

motion addressing four issues identified by the court. See

Sept. 10, 2018 Order (Doc. No. 71). The court appointed counsel

to represent Thomas for the purpose of responding to any

dispositive motion filed by defendants in response to the Sept.

10, 2018 Order. See Sept. 10, 2018 Order (Doc. No. 72); Oct. 5,

2018 Order (Doc. No. 73).

Defendants have filed a supplemental motion for summary

judgment (Doc. No. 77), and Thomas, through counsel, has filed

an objection (Doc. No. 79). This matter is ripe for review.

Summary Judgment Standard

When ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the court is

“obliged to review the record in the light most favorable to the

nonmoving party, and to draw all reasonable inferences in the

nonmoving party’s favor.” Block Island Fishing, Inc. v. Rogers,

3 844 F.3d 358, 360 (1st Cir. 2016) (citation omitted). Summary

judgment is appropriate when the record reveals “no genuine

dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to

judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). In this

context, a factual dispute “is ‘genuine’ if the evidence of

record permits a rational factfinder to resolve it in favor of

either party, and ‘material’ if its existence or nonexistence

has the potential to change the outcome of the suit.” Rando v.

Leonard, 826 F.3d 553, 556 (1st Cir. 2016) (citation omitted).

Consequently, “[a]s to issues on which the party opposing

summary judgment would bear the burden of proof at trial, that

party may not simply rely on the absence of evidence but,

rather, must point to definite and competent evidence showing

the existence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Perez v.

Lorraine Enters., 769 F.3d 23, 29–30 (1st Cir. 2014). In other

words, “a laundry list of possibilities and hypotheticals” and

“[s]peculation about mere possibilities, without more, is not

enough to stave off summary judgment.” Tobin v. Fed. Express

Corp., 775 F.3d 448, 451–52 (1st Cir. 2014). See generally

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249 (1986).

Discussion

Thomas seeks damages, injunctive relief, and declaratory

relief on each of his claims, namely, his First Amendment

4 compelled speech claim, alleging he was compelled to lie to

workplace safety inspectors upon the threat of being fired

(Claim 3); his First Amendment retaliation claim, alleging a

retaliatory job termination (Claim 2); and his Fifth Amendment

equal protection claims, alleging race discrimination in his

compensation (Claim 1(a)), his demotion (Claim 1(c)), and his

job termination (Claim 1(b)). Defendants move for summary

judgment on each of those claims, arguing that the Bivens

doctrine does not provide a damages remedy in Thomas’s

circumstances, and that Thomas presently lacks standing to

obtain injunctive relief. 1

I. Availability of Bivens Remedy

The Bivens doctrine allows a plaintiff to vindicate certain

constitutionally protected rights through a private cause of

action for damages against federal officials in their individual

capacities. See DeMayo v. Nugent, 517 F.3d 11, 14 (1st Cir.

2008). An action under Bivens serves as a limited “federal

analog to [42 U.S.C.] § 1983 suits against state officials.”

Soto–Torres v. Fraticelli, 654 F.3d 153, 158 (1st Cir. 2011).

1Defendants also argue that Thomas failed to exhaust his available administrative remedies. As the Bivens issue is dispositive, this court does not address the exhaustion issue.

5 Courts presented with Bivens claims must first consider

whether the claim presents a new context for applying Bivens.

See Ziglar v. Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. 1843, 1859-60 (2017) (test for

determining if Bivens context is new). A court must decline to

expand Bivens into a new context if “there are special factors

counselling hesitation in the absence of affirmative action by

Congress,” Abassi, 137 S.

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Related

Thomas v. FCI Berlin, Warden
D. New Hampshire, 2019

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