MENDEZ v. JACKSON COUNTY JAIL et al

Filing 7

ENTRY - Claims against the unknown jail officials are dismissed. Claims against the Jackson County Jail are dismissed as legally insufficient. No final judgment shall issue at this time as to the claims dismissed in this Entry. The clerk is des ignated to issue process on the defendants Marc A. Lahrman and Charlie Murphy in the manner specified by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d)(1). Process shall consist of the complaint, applicable forms and this Entry. ***SEE ENTRY***. Signed by Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson on 2/19/2013. (copy to Plaintiff via US Mail) (JKS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
JACOB MENDEZ,

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Plaintiff,

vs.

JACKSON COUNTY JAIL, et al.,
Defendants.

No. 1:12-cv-001863-JMS-MJD

Entry Dismissing Insufficient Claims
and Directing Further Proceedings
I.
Jacob Mendez was attacked while a pretrial detainee at the Jackson County
Jail. Mendez, now a prisoner elsewhere, filed this civil action claiming that the
defendants failed to protect him from attack by another inmate and denied or
delayed medical care following the attack in violation of his Fourteenth Amendment
rights.1 His claims are brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The complaint is subject to the screening requirement of 28 U.S.C. §
1915A(b). Pursuant to this statute, "[a] complaint is subject to dismissal for failure
to state a claim if the allegations, taken as true, show that plaintiff is not entitled to
relief." Jones v. Bock, 127 S. Ct. 910, 921 (2007). Consistent with this statute
certain claims must be dismissed.
•

First, claims against the unknown jail officials are dismissed
because Ait is pointless to include [an] anonymous defendant[ ] in
federal court; this type of placeholder does not open the door to relation
back under Fed.R.Civ.P. 15, nor can it otherwise help the plaintiff.@
Wudtke v. Davel, 128 F.3d 1057, 1060 (7th Cir. 1997) (internal
citations omitted).

Because Mendez was a pretrial detainee at the time of the attack, it is the due process clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment rather than the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and
unusual punishment which is the source of the right implicated in the complaint. Estate of Miller, ex
rel. Bertram v. Tobiasz, 680 F.3d 984, 989 (7th Cir. 2012) (citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535–
37 (1979)).
1

•

Second, claims against the Jackson County Jail are dismissed as
legally insufficient because the Jail is not a Aperson@ subject to suit
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. ' 1983.

No final judgment shall issue at this time as to the claims dismissed in this Entry.
II.
The clerk is designated to issue process on the defendants Marc A. Lahrman
and Charlie Murphy in the manner specified by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d)(1). Process shall
consist of the complaint, applicable forms and this Entry.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

02/19/2013
Date: __________________
_______________________________

Distribution:

Hon. Jane Magnus-Stinson, Judge
United States District Court
Southern District of Indiana

Marc A. Lahrman, Jackson County Sheriff
150 E. State Road 250
Brownstown, IN 47220
Charlie Murphy, Jackson County Jail Commander
150 E. State Road 250
Brownstown, IN 47220
JACOB MENDEZ
151142
PLAINFIELD CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Inmate Mail/Parcels
727 MOON ROAD
PLAINFIELD, IN 46168