Perry v. Walker

586 F. Supp. 1264, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17094
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedMay 1, 1984
DocketCiv. A. No. 83-0759-R
StatusPublished

This text of 586 F. Supp. 1264 (Perry v. Walker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perry v. Walker, 586 F. Supp. 1264, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17094 (E.D. Va. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

WARRINER, District Judge.

Plaintiff, proceeding pro se and in for-ma pauperis, filed this complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on 19 December 1983. Defendants Walker and Petersburg Sheriff’s Department filed a motion for summary judgment on 5 January 1984. On 9 January defendant Walker filed an answer. Plaintiff was notified of an opportunity to respond on 12 January and 18 January, which he did not do. The motion is now ripe for consideration. The Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343.

Plaintiff alleges that on two occasions in August 1983 he was assaulted by guard Walker. The assaults were in retaliation for plaintiff’s behavior in provoking a fight between two other inmates. To state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, plaintiff must show that his constitutional rights were violated. To show a violation of due process in the context of an assault, the plaintiff must allege that the defendant intended to infringe a constitutional right through the battery or could reasonably have foreseen that infringement would be the result. Dandridge v. Police Department of the City of Richmond, 566 F.Supp. 152, 160 (E.D.Va.1983). At first blush, the assault alleged herein appears only to be another beating of the type dealt with by this Court in Dandridge, Sellers v. Roper, 554 F.Supp. 202 (E.D.Va.1982), and Brooks v. School Board of City of Richmond, Virginia, 569 F.Supp. 1534 (E.D.Va.1983).

In Sellers, the plaintiff claimed that the defendant, a guard, grabbed the plaintiff, an inmate, and forced him to bend over. He then elbowed plaintiff in the back. In Sellers this Court first discussed the lack of clarity in the law regarding substantive due process, and noted the lack of a clearly discernable means of determining when the use of physical force violates the Constitution. Turning to Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495 (1944), and its progeny, this Court held that “an allegation of unjustified striking alone, without a factual allegation of, for instance, a striking affecting other substantive constitutional rights of a plaintiff, simply does not state a constitutional claim.” Sellers at 206.

In Dandridge, this Court considered the § 1983 claim of a plaintiff who alleged himself the victim of police brutality during arrest. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant policeman hit, kicked, and beat him. Again noting the lack of a workable standard with which to determine whether a claim of battery by a policeman amounts to a constitutional violation, the Court concluded again that it must of necessity look to the intent of the person committing the assault, and that the sine qua non of a constitutional tort is the defendant’s “general intent to infringe the exercise of a specific constitutional right.” Dandridge at 161.

In Brooks the court was faced with a § 1983 action brought by a student who complained that her teacher disciplined her unconstitutionally by piercing her upper arm with a straight pin. Again surveying the law in the area, the court concluded that under its interpretation of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Screws, a necessary element of a constitutional tort involves the allegation of intent to violate a constitutional right. Brooks at 1538.

The lines that must legitimately and constitutionally be drawn between consti[1266]*1266tutional torts and common law torts are complicated and entangled. Unless federal courts are to become a special tribunal for the trial of tort claims when the defendant is a State employee, there must be some simplification and disentanglement. Lawyers and judges should be able to spot the difference with some degree of confidence. There should be some order and sense in the law. In hopes that it will make sense we shall continue to follow our understanding of Screws and demand that each such tort, before it becomes actionable under § 1983, be motivated by a further desire to deprive the plaintiff of independently protected rights.

Id. at 1539.

In Sellers, Dandridge, and Brooks nothing appeared but an assault and battery in which the State employee was indifferent to any constitutional violation. The battery in those cases was motivated by other, non-constitutionally implicated purposes. This case is different in that plaintiff here alleges that defendant intended to violate a specific constitutional right to which he was entitled.

In the setting of the instant case, the plaintiff admits that he twice violated prison disciplinary rules by fighting with other inmates. It must be presumed that these violations were of a serious nature, serious enough to warrant as possible punishments the loss of statutory good time credits or solitary confinement. Implementation of punishment in this type of situation requires a procedural due process hearing prior to the imposition of any punishment. Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 558, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2975, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974). The defendants’ alleged action was in violation of the constitutional safeguard enunciated in Wolff Defendant herein chose to punish and discipline plaintiff on the basis of the defendant’s individual judgment, unsupported by a procedural due process hearing, that the punishment was appropriate. It is alleged, then, that defendant battered plaintiff with general intent to inflict punishment in violation of a specific constitutional right recognized in Wolff Nothing of this nature existed in Sellers, Dandridge, or Brooks.

As to this claim, there is a material issue of fact in dispute1, namely, whether or not defendant Walker assaulted plaintiff with the intent to punish him for plaintiff’s behavior in provoking a fight between two other inmates. Thus, the action is hereby REFERRED to the United States Magistrate for resolution of the issue on the basis of an evidentiary hearing pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B).

Plaintiff’s allegations cannot be said to rise to a level of procedural due process violations, however. Under Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 543, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 1916, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981), procedural due process requires a post-deprivation remedy for the negligent taking of property, unless the deprivation in question was pursuant to an established State procedure. The Fourth Circuit has held the Parratt analysis applies to deprivations of liberty interests which do not violate substantive constitutional rights, Daniels v. Williams, 720 F.2d 792 (4th Cir.1983), reh. en banc granted (29 August 1983), and to intentional deprivations of property by random and unauthorized acts of prison officials. Palmer v. Hudson,

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Related

Screws v. United States
325 U.S. 91 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Wolff v. McDonnell
418 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Parratt v. Taylor
451 U.S. 527 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Kush v. Rutledge
460 U.S. 719 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Ronald G. Davis v. R. F. Zahradnick
600 F.2d 458 (Fourth Circuit, 1979)
Russell Thomas Palmer, Jr. v. Ted S. Hudson, Officer
697 F.2d 1220 (Fourth Circuit, 1983)
Roy E. Daniels v. Andrew Williams, Deputy
720 F.2d 792 (Fourth Circuit, 1983)
Bryant v. COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SERVICES, ETC.
530 F. Supp. 1175 (S.D. New York, 1982)
Brooks v. Sch. Bd. of City of Richmond, Va.
569 F. Supp. 1534 (E.D. Virginia, 1983)
Sellers v. Roper
554 F. Supp. 202 (E.D. Virginia, 1982)
Dandridge v. Police Dept. of City of Richmond
566 F. Supp. 152 (E.D. Virginia, 1983)
Penn v. Oliver
351 F. Supp. 1292 (E.D. Virginia, 1972)
Withers v. Levine
615 F.2d 158 (Fourth Circuit, 1980)
Orpiano v. Johnson
632 F.2d 1096 (Fourth Circuit, 1980)
Rutledge v. Arizona Board of Regents
660 F.2d 1345 (Ninth Circuit, 1981)
Kush v. Rutledge
458 U.S. 1120 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Callico v. United States
459 U.S. 1069 (Supreme Court, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
586 F. Supp. 1264, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17094, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perry-v-walker-vaed-1984.