Sims v. Kernan

29 F. Supp. 2d 952, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19327, 1998 WL 856329
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedDecember 4, 1998
Docket3:98-cv-00539
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 29 F. Supp. 2d 952 (Sims v. Kernan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sims v. Kernan, 29 F. Supp. 2d 952, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19327, 1998 WL 856329 (N.D. Ind. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, District Judge.

Mario Sims, a prisoner confined at the Westville Correctional Facility, submitted a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Mr. Sims also raises claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), 42 U.S.C. § 1986, and 42 U.S.C. § 2000. In addition to his federal claims, Mr. Sims invokes the pendent jurisdiction of this court and United Nations Resolution 1 (XXIV) of the subcommission on the prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities.

The court granted Mr. Sims’s request to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b). Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, the court must review the merits of a prisoner’s complaint and dismiss it if the allegation of poverty is untrue or if the action is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. Dismissal of a complaint, or any portion of a complaint, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted is provided for in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The court will apply the same standard under § 1915A as when addressing a motion under Rule 12(b)(6).

A complaint states no actionable claim when it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts consistent with his complaint that would entitle him to relief. Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984), citing Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Panaras v. Liquid Carbonic Indus. Corp., 74 F.3d 786, 791 (7th Cir.1996). When reviewing pro se complaints, the court must employ standards less stringent than if the complaint had been drafted by counsel. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). The court must accept the well-pleaded factual allegations as true, and “construe such allegations in favor of the plaintiff.” Sherwin Manor Nursing Ctr. v. McAuliffe, 37 F.3d 1216, 1219 (7th Cir.1994); cert. denied, 516 U.S. 862, 116 S.Ct. 172, 133 L.Ed.2d 113 (1995). Although ambiguities in the complaint should be interpreted in the plaintiffs favor, Canedy v. Boardman, 16 F.3d 183, 188 (7th Cir.1994), the court need not strain to find inferences favorable to the plaintiff which are not apparent on the face of the complaint, Coates v. Illinois State Bd. of Educ., 559 F.2d 445, 447 (7th Cir.1977), or *956 ignore factual allegations set forth in the complaint that undermine the plaintiffs claim. City Nat’l Bank of Florida v. Checkers, Simon & Rosner, 32 F.3d 277, 281 (7th Cir.1994).

Mr. Sims is committed to the Indiana Department of Correction, serving a twenty-seven year sentence for -breaking into the home of his estranged wife and sexually assaulting her at the point of a heroin-filled syringe and a pistol. Mr. Sims asserts that his conviction was obtained as a result of perjured testimony and tampered evidence. Mr. Sims contends that he is actually innocent of the charges against him, and states that he was at a studio taping his television show at the time the alleged assault on his wife was supposed to have occurred.

Mr. Sims further asserts that after improperly obtaining his conviction, some of the defendants obstructed his efforts to obtain judicial review of his conviction in the state courts. According to the complaint, Mr. Sims filed a petition for post-conviction relief and St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Sanford Brook allegedly entered several orders adverse to Mr. Sims, even though he had recused himself from any participation in Mr. Sims’s criminal case and had no jurisdiction over the case. Mr. Sims, who states that he is an African-American, alleges that he has been the victim of a racially based conspiracy-

Mr. Sims seeks to invoke the court’s jurisdiction based on a variety of federal statutes and other sources. This court does not have jurisdiction over this case based on a United Nations subcommittee resolution, and the plaintiffs allegations do not appear to implicate 42 U.S.C. § 2000 et seq., which deals with public accommodations and employment. Jurisdiction is clear, however, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which provides that:

Every person who, under color or any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law....

Mr. Sims also asserts a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which provides that “(a)ll persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses and exactions of every kind, and to no other.” The elements of a § 1981 claim are: the plaintiff is a member of a racial minority; the defendant(s) intended to discriminate on the basis of race; and that discrimination concerned one or more of the activities enumerated in the statute. Mian v. Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp., 7 F.3d 1085 (2d Cir.1993). Mr. Sims’s allegation that he was maliciously prosecuted because of his race and his allegation that he was denied access to the courts in order to challenge his conviction, arguably state a claim upon which relief can be granted under § 1981. See generally Evans v. McKay, 869 F.2d 1341 (9th Cir.1989); Bouquett v. Clemmer, 626 F.Supp. 46 (S.D.Ohio 1985).

Mr. Sims also asserts a claim under Section 1985(3), which deals with racially motivated conspiracies to interfere with civil rights.

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

Related

Tillman v. Burge
813 F. Supp. 2d 946 (N.D. Illinois, 2011)
Sims v. Marnocha
159 F. Supp. 2d 1133 (N.D. Indiana, 2001)
Nowaczyk v. N.H. Supreme Court
D. New Hampshire, 1999

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 F. Supp. 2d 952, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19327, 1998 WL 856329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sims-v-kernan-innd-1998.