Shaw v. Frazier

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMay 17, 2022
Docket2:21-cv-00335
StatusUnknown

This text of Shaw v. Frazier (Shaw v. Frazier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shaw v. Frazier, (E.D. Wis. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

TERRANCE J. SHAW,

Plaintiff, v. Case No. 21-CV-335-JPS

PAUL S. KEMPER, LAURA FRAZIER, and MICHELLE BONES, ORDER

Defendants.

Plaintiff Terrance J. Shaw, who was an inmate at Racine Correctional Institution (“RCI”) at the time that he filed his complaint, filed this pro se action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that various defendants at RCI violated his constitutional rights. ECF No. 1.1 Plaintiff has paid the $402 filing fee, but the Court must still screen the complaint. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A (“The Court shall review . . . a complaint in a civil action in which a prisoner seeks redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.”). Plaintiff has also filed a motion to appoint counsel and a motion for a protective order. ECF. No. 8. For the reasons explained below, the Court will deny Plaintiff’s motion to appoint counsel and grant the motion for a protective order to the extent that the protective order seeks to restrict access to Plaintiff’s medical records. The Court will also permit Plaintiff to proceed on a claim against Laura Frazier (“Frazier”) for

1Although Plaintiff has since been released from custody, courts “look to the status of the plaintiff at the time he brings his suit” to determine whether the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) applies. Witzke v. Femal, 376 F.3d 744, 750 (7th Cir. 2004). deliberate indifference to a serious medical need under the Eighth Amendment. 1. SCREENING THE COMPLAINT 1.1 Federal Screening Standard Under the PLRA, the Court must screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief from a governmental entity or an officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint if the prisoner raises claims that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). In determining whether the complaint states a claim, the Court applies the same standard that applies to dismissals under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See Cesal v. Moats, 851 F.3d 714, 720 (7th Cir. 2017) (citing Booker-El v. Superintendent, Ind. State Prison, 668 F.3d 896, 899 (7th Cir. 2012)). A complaint must include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). The complaint must contain enough facts, accepted as true, to “state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows a court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). To state a claim for relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege that someone deprived him of a right secured by the Constitution or the laws of the United States and that whoever deprived him of this right was acting under the color of state law. D.S. v. E. Porter Cnty. Sch. Corp., 799 F.3d 793, 798 (7th Cir. 2015) (citing Buchanan–Moore v. County of Milwaukee, 570 F.3d 824, 827 (7th Cir. 2009)). The Court construes pro se complaints liberally and holds them to a less stringent standard than pleadings drafted by lawyers. Cesal, 851 F.3d at 720 (citing Perez v. Fenoglio, 792 F.3d 768, 776 (7th Cir. 2015)). 1.2 Plaintiff’s Allegations The facts in this case surround Plaintiff’s housing while at RCI. Plaintiff is an elderly, wheelchair-bound veteran. While incarcerated at RCI, Plaintiff made diligent use of the inmate complaint process, which prisoners must exhaust in order to proceed on their claims in federal court. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). In this case, Plaintiff sought a wet cell (i.e., a cell with a toilet) that was large enough to accommodate his wheelchair. On March 27, 2018, Plaintiff went to RCI’s Health Services Unit (“HSU”) where a nurse practitioner evaluated him and determined that he should be housed in a single-occupancy, wheelchair-accessible wet cell. The next day, a physician named Dr. Chen evaluated Plaintiff and came to the same conclusion as the nurse practitioner. However, sometime in April 2018, Dr. Chen informed Plaintiff that HSU staff told Dr. Chen that he should no longer give his medical opinion regarding Plaintiff’s need for a single-occupancy, wheelchair-accessible wet cell. It is not clear, in the interim, where RCI housed Plaintiff. Thus, on April 20, 2018, Plaintiff drafted an inmate complaint in which he presumably2 complained that HSU staff intervened in his quest for medically appropriate housing. Five days later, inmate complaint

2The federal complaint does not clearly say what Plaintiff wrote in his Inmate Complaint. See ECF No. 1 ¶ 5. examiner Michelle Bones (“ICE Bones”) filed a response in which she told Plaintiff to raise his issue with either Assistant HSU Manager Frazier or HSU Manager Vasquez. Id. ¶ 8. Bones told Plaintiff that if the issue could not be resolved internally, then he could re-file his inmate complaint in ten days. Plaintiff wasted no time in contacting Frazier, to whom he wrote that same day. On April 30, 2018, Frazier responded to Plaintiff. She told him that his records disputed his contention that he needed a single-occupancy wet cell. Specifically, she noted that housing unit records from less than a week earlier indicated that Plaintiff could stand and walk around his cell without difficulty. Plaintiff found it wholly inappropriate that Frazier relied on housing unit records rather than medical records to make a determination about his housing. On May 1, 2018, Plaintiff wrote back to Frazier. He disputed the characterization of his walking and weight-bearing abilities, described the intense nature of his pain, and chastised her for relying on non-medical opinions. On May 3, 2018, Plaintiff wrote an addendum in which he explained that he has a permanent wheelchair because he is unable to walk. He described incidents in which people took his wheelchair, leaving him stranded in the shower, and noted that if he could walk, he would not have been stranded. Sometime in mid-May, Plaintiff filed a formal inmate complaint, which, on May 18, 2018, ICE Bones rejected “for being previously addressed.” Id. ¶ 21.

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Bluebook (online)
Shaw v. Frazier, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shaw-v-frazier-wied-2022.