Williams v. Champagne

13 F. Supp. 3d 624, 2014 WL 1365940, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47753
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedApril 6, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 11-160
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 13 F. Supp. 3d 624 (Williams v. Champagne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Champagne, 13 F. Supp. 3d 624, 2014 WL 1365940, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47753 (E.D. La. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER & REASONS

SUSIE MORGAN, District Judge.

The Court has pending before it Defendants’ motion for summary judgment and Plaintiff’s opposition.1 The Court has reviewed the motions, the exhibits, and the applicable law, and now enters this Order and Reasons.

[628]*628BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Damon Floyd Williams was incarcerated from 2007 to 2011 at Nelson Coleman Correctional Center in Saint Charles Parish, Louisiana. This case arises out of (1) a grooming policy which he contends substantially burdened his religious practices, and (2) a specific incident in which he contends he was subjected to unconstitutional excessive force.

Williams practices the Rastafarian religion, one tenet of which is that men should grow their hair long in dreadlocks. See Harris v. Chapman, 97 F.3d 499, 502 (11th Cir.1996). During his detention at Nelson Coleman, Williams had shoulder-length dreadlocks. The Nelson Coleman Inmate Handbook prohibited dreadlocks and required men’s hair to be no more than two inches long:

Inmates are not permitted to wear extensions, braids, plaints [sic], weaves, wigs, dreadlocks, toupees, emblems/designs or any hair styles that are not standard or the norm to prevent the concealment of contraband and ensure the hygiene, sanitation, and personal safety for staff and inmate’s [sic]....
Inmate’s [sic] hair styles are restricted to standard types ... [and] [a]ll inmates head hair will be cut to a length of two (2) inches from the skull in a neatly tapered conforming shape_ All female inmates head hair will be cut to a length not to exceed below the shoulder.

R. Doc. 84-4 at 7-8 (“the Hair Policy”). Williams was not forced to cut his hair or remove his dreadlocks pursuant to this policy. He was, however, confined to 23-hour-a-day lockdown. Williams asserts that he was “told that Rastafarianism is not a religion” and that he could not leave lockdown until he cut his hair.2

Williams’ excessive force claims arise out of the events of November 18, 2010. According to Williams, as he left the shower to return to his cell Deputy Cornwell confronted him about not wearing a shirt and “braced [him] up.” After returning to his cell, Williams states that Deputy Corn-well said to him, over an intercom, that Cornwell “wished [Williams] had made a wrong move.” Williams then used the intercom to ask to speak to Cornwell’s supervisor.3

At this point, Williams contends that Cornwell sought and received authorization to have Williams confined in a restraint chair known as the “suicide chair.”4 At any rate, Deputy Cornwell and Deputy Acevedo extracted Williams from his cell. Williams contends, and neither Cornwell or Acevedo disputes, that Williams complied during the cell extraction.5

The factual accounts diverge after that. According to Williams, once extracted from the cell Deputies Cornwell and Acevedo pushed him and ripped out some of his dreadlocks. Then, in a hallway on the way to the restraint chair, Williams claims that his head was slammed into a wall and [629]*629more dreadlocks were ripped out. Finally, once Williams was placed in the restraint chair, he asserts that (1) the handcuffs were so tight as to cause pain, (2) Deputy Acevedo pulled on the handcuffs to cause more pain, (3) in response he spit at Deputy Acevedo, and (4) Deputy Acevedo then punched him in the head.6 Williams presents testimony and photographic evidence of his injuries following these events, including a wound on his head where he contends dreadlocks were torn out, and “cuts, bruises, and swelling on both wrists.”7

According to Defendants, after leaving his cell (1) Williams was verbally abusive, (2) said “I’m gonna get me a lawsuit” and then attempted to jump off the top of a set of stairs, (3) lost a dreadlock to an officer trying to keep him from jumping, and (4) ran his own head into walls.8 Acevedo concedes that he punched Williams in the head after Williams spit at him.9

Williams pursued the appropriate administrative remedies and then filed this lawsuit, alleging various federal constitutional claims pursuant to § 1983 claims as well state-law tort claims. He named as Defendants St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne, Warden Roland La-Dreyt, Assistant Warden Alvin Robertson, and Deputies Daniel Levet, Jorge Acevedo, and John Cornwell.

STANDARD OF LAW

Summary judgment is appropriate only “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56; see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

If the dispositive issue is one on which the moving party will bear the burden of proof at trial, the moving party “must come forward with evidence which would ‘entitle it to a directed verdict if the evidence went uncontroverted at trial.’ ” Int’l Shortstop, Inc. v. Rally’s, Inc., 939 F.2d 1257, 1263-64 (5th Cir.1991). If the moving party fails to carry this burden, the motion must be denied. If the moving party successfully carries this burden, the burden then shifts to the non-moving party to show that a genuine issue of material fact exists. Id. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Once the burden has shifted, the non-moving party must direct the Court’s attention to something in the pleadings or other evidence in the record that sets forth specific facts sufficient to establish that a genuine issue of material fact does indeed exist. Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

If the dispositive issue is one on which the non-moving party will bear the burden of proof at trial, however, the moving party may satisfy its burden by simply pointing out that the evidence in the record is insufficient with respect to an essential element of the non-moving party’s claim. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The nonmoving party must then respond, either by “calling the Court’s attention to supporting evidence already in the record that was overlooked or ignored by the moving party” or by coming forward with additional evidence. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 332-33 & 333 n. 3, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

“An issue is material if its resolution could affect the outcome of the action.” [630]*630DIRECTV Inc. v. Robson, 420 F.3d 532, 536 (5th Cir.2005). When assessing whether a material factual dispute exists, the Court considers “all of the evidence in the record but refrains from making credibility determinations or weighing the evidence.” Delta & Pine Land Co. v. Nationwide Agribusiness Ins. Co., 530 F.3d 395, 398 (5th Cir.2008); see also Reeves v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 F. Supp. 3d 624, 2014 WL 1365940, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-champagne-laed-2014.