Smith v. Taylor

503 F. Supp. 2d 538, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95586, 2006 WL 4719392
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedMay 31, 2006
Docket9:00-cv-01164
StatusPublished

This text of 503 F. Supp. 2d 538 (Smith v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Taylor, 503 F. Supp. 2d 538, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95586, 2006 WL 4719392 (N.D.N.Y. 2006).

Opinion

*540 MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER 1

KAHN, District Judge.

I. Background

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit remanded this matter pursuant to a Mandate issued September 21, 2005 (Dkt. No. 65), “for further consideration” and “for a more detailed statement of the district court’s reasoning” concerning Plaintiff Jeff Smith’s (“Plaintiff’) claim that Defendant Justin A. Taylor, et at, (“Defendants”) violated Plaintiff prisoner’s limited constitutional right to bodily privacy, see Covino v. Patrissi 967 F.2d 73, 78 (2d Cir.1992), and Department of Corrections policy, when four guards witnessed a strip frisk/search of Plaintiff, and allegedly applied physical force during the search. 2

For discussion of the facts and prior procedural history of this case, see the Reporb-Recommendation of the Honorable David E. Peebles, United States Magistrate Judge, dated May 22, 2003 (Dkt. No. 57), which was approved and adopted in its entirety by a Decision and Order of this Court dated June 23, 2003 (Dkt. No. 59), and with which familiarity will be presumed.

Defendants have submitted copies of the relevant New York State Department of Correctional Services (“DOCS”) Directives and Policies (Dkt. No. 67), as ordered by this Court (Dkt. No. 66), and the parties have filed supplemental papers briefing the relevant issues (see Dkt. Nos. 71 & 75). A further discussion of Plaintiffs claims concerning violation of his limited constitutional right to bodily privacy, supplementing the prior written opinions of Judge Peebles and this Court, now follows. 3

II. Discussion

A. Standard of Law — Summary Judgment

As this Memorandum-Decision and Order is a continuation of the consideration of the summary judgment motions, the Court remains mindful of the relevant standards of law. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 provides that summary judgment is proper when “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In applying this standard, courts must “ ‘resolve all ambiguities, and credit all factual infer- *541 enees that could rationally be drawn, in favor of the party opposing summary judgment.’ ” Brown v. Henderson, 257 F.3d 246, 251 (2d Cir.2001) (quoting Cifra v. Gen. Elec. Co., 252 F.3d 205, 216 (2d Cir.2001)).

The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating that there is no genuine issue of material fact with respect to any of the essential elements of the elaim(s) of the non-moving party. See Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 250 n. 4, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Once the moving party meets its initial burden by demonstrating that no material fact exists for trial, the nonmov-ant “must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (citations omitted). The nonmovant “must come forth with evidence sufficient to allow a reasonable jury to find in her favor.” Brown, 257 F.3d at 251 (citation omitted). Bald assertions or conjecture unsupported by evidence are insufficient to overcome a motion for summary judgment. Carey v. Crescenzi, 923 F.2d 18, 21 (2d Cir.1991); W. World Ins. Co. v. Stack Oil, Inc., 922 F.2d 118, 121 (2d Cir.1990).

Although “in actions in which one of the parties appears pro se, this Court is faced with the additional responsibility of granting significant liberality in how pro se pleadings are construed.... Nevertheless, proceeding pro se does not otherwise relieve a litigant from the usual requirements of summary judgment.” Aziz Zarif Shabazz v. Pico, 994 F.Supp. 460, 467 (S.D.N.Y.1998) (Sotomayor, D.J.) (citations omitted).

B. Standard of Law — Review of Strip Frisk/Search and Prison Regulations

The Court in Covino articulated the standard that this Court will consider:

The Supreme Court has observed: “The test of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application. In each case it requires a balancing of the need for the particular search against the invasion of personal rights that the search entails. Courts must consider the scope of the particular intrusion, the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating it, and the place in which it is conducted.”... Our method of inquiry is first to determine whether [Plaintiff] has exhibited a subjective expectation of privacy and whether society is prepared to recognize that expectation of privacy as reasonable .... If so, we proceed to a second inquiry in which we identify the interests asserted by the state actors for the searches and assess whether, in this particular context, these asserted interests, when balanced against the inmate’s privacy expectations, sufficiently promote legitimate governmental interests in the absence of a warrant or some level of individualized suspicion justifying the search.

Covino, 967 F.2d at 77-78 (citing and quoting, inter alia, Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979); California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207, 211, 106 S.Ct. 1809, 90 L.Ed.2d 210 (1986)).

Furthermore, in discussing the case of Turner v. Safley,

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Related

Mapp v. Ohio
367 U.S. 643 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Bell v. Wolfish
441 U.S. 520 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Harlow v. Fitzgerald
457 U.S. 800 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Goldman v. Weinberger
475 U.S. 503 (Supreme Court, 1986)
California v. Ciraolo
476 U.S. 207 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Turner v. Safley
482 U.S. 78 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Anderson v. Creighton
483 U.S. 635 (Supreme Court, 1987)
County of Sacramento v. Lewis
523 U.S. 833 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Wilson v. Layne
526 U.S. 603 (Supreme Court, 1999)
Western World Insurance Company v. Stack Oil, Inc.
922 F.2d 118 (Second Circuit, 1990)
Aziz Zarif Shabazz v. Pico
994 F. Supp. 460 (S.D. New York, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
503 F. Supp. 2d 538, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95586, 2006 WL 4719392, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-taylor-nynd-2006.