Pewitte v. Hiniger

District Court, M.D. Tennessee·Decided August 31, 2020·No. 3:17-cv-00822·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION

SAIDRICK PEWITTE, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Case No. 3:17-cv-00822 ) Judge Aleta A. Trauger CYNTHIA PRATT, R. COBLE, M.D., ) JOE SCHWEITZER, f/n/u SMITH, ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM and ORDER Before the court is the Objection to Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge on Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 64), filed by defendants Cynthia Pratt, Robert Coble, M.D., Joseph Schweitzer, and Samantha Smith. For the reasons discussed herein, the court will overrule the defendants’ Objection, accept the magistrate judge’s recommendations in their entirety (Doc. No. 62), and deny the defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 49). I. STANDARD OF REVIEW The standard of review applicable to a party’s objections to a magistrate judge’s ruling depends upon whether the objections pertain to a dispositive or non-dispositive matter. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(a). Motions for summary judgment are among the dispositive motions listed in § 636(b)(1)(A). When a party files objections to a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation regarding a dispositive motion, the district court must review de novo any portion of the report and recommendation to which objections are “properly” lodged. Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3); see also 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) & (C). After review, the district judge “may accept, reject, or modify the recommended disposition; receive further evidence; or return the matter to the magistrate judge with instructions.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3); see also 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). An objection is “properly” made if it is sufficiently specific to “enable[] the district judge

to focus attention on those issues—factual and legal—that are at the heart of the parties’ dispute.” Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 147 (1985). “The filing of vague, general, or conclusory objections does not meet the requirement of specific objections and is tantamount to a complete failure to object.” Special Learning, Inc. v. Step by Step Acad., Inc., 751 F. App’x 816, 819 (6th Cir. 2018) (citations omitted). In addition, “[a]bsent compelling reasons, [the Magistrate Judge Act] does not allow parties to raise at the district court stage new arguments or issues that were not presented to the magistrate.” Harris v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, No. 17-5399, 2017 WL 8791308, at *2 (6th Cir. Nov. 22, 2017) (quoting Murr v. United States, 200 F.3d 895, 902 n.1 (6th Cir. 2000)). “[T]he Magistrates Act was not intended to give litigants an opportunity to run one version of their case past the magistrate, then another past the district court.’” Bauman v.

City of Cleveland, No. 1:04-CV-1757, 2015 WL 893285, at *8 (N.D. Ohio Mar. 3, 2015) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)). By the same token, “[a]n ‘objection’ that does nothing more than state a disagreement with a magistrate [judge]’s suggested resolution, or simply summarizes what has been presented before, is not an ‘objection’ as that term is used in this context.” Aldrich v. Bock, 327 F. Supp. 2d 743, 747 (E.D. Mich. 2004); see also Janssen v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., No. 14-CV-12453, 2015 WL 1737555, at *2 (E.D. Mich. Apr. 16, 2015) (“A non-specific objection, or one that merely reiterates arguments previously presented, does not adequately identify alleged errors on the part of the magistrate judge and results in a duplication of effort on the part of the district court[.]” (citation omitted)). II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The court adopts in its entirety the summary of the evidence set forth in the “Factual Background” section of the R&R. (Doc. No. 62, at 2–10.) Although the court will address specific facts as necessary for resolution of the defendants’ Objections, the discussion herein

presumes familiarity with the R&R. Plaintiff Saidrick Pewitte is a prisoner incarcerated at the Turner Trousdale Correctional Center (“TTCC”). While Pewitte was incarcerated at TTCC, CoreCivic contracted with Correct Care Solutions (“CCS”), also a private company, to provide medical care to those housed in the facility. Defendants Smith, Coble, Schweitzer, and Pratt were employed by CCS to work at TTCC. Pewitte initiated this lawsuit in May 2017 by filing a Complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He was permitted to proceed in forma pauperis, and, after he filed a verified Amended Complaint, the court performed a screening in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and concluded that he stated colorable claims against defendants Coble and Smith, in their individual

capacities, and against defendants Pratt and Schweitzer, in both their individual and official capacities, for deliberate indifference to the plaintiff’s serious medical needs. Following entry of a scheduling order, the parties engaged in a period of discovery. Thereafter, the defendants filed their Motion for Summary Judgment, accompanied by a Memorandum of Law and Statement of Undisputed Material Facts and various affidavits and exhibits, on December 9, 2019. (Doc. Nos. 49–51.) As summarized by the magistrate judge, The defendants argue that they were not deliberately indifferent to Pewitte’s serious medical needs and are entitled to summary judgment on all of Pewitte’s individual capacity claims because Pewitte never complained about or showed his leg injuries to Smith and Coble and because Schweitzer and Pratt were not involved in approving or obtaining prescription medications at TTCC. The defendants further argue that they are entitled to summary judgment on Pewitte’s official capacity claims because he cannot show a violation of his constitutional rights and, in the alternative, cannot show that CCS policies caused any such violation.

(Doc. No. 62, at 11–12 (internal citations to the record omitted).) More specifically, the defendants argue that Smith and Coble cannot be liable for deliberate indifference to the plaintiff’s serious medical needs, because the undisputed facts show that they actually provided care and that the plaintiff is simply quibbling with the adequacy of the care provided. In support of this argument, the defendants assert that the record does not support the plaintiff’s claim that he suffered from painfully infected leg wounds or that Smith or Coble was deliberately indifferent to this condition. (Doc. No. 50, at 16, 17.) They argue that Pratt and Schweitzer cannot be individually liable, because the undisputed facts show that these defendants were not responsible for ordering medication, approving medication orders, procuring medication, determining staffing numbers, creating policies or procedures for periods of prison lock-down or the distribution of medications and the provision of medical care during lock-downs.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Pewitte v. Hiniger, (M.D. Tenn. 2020).

Pewitte v. Hiniger (Pewitte v. Hiniger) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Thomas v. Arn
474 U.S. 140 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Robert Dale Murr v. United States
200 F.3d 895 (Sixth Circuit, 2000)
Aldrich v. Bock
327 F. Supp. 2d 743 (E.D. Michigan, 2004)
Chris Davis v. James Gallagher
951 F.3d 743 (Sixth Circuit, 2020)