Reaves v. Department of Correction

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Reaves v. Department of Correction. Read the opinion of the Court — 195 F. Supp. 3d 383
District Court, D. Massachusetts·Decided September 20, 2018·No. 4:15-cv-40100·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

TIMOTHY REAVES, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) Civil Action No. 14-40100-TSH DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION, ET AL., ) ) Defendants. ) ) __________________________________________

September 20, 2018

FINDINGS AND ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The plaintiff, Timothy Reaves, (“Plaintiff”) files this action against the Defendants for claims related to his treatment while incarcerated in various Department of Corrections (“DOC”) institutions. The defendants were in two categories: (1) the DOC Defendants and (2) the Medical Defendants. The DOC Defendants include the DOC, Thomas Turco,1 Carol Higgins O’Brien, Stephanie Collins, Pamela MacEachern, Michael Rodrigues, and Sheila Kelly.2 The Medical Defendants have settled with the Plaintiff. Background3

1 Thomas Turco is substituted for Carol Higgins O’Brien for claims asserted against her in her official capacity pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d). 2 Sheila Kelly has replaced John Morin as the Deputy Superintendent at MCI-Shirley. She is therefore automatically substituted for Mr. Morin as a defendant where he was sued in his official capacity. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d). 3 The Court declines to strike allegations prior to July 7, 2012 as barred by the three year statute of limitations because I find that the continuing violation doctrine applies in this case where “at least one discriminatory act occurred within the limitations period, [ ] the alleged timely discriminatory act has a substantial relationship to the alleged untimely discriminatory act, and [ ]the otherwise time-barred events did not trigger his ‘awareness and duty’ to assert his rights.” Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. v. Massachusetts Com’n Against Discrimination, 441 Mass. 632, 642-43 (2004); see The Plaintiff has been incarcerated since 1996 and is serving a life sentence in the Massachusetts DOC. He has been a quadriplegic throughout his incarceration and is hearing impaired. The relevant institutions where Plaintiff has been housed for purposes of this action are Bridgewater State Hospital (“Bridgewater”) from 2011 through 2014, Souza Baranowski Correction Center (“Souza Baranowski”) from 2014 until 2016, and the Massachusetts

Correctional Institution at Shirley (“MCI Shirley”) from 2016 until present. During Plaintiff’s incarceration his health has significantly decreased. He can no longer brush his teeth, feed himself, sit in a wheelchair, and showers on a stretcher, Plaintiff has alleged the following counts: failure to provide adequate medical care in violation of the 8th Amendment (Count I) and Article 26 Of the Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Count II); reasonable accommodations in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Count III), the Rehabilitation Act (Count IV) and Article 114 (Count V); unlawful conditions of confinement in violation of the 8th Amendment (Count VI) and Article 26 of the Declaration of Rights (Count VII); failure to protect in violation of the 8th Amendment (Count VIII) and Article 26 (Count IX); and violation of Plaintiff’s due

process rights provided by the 14th Amendment (X) and Articles 1, 10, and 12 of the Declaration of Rights (Count XI); intentional infliction of emotional distress (Count XIV); and violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (“MCRA”) (Count XII). Both parties have filed motions for

Tobin v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 553 F.3d 121, 130 (1st Cir. 2009)( because the “very nature” of the claims “involve[ ] repeated conduct” the “component acts” alleged to have occurred “outside the filing period may be considered.”)(quoting Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101, 115-17, 122 S. Ct. 2061 (2002)); see Maldonado-Catala v. Municipality of Naranjito, 876 F.3d 1, 9 (1st Cir. 2017)(hostile work environment claims are “‘[t]he classic example of a continuing violation’ because the actionable wrong consists of an accumulation of ‘individual acts that, taken together, create the environment.’”)(quoting Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618, 638 (2007)); see also Clark v. Clarke, No. CIV.A. 11-11490-RWZ, 2013 WL 1144901, at *7 (D. Mass. Mar. 18, 2013) (applying the continuing violation doctrine to claims based on Eighth Amendment claims over seven years). summary judgment, discussed below with the exception of Count XII, which Plaintiff’s concedes. 4 Accordingly, the Defendants motion for summary judgment as to the Count XII is granted. In a motion for summary judgment it is the moving party’s burden to show an absence of a genuine issue as to any material fact on the record. DeNovellis v. Shalala, 124 F.3d 298, 306 (1st Cir. 1997). A “genuine” issue is one which a rational factfinder could resolve in either direction,

and a “material” fact is one that could change the case’s outcome. Mu v. Omni Hotels Mgmt. Corp., 882 F.3d 1,5 (1st Cir. 2018), review denied, 885 F.3d 52 (1st Cir. 2018). If the moving party also bears the burden of proof at trial, he must “demonstrate every element of his case such that ‘no reasonable trier of fact could find other than for [him].’” Harley-Davidson Credit Corp. v. Galvin, 807 F.3d 407, 411 (1st Cir. 2015). The court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party in assessing each motion. Tolan v. Cotton, 134 S. Ct. 1861 (2014). Inadequate Medical Care (Counts I & II)5 To establish an Eighth Amendment violation based on the failure to provide adequate medical care, the prisoner must satisfy two prongs: “(1) an objective prong that requires proof of

a serious medical need, and (2) a subjective prong that mandates a showing of prison administrators’ deliberate indifference to that need.” Kosilek v. Spencer, 774 F.3d 63, 82; see Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 (1976). “[D]eliberate indifference ‘defines a narrow band of conduct’ . . . and requires evidence that the failure in treatment was purposeful.” Kosilek, 774 F.3d at 83 (quoting Feeney v. Corr. Med. Servs. Inc., 464 F.3d 158, 162 (1st Cir. 2006).

4 The Defendants filed their motion as a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, or for summary judgment Doc. No. 214. Because the Defendants cite to material outside of the pleadings including a number of attached exhibits, the Court treats the motion as one for summary judgment. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d). 5 To the extent the Plaintiff asserts a deliberate indifference claim under Article 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, I analyze together with the Eighth Amendment claim because “the rights guaranteed under art. 26 are at least equally as broad as those guaranteed under the Eighth Amendment[]”.. Michaud v. Sheriff of Essex Cty., 390 Mass. 523, 534 (1983). For purposes of this motion, the DOC Defendants concede that Plaintiff has objectively shown that his deprivation is sufficiently serious. Defendants argue instead that Plaintiff has failed to show that the Defendants knowingly disregarded or failed to provide available remedies because they lacked the responsibility to intervene in a meaningful way. I disagree.

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