Martin v. James et al

Filing 15

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER by Judge Greg N. Stivers on 3/22/2017; The official-capacity claims against Defendants James, Causey, Strode and Joey are DISMISSED for failure to state a claim. Defendant Warren County Regional Jail is DISMISSED fro m this action. Clerk of Court DIRECTED to terminate Defendant Warren County Regional Jail as a party to this action. Court will enter a separate Scheduling Order to govern the continuing individual-capacity claims. cc: Plaintiff, pro se; Defendants (CDR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
BOWLING GREEN DIVISION
CHAD ALLEN MARTIN
v.

PLAINTIFF
CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:16-CV-P114-GNS

KIMBERLY JAMES et al.

DEFENDANTS

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff, Chad Allen Martin, has filed an amended complaint as directed by this Court’s
Memorandum Opinion and Order entered December 12, 2016. That amended complaint
identifies the guards who placed Plaintiff in cell H-7 despite being told by Plaintiff that being
moved to H-7 would be dangerous to Plaintiff.
In the amended complaint, Plaintiff states that in June 2016 he told guards Captain Joey
and Captain Kimberly James that he could not go to H-7 due to a conflict with another prisoner.
He states that they failed to give him a “P.C. sheet” to sign. He states that he was told by
Defendant James that Defendants Missi Causey and Jackie Strode cleared him to go to H-7 and
“no one listened to [his] plea for protection.” He states that after he was moved to H-7, he was
“jumped twice” resulting in a bloody nose, black eyes, injured jaw, and swollen face and hand.
The Court will allow the claim to go forward against Defendants Joey, James, Causey
and Strode in their individual capacities. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A and McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114
F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1997), overruled on other grounds by Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199 (2007).
However, the official-capacity claims against these Defendants must be dismissed. As
explained in this Court’s prior Memorandum Opinion and Order, if an action is brought against
an official of a governmental entity in his official capacity, the suit should be construed as
brought against the governmental entity. Will v. Mich. Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71

(1989). Therefore, in the case at bar, Plaintiff’s claims against Defendants, who are employees
of the Warren County Regional Jail, in their official capacities are actually brought against the
Warren County government. See Matthews v. Jones, 35 F.3d 1046, 1049 (6th Cir. 1994).
When a § 1983 claim is made against a municipality, like Warren County, in addition to a
analyzing whether the plaintiff’s harm was caused by a constitutional violation, the Court must
also consider whether the municipality is responsible for that violation. Collins v. City of Harker
Heights, Tex., 503 U.S. 115, 120 (1992). A municipality cannot be held responsible for a
constitutional deprivation unless there is a direct causal link between a municipal policy or
custom and the alleged constitutional deprivation. Monell v. New York City Dep’t of Soc. Servs.,
436 U.S. 658, 691 (1978); Deaton v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio, 989 F.2d 885, 889 (6th Cir. 1993).
Here, the incident alleged appears to be a one-time occurrence, which does not support a
finding that the municipality was responsible for the alleged wrongdoing. Thomas v. City of
Chattanooga, 398 F.3d 426, 432 (6th Cir. 2005) (holding a court cannot “infer a municipal-wide
policy based solely on one instance of potential misconduct”); Fox v. Van Oosterum, 176 F.3d
342, 348 (6th Cir. 1999) (“No evidence indicates that this was anything more than a one-time,
isolated event for which the county is not responsible.”). Because nothing indicates that this was
other than an isolated incident, the Court will dismiss the official-capacity claims against these
Defendants for failure to state a claim.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the official capacity-claims against Defendants
James, Causey, Strode and Joey are DISMSSED for failure to state a claim pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 1915A(B)(1).
Because all of the official-capacity claims have been dismissed,

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IT IS ORDERED that Defendant Warren County Regional Jail is DISMISSED from
this action.
The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to terminate Defendant Warren County Regional Jail
as a party to this action.
The Court will enter a separate Scheduling Order to govern the continuing individualcapacity claims.
Date:

March 22, 2017

Greg N. Stivers, Judge
United States District Court

cc:

Plaintiff, pro se
Defendants
4416.009

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