Guillory v. Ellis et al

Filing 216

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER granting 202 Motion for Summary Judgment; adopting Report and Recommendations re 210 Report and Recommendations: The Court hereby ORDERS that Magistrate Judge Baxter's Report-Recommendation is ADOPTED in its e ntirety for the reasons stated therein; and the Court further ORDERS that Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED; and the Court further ORDERS that the Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment in Defendants' favor and close this case. Signed by U.S. District Judge Mae A. D'Agostino on 8/29/14. [Copy mailed to pro se plaintiff] (ban)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
____________________________________________
PATRICK GUILLORY,
Plaintiff,

vs.

9:11-CV-600
(MAD/ATB)

KURT ELLIS, et al,
Defendants.
____________________________________________
APPEARANCES:

OF COUNSEL:

PATRICK GUILLORY
09-B-0714
Clinton Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 2002
Dannemora, New York 12929
Plaintiff pro se
OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK
STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL
The Capitol
Albany, New York 12224
Attorney for Defendants

GREGORY J. RODRIGUEZ, AAG

Mae A. D'Agostino, U.S. District Judge:
MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
Plaintiff, an inmate currently in the custody of the New York State Department of
Corrections and Community Supervision ("DOCCS"), commenced this civil rights action,
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, on May 31, 2011. See Dkt. No. 1. The remaining claims are that
Defendants violated Plaintiff's constitutional rights under the First Amendment's Free Exercise

Clause, as well as his rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person's Act
("RLUIPA"), and subsequently retaliated against him for attempting to exercise these rights by
destroying Plaintiff's mail and thus denying him access to the courts. See Dkt. Nos. 1, 210.
In a very thorough Report-Recommendation dated July 23, 2014, Magistrate Judge Baxter
recommended that the Court grant Defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismiss
Plaintiff's complaint in its entirety. See Dkt. No. 210. Specifically, Magistrate Judge Baxter first
found that in relation to the December 7, 2010 incident, Defendant Ready acted within the bounds
of his employment and according to the documentation before him and thus, his inadvertent
denial that caused Plaintiff to miss one religious service did not substantially burden Plaintiff's
free exercise of his religion. See id. at 14. With regards to the March 20, 2011 incident,
Magistrate Judge Baxter found that Defendant Ellis was not responsible for the shortened
duration of the Purim celebration, and that while the delay may have been an inconvenience,
Plaintiff was still able to participate in the service, thus satisfying the requirements of the First
Amendment and RLUIPA. See id. at 19–20. Magistrate Judge Baxter also found that neither
Defendant Ellis, nor Defendant Ready engaged in the conduct mentioned above as a way to
retaliate against Plaintiff for any grievances that he had previously filed either against them or any
other correctional officer. See id. at 39–40. Moreover, Magistrate Judge Baxter found that
Defendant Kupiec did not interfere with Plaintiff's mail as a means to either retaliate against him
or to deny him access to the courts. See id. 35–36. Finally, Magistrate Judge Baxter found that
Plaintiff failed to establish that he suffered an adverse action as a result of Defendant Kupiec's
alleged conduct. On August 4, 2014, the Court received objections to the ReportRecommendation from Plaintiff. See Dkt. No. 211.

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II. DISCUSSION
A.

Plaintiff's objections
In his objection to Magistrate Judge Baxter's Report-Recommendation, Plaintiff states that

he objects to the Report in its entirety. See id. Plaintiff relays his astonishment at Magistrate
Judge Baxter's choice to "excuse Def[endant] Kupiec's conduct" and at his finding that Plaintiff's
position is "unfounded." See id. Plaintiff further objects to Magistrate Judge Baxter's Report on
the grounds that he looked outside the pleadings and "only to the Defendants Affidavits" when
making his determination to grant Defendants' motion for summary judgment. See id.

B.

Standard of review
A court may grant a motion for summary judgment only if it determines that there is no

genuine issue of material fact to be tried and that the facts as to which there is no such issue
warrant judgment for the movant as a matter of law. See Chambers v. TRM Copy Ctrs. Corp., 43
F.3d 29, 36 (2d Cir. 1994) (citations omitted). When analyzing a summary judgment motion, the
court "cannot try issues of fact; it can only determine whether there are issues to be tried." Id. at
36-37 (quotation and other citation omitted). Moreover, it is well-settled that a party opposing a
motion for summary judgment may not simply rely on the assertions in its pleadings. See Celotex
Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324 (1986) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c) (e)).
In assessing the record to determine whether any such issues of material fact exist, the
court is required to resolve all ambiguities and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the
nonmoving party. See Chambers, 43 F.3d at 36 (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S.
242, 255, 106 S. Ct. 2502, 2513-14, 91 L. Ed. 2d 202 (1986)) (other citations omitted). Where
the non-movant either does not respond to the motion or fails to dispute the movant's statement of
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material facts, the court may not rely solely on the moving party's Rule 56.1 statement; rather the
court must be satisfied that the citations to evidence in the record support the movant's assertions.
See Giannullo v. City of N.Y., 322 F.3d 139, 143 n.5 (2d Cir. 2003) (holding that not verifying in
the record the assertions in the motion for summary judgment "would derogate the truth-finding
functions of the judicial process by substituting convenience for facts").
"[I]n a pro se case, the court must view the submissions by a more lenient standard than
that accorded to 'formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.'" Govan v. Campbell, 289 F. Supp. 2d 289,
295 (N.D.N.Y. 2007) (quoting Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S. Ct. 594, 30 L. Ed. 2d
652 (1972)) (other citations omitted). The Second Circuit has opined that the court is obligated to
"make reasonable allowances to protect pro se litigants" from inadvertently forfeiting legal rights
merely because they lack a legal education. Govan v. Campbell, 289 F. Supp. 2d 289, 295
(N.D.N.Y. 2007) (quoting Traguth v. Zuck, 710 F.2d 90, 95 (2d Cir. 1983)). "However, this does
not mean that a pro se litigant is excused from following the procedural requirements of
summary judgment. See id. at 295 (citing Showers v. Eastmond, 00 CIV. 3725, 2001 WL 527484,
*1 (S.D.N.Y. May 16, 2001)). Specifically, "a pro se party's 'bald assertion,' completely
unsupported by evidence, is not sufficient to overcome a motion for summary judgment." Lee v.
Coughlin, 902 F. Supp. 424, 429 (S.D.N.Y. 1995) (citing Cary v. Crescenzi, 923 F.2d 18, 21 (2d
Cir. 1991)).
When a party files specific objections to a magistrate judge's report-recommendation, the
district court makes a "de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified proposed
findings or recommendations to which objection is made." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). However,
when a party files "[g]eneral or conclusory objections or objections which merely recite the same
arguments [that he presented] to the magistrate judge," the court reviews those recommendations
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for clear error. O'Diah v. Mawhir, No. 9:08-CV-322, 2011 WL 933846, *1 (N.D.N.Y. Mar. 16,
2011) (citations and footnote omitted). After the appropriate review, "the court may accept,
reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendation made by the magistrate
judge." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1).

C.

Application
In the present matter, although Plaintiff has filed objections to Magistrate Judge Baxter's

Report-Recommendation, the objections that are given are mostly conclusory and "merely recite
the same arguments" that were originally presented to Magistrate Judge Baxter. See O'Diah,
2011 WL 933846, at *1; see generally Dkt. No. 211. Moreover, some of the objections that
Plaintiff makes are of an accusatory nature, in that he charges Magistrate Judge Baxter with
excusing the behavior of Defendant Kupiec based on her race, and supporting "the Defendants
[r]eckless lies." See Dkt. No. 211 at 1 ("I'm sure if Kupiec was black you would have treated her
like all of the blacks who appear before you who are 'ignorant of the law'"). Nearly all of
Plaintiff's "objections" lack the specificity needed to make a de novo determination. In light of
his pro se status, however, the Court will address the arguments raised.
Plaintiff argues that Magistrate Judge Baxter improperly considered disputed facts in
rendering his recommendation. See Dkt. No. 211 at 3. Having reviewed the ReportRecommendation, the Court finds that Magistrate Judge Baxter correctly relied only on
undisputed facts in rendering his determination or construed any disputed facts in Plaintiff's favor
in finding that Plaintiff's allegations were insufficient as a matter of law to support his claims.
See, e.g., Dkt. No. 210 at 39 (finding that "neither the action allegedly taken by defendant Ready,
nor the action allegedly taken by defendant Ellis rises to the level of an 'adverse action' under the
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case law"). Further, contrary to Plaintiff's allegations, Defendants' motion for summary judgment
was properly supported by the record, including affidavits and deposition transcripts.
Finally, contrary to Plaintiff's assertions, Magistrate Judge Baxter correctly determined
that Defendant Boll was not personally involved in the alleged conduct. The letter to which
Plaintiff refers clearly establishes that Defendant Boll did not conduct an investigation into the
underlying subject of Plaintiff's grievance, but was merely conducting an "investigation" into the
status of Plaintiff's grievance and a reminder that the "Inmate Grievance Program was instituted
to handle issues such as yours." Dkt. No. 202-6 at Exhibit "A." Defendant Boll then stated that
"[t]he CORC will conduct a thorough investigation to assure that your rights are observed and
your issues are addressed. If any corrective action is needed, you will be notified. As your
appeal to the CORC is pending, it is recommended that you await the decision." Id. Magistrate
Judge Baxter correctly determined that Defendant Boll's response to Plaintiff was insufficient to
establish her personal involvement. See Rivera v. Fischer, 655 F. Supp. 2d 235, 238 (W.D.N.Y.
2009).
The Court has thoroughly reviewed the parties' submissions and Magistrate Judge Baxter's
comprehensive Report-Recommendation and finds that Magistrate Judge Baxter correctly
recommended that the Court grant Defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismiss this
case.

III. CONCLUSION
After carefully reviewing Magistrate Judge Baxter's Report-Recommendation, the parties'
submissions and the applicable law, and for the reasons stated herein, the Court hereby

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ORDERS that Magistrate Judge Baxter's Report-Recommendation (Dkt. No. 210) is
ADOPTED in its entirety for the reasons stated therein; and the Court further
ORDERS that Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Dkt. No. 202) is GRANTED;
and the Court further
ORDERS that the Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment in Defendants' favor and close
this case; and the Court further
ORDERS that the Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this Memorandum-Decision
and Order on all parties in accordance with the Local Rules.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: August 29, 2014
Albany, New York

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