Washington v. Chrans

769 F. Supp. 1045, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8966, 1991 WL 116289
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 27, 1991
DocketNo. 87-2489
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 769 F. Supp. 1045 (Washington v. Chrans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Washington v. Chrans, 769 F. Supp. 1045, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8966, 1991 WL 116289 (C.D. Ill. 1991).

Opinion

ORDER

BAKER, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff, Demann Washington, is a prisoner in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Originally, Mr. Washington brought this case pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that the defendants, correction officials, violated his constitutional rights in the course of disciplinary proceedings on October 22, 1987 which resulted in the plaintiff’s loss of good time credits.

On November 8, 1988, this court found that because the plaintiff sought restoration of good time credits as part of his relief, exhaustion of state remedies was required. Hanson v. Henkel, 791 F.2d 93 (7th Cir.1986). The court stayed the federal proceedings pending exhaustion. Pursuant to the order, the plaintiff filed a mandamus action in the Circuit Court of Livingston County. A final judgment was rendered by that court in favor of the defendants which was affirmed on appeal. This stay was continued until October 4, 1990 when the court was satisfied that the plaintiff had exhausted his state remedies.

Discussion

The novel issue before the court is whether the state mandamus action bars the plaintiff’s federal cause of action. The answer to this question depends on how the court construes the plaintiff’s claims. Although the plaintiff’s complaint was brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, this court determined that because the plaintiff raised constitutional issues relating to duration of his confinement, habeas requirements, including exhaustion applied. Hanson v. Heckel, 791 F.2d 93 (7th Cir.1986). The plaintiff was sent back to state court to exhaust his state remedies. The preclusive effect of this state court action is what is at issue here.

The plaintiff has asked this court to construe his claim as a habeas claim but has also requested that this court allow him to proceed with his § 1983 claim for damages. The defendants argue that if this court treats the complaint as a § 1983 action, then all issues previously decided in the state court bar the instant action. Thus, the defendants argue that for damages purposes, there are only two possible remaining issues: (1) the plaintiff’s claim that there were no minority members on the adjustment committee; and (2) the plaintiff’s claim about conditions during lockdown.

On the other hand, the defendants argue that if the court construes this as a federal habeas action, then all the claims can be re-litigated.

The first issue the court must address is the preclusive effect of the state court mandamus action on the plaintiff’s § 1983 claims.

Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel

As required by the Constitution and the full faith and credit statute, U.S. Const. Art. IV, § 1; 28 U.S.C. § 1738, federal courts must give state court final judgments the same preclusive effect that those judgments would be given in the courts of the state where the judgment was rendered. 28 U.S.C. § 1738; See also Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 S.Ct. 411, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). The practical effect of § 1738 is to require federal courts to look to the rendering state’s preclusion rules when deciding what preclusive effect to give a prior state court judgment. Id.

Under Illinois law, res judicata bars re-litigation by the same parties of the issues that were raised or could have been raised, in prior actions, upon which a court of competent jurisdiction has rendered final judgment. LaSalle Nat’l Bank of Chicago [1048]*1048v. County of DuPage, 856 F.2d 925 (7th Cir.1988).

Here, while it appears that the parties in the state action and the federal action are the same, the plaintiff names different defendants in each action.1 Because the court is unclear whether the defendants are exactly the same, it will not decide the case on res judicata grounds but will instead proceed to the doctrine of collateral estoppel.

The Seventh Circuit has recently discussed Illinois’ general principles of collateral estoppel. In Farmer v. Lane, 864 F.2d 473, (7th Cir.1988), the court stated:

In general, collateral estoppel precludes re-litigation of issues in a subsequent proceeding when: (1) the party against whom the estoppel is asserted was a party to the prior adjudication, (2) the issues which form the basis of the estoppel were actually decided on the merits in the prior suit, (3) the resolution of the particular issues was necessary to the court’s judgment, and (4) those issues were identical to issues raised in the subsequent suit.

Id. at 477 (citations omitted). For collateral estoppel to apply, the issues in the current case must have been raised and decided in an earlier action and the issues must be the same. Id.

The due process clause also imposes an “independent obligation on the federal court that applies 28 U.S.C. § 1738 to ensure that the plaintiff has had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the claims sought to be barred in the federal action.” Charles Koen & Associates v. City of Cairo, 909 F.2d 992, 1000 (7th Cir.1990) (citing Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U.S. 461, 480-481, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 1896-1897, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982).

To apply the principles of collateral estoppel, a thorough examination of the state proceeding is necessary.

Plaintiffs § 1983 Claims

In the plaintiff’s state mandamus action, the circuit court addressed whether one inmate disciplinary report2 which charged the plaintiff with violating various departmental regulations including assault, gang activity and conspiracy to commit murder violated the plaintiff’s procedural due process rights and the department’s own regulations.

The plaintiff’s first claim was that he was unable to marshal facts and prepare his own defense3 because the report failed to notify him of the dates and times of the alleged meetings and of any statements made by him at those meetings. The state court, applying federal law, found that the defendants met the minimum due process procedures required by the United States Supreme Court in Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 564, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2978-2979, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974). Washington v. Lane, (4th Dist.1989) at 3 [183 Ill.App. 1116, 145 Ill.Dec. 409, 556 N.E.2d 1311 (table)].

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

Related

Barry Ball v. Greg Grams
337 F. App'x 566 (Seventh Circuit, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
769 F. Supp. 1045, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8966, 1991 WL 116289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-v-chrans-ilcd-1991.