Brown v. Saline County Jail et al
Filing
93
ORDER ENTERED: Plaintiff's motion 83 for leave to file a third amended complaint is denied. Signed by Senior District Judge Sam A. Crow on 5/18/2011.Mailed to pro se party Kendall Trent Brown by regular mail.) (smnd)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS
KENDALL TRENT BROWN,
Plaintiff,
CIVIL ACTION
No. 07-3062-SAC
vs.
SALINE COUNTY JAIL, et al.,
Defendants.
ORDER
Plaintiff
relief
under
proceeds
42
U.S.C.
pro
§
se
and
1983
on
in
forma
pauperis
allegations
related
seeking
to
the
handling of his mail while he was confined in the Saline County
jail.
Before the court is plaintiff’s motion for leave to file a
third
amended
complaint.
Having
reviewed
the
record
which
includes defendants’ objection to plaintiff’s request, the court
denies plaintiff’s motion.
In the complaint as first amended, plaintiff named Saline
County
Sheriff
Glen
Kochanowshi
Officer Nalls as defendants.1
and
Saline
County
Corrections
The court dismissed the amended
complaint as stating no claim for relief against either defendant.
1
The Saline County Jail, named as a defendant in the original
complaint, was not named as a defendant in plaintiff’s first
amended complaint.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the
matter, finding further consideration was required on plaintiff’s
allegations
that
defendants’
handling
of
his
mail
violated
plaintiff’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech by failing
to process plaintiff’s outgoing mail, by monitoring plaintiff’s
mail as a disciplinary action, by not allowing plaintiff to take
his mail with him when he was sent to Larned State Hospital for
evaluation,
and
by
charging
plaintiff
for
mail
that
was
not
processed.
Plaintiff thereafter amended his complaint a second time to
name four additional defendants as participating in the alleged
mishandling
of
his
mail.
Added
as
defendants
in
the
second
amended complaint were Captain Augustine, Program Director Tina
Miller,
Pod
Officer
Main,
and
Pod
Officer
Price.
The
court
directed the clerk’s office to issue summons for all defendants,
with service by the United States Marshal Service.
Before the court is plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend his
complaint a third time.
Having reviewed the record, the court
denies this request.
Because defendants object to plaintiff’s proposed amendment
of the complaint, plaintiff must obtain leave of the court to
amend the complaint a third time.
Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a)(2).
The
court is to freely grant leave to amend when justice so requires.
Id.
2
The allegations in plaintiff’s original complaint, filed in
March 2007 within the two year statute of limitations for seeking
relief
§
1983,2
concern
mail
during
his
under
plaintiff’s
the
alleged
confinement
in
Detention Center in and around November 2006.
the
mishandling
Saline
of
County
Plaintiff’s second
amended complaint, filed in April 2010, is considered timely filed
because
plaintiff’s
allegations
in
that
amended
complaint
essentially center on the same misconduct regarding the handling
of his mail, and thus arguably relate back to the filing date of
plaintiff’s original complaint.
See Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c)(1)(B) (“An
amendment to a pleading relates back to the date of the original
pleading when ... the amendment asserts a claim or defense that
arose out of the conduct, transaction or occurrence set out - or
attempted to be set out - in the original pleading[.]”).
In his proposed third amended complaint, plaintiff reasserts
claims concerning the mishandling of his mail,3 but expands his
allegations to assert new and additional claims of constitutional
violations in the conditions of his confinement while at the
2
See Baker v. Board of Regents of State of Kan., 991 F.2d 628,
630-31 (10th Cir.1993)(two-year statute of limitations in K.S.A. 60513 applies to civil rights actions brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §
1983).
3
To the extent plaintiff continues to allege that defendants’
handling of his mail impermissibly interfered with his right of
access to the courts, these allegations are not properly before the
court as the Tenth Circuit upheld this court’s dismissal of such
claims.
3
Saline County facility.4
claim
or
defense
Because these new claims do not assert a
arising
from
the
alleged
mishandling
of
plaintiff’s mail, and are not centered on the same core operative
facts as set forth in the original complaint, they do not relate
back to the filing date of that complaint.
Accordingly, plaintiff’s new allegations of constitutional
deprivation occurring during his confinement in the Saline County
Jail are not raised within the two year limitation period for
seeking relief on such claims.
Amendment of the complaint to now
raise these time barred claims thus would be futile, and would not
serve the interests of justice.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that plaintiff’s motion for leave to
file a third amended complaint (Doc. 83) is denied.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED:
This 18th day of May 2011 at Topeka, Kansas.
s/ Sam A. Crow
SAM A. CROW
U.S. Senior District Judge
4
Plaintiff’s proposed third amended complaint seeks to add new
claims under the Sixth and Eighth Amendments, including allegations
of retaliation and of physical and verbal threats against plaintiff,
allowing or encouraging other prisoners to abuse and harass
plaintiff, malicious prosecution of plaintiff, and a conspiracy to
violate plaintiff’s rights.
4
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