BEALE v. WETZEL et al

Filing 161

ORDER adopting Report and Recommendations 157 . Signed by Judge Barbara Rothstein on 9/27/17. (hr)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 THOMAS BEALE, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) ) MAXINE OVERTONE, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ____________________________________) CA. NO. 13-15 Erie 15 ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 16 17 The Court, having reviewed Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. No. 122], 18 Plaintiff’s Opposition thereto [Dkt. No. 141], the Report and Recommendation of the Honorable 19 Susan P. Baxter, United States Magistrate Judge [Dkt. No. 157], Plaintiff’s Objections thereto 20 [Dkt. No. 158], the relevant legal authorities, and the balance of the record, HEREBY finds and 21 rules as follows: 22 (1) Plaintiff Thomas Beale is an inmate in the custody of the Pennsylvania Department 23 of Corrections (“DOC”) and currently resides at State Correctional Institution at 24 Albion (“SCI-Albion”). 25 (2) Following the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s passage of the Clean Indoor Air 1 Act in 2008, the DOC banned all indoor smoking at any DOC facility, including 1 SCI-Albion. Nevertheless, the parties agree that indoor smoking is common at SCI- 2 Albion. 3 4 (3) 5 Throughout his time at SCI-Albion, Plaintiff has repeatedly complained about the presence of environmental tobacco smoke (“ETS”) at the facility. Plaintiff, who is 6 allergic to cigarette smoke, has complained of shortness of breath, wheezing, 7 coughing, and other asthmatic symptoms. He has also experienced occasional 8 incidents of syncope, during which he loses consciousness. Plaintiff submitted 9 10 several formal grievances through the prison grievance system concerning his 11 allegations of excessive ETS exposure and the lack of the enforcement of the 12 prison’s anti-smoking policy. 13 (4) 14 Plaintiff alleges that shortly after he filed the grievances, a number of incidents occurred that he contends were done in retaliation for his filing the grievances. 15 (5) Plaintiff initiated this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against a number of DOC 16 officials and officers, asserting an Eighth Amendment claim based on Plaintiff’s 17 18 “involuntary exposure to [ETS], inadequate prison conditions, inadequate medical 19 treatment, official oppression, failure to supervise and failure to train” and a First 20 Amendment retaliation claim based on Defendants allegedly “withholding 21 outgoing mail, sexual assault, falsely judging in sanction of an Informal Resolution 22 Process, damage to private property, confiscation of legal material, failing to 23 supervise and failure to train.” Dkt. No. 64 at ¶¶ 1, 284-291. 24 25 (6) Defendants moved to dismiss Plaintiff’s lawsuit, alleging among other arguments, that he failed to adequately allege certain Defendants’ personal involvement in the 2 alleged violations, failed to state a claim for deliberate indifference on the part of 1 Defendants in non-medical positions with the DOC, failed to state a claim for First 2 3 Amendment retaliation, and failed to state a claim against Defendants in their 4 official capacity. Dkt. Nos. 68. 5 (7) 6 Defendants’ motion to dismiss was granted in part and denied in part. Dkt. No. 84. As such, the following claims remain: (1) an Eighth Amendment claim based on 7 exposure to ETS with respect to Defendants Michael Harlow (Superintendent of 8 SCI-Albion from 2010 to 2013), Harold Hodge (Corrections Officer serving as a 9 10 Housing Sergeant at SCI-Albion), F.L. Jones (Corrections Officer), Gary Ferraro 11 (Corrections Officer serving as a Housing Officer), William Maloney (Corrections 12 Officer serving as a Housing Sergeant), and Michelle Wagner (Plaintiff’s Unit 13 Manager) and (2) a First Amendment retaliation claim against Wagner, Boyd 14 Sullivan (Corrections Officer), Tracy Lindsey (Corrections Officer), Steven 15 Williamson (Corrections Officer), and Alexander Pierce (Corrections Officer). 16 17 (8) On September 2, 2016, the remaining Defendants moved for summary judgment 18 on Plaintiff’s remaining claims. Dkt. No. 122. Magistrate Judge Baxter issued the 19 instant Report and Recommendation on July 28, 2017. Dkt. No. 157. The Report 20 and Recommendation recommends that this Court: (1) deny Defendants’ motion 21 22 for summary judgment as to Plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment claim against Defendants Harlow, Hodge, Jones, Ferraro, Maloney, and Wagner, (2) deny 23 24 25 Defendants’ motion as to Plaintiff’s First Amendment Retaliation claim against Wagner, and (3) grant the motion as to Plaintiff’s First Amendment Retaliation claim against Defendants Sullivan, Lindsey, Williamson, and Pierce. Dkt. No. 157 3 at 23. 1 2 (9) Plaintiff timely objected to the portion of the Report and Recommendation 3 recommending that this Court grant Defendants’ summary judgment motion on 4 Plaintiff’s First Amendment retaliation claim against Defendants Sullivan, Lindsey, 5 Williamson, and Pierce. Dkt. No. 158. Defendants did not respond to Plaintiff’s 6 Objections. 7 (10) Plaintiff bases his First Amendment retaliation claims against Defendants Sullivan, 8 Lindsey, Williamson, and Pierce on two searches of his cell that occurred on 9 10 December 23, 2011 (Sullivan and Lindsey) and February 17, 2012 (Williamson and 11 Pierce), as well as a written misconduct report issued to Plaintiff by Defendant 12 Lindsey as a result of the December 23, 2011 search. Plaintiff argues that these 13 searches were done in retaliation for his filing formal grievances regarding his 14 exposure to ETS. Magistrate Judge Baxter recommends that these claims be 15 dismissed because Plaintiff cited to no evidence that would allow a reasonable jury 16 to conclude that Defendants Sullivan, Lindsey, Williamson, and Pierce were aware 17 18 of Plaintiff’s protected activity (i.e., filing grievances) before they took their 19 adverse action (i.e., searching his cell). Plaintiff counters that there is sufficient 20 evidence in the record for a jury to reasonably draw a causal connection between 21 22 Plaintiff’s protected activities and Defendants’ actions. (11) It is not necessary for this Court to reach a conclusion regarding the sufficiency of 23 24 25 Plaintiff’s evidence on his First Amendment retaliation claim against Defendants Sullivan, Lindsey, Williamson, and Pierce, because, even if these Defendants were aware of Plaintiff’s protected activities and searched his cell in retaliation for the 4 protected activities, the searches are not a sufficient adverse action to establish a 1 First Amendment retaliation claim. Third Circuit precedent is clear: “the search of 2 3 a cell is not a sufficient adverse action for purposes of a [First Amendment] 4 retaliation claim, irrelevant of whether it is” done in response to a plaintiff’s 5 constitutionally protected conduct. Banks v. Rozum, 2015 WL 1186224, *7 (W.D. 6 Pa. March 13, 2015); aff’d, 639 Fed. Appx. 778, 781-83 (3d Cir. 2016); Curtician 7 v. Kessler, 2010 WL 6557099, *7 (W.D. Pa. 2010) (noting that “courts have 8 consistently held that a cell search is not an ‘adverse action’ for retaliation 9 10 purposes”); see also, Lashley v. Wakefield, 367 F. Supp. 2d 461, 470 (W.D.N.Y. 11 2005) (dismissing First Amendment retaliation claim based on cell searches 12 because “inmates have no constitutional protection from cell searches, even those 13 conducted for retaliatory purposes”); Jones v. Harris, 665 F. Supp. 2d 384, 398 14 (S.D.N.Y. 2009) (“[N]either the United States Supreme Court nor the Second 15 Circuit has ever held that a cell search can be the basis of a First Amendment 16 retaliation claim.”). 17 18 (12) Likewise, the written misconduct report issued by Defendant Lindsey cannot be the 19 basis for a First Amendment retaliation claim against Defendant Lindsey. The 20 written report states that Plaintiff “had a pair of broken Koss headphones that where 21 22 [sic] altered and also did not belong to him” which constituted a Class I Charge (Possession of contraband, destroying, altering, tampering with or damaging 23 24 25 property). Dkt. No. 125-2, Ex. 11. “[F]iling a false misconduct report is cognizable as a denial of due process when the false misconduct charge is filed for the ‘sole purpose of retaliating against an inmate for his/her exercise of a constitutional right 5 such as his or her right to file a grievance[.]’” Lewis v. Wetzel, 153 F. Supp. 3d 678, 1 702-703 (M.D. Pa. 2015) (quoting Smith v. Mensinger, 293 F.3d 641, 653-654 (3d 2 3 Cir. 2002)). However, here, Plaintiff admits that he had possession of the broken 4 headphones. Dkt. No. 142 at ¶ 507. Therefore, the misconduct report cannot be the 5 basis for a First Amendment retaliation claim against Defendant Lindsey. 6 (13) Thus, this Court hereby ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate 7 Judge Baxter in full. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is granted in part 8 and denied in part, as follows: 9 10 (a) Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff’s Eighth 11 Amendment claim based on exposure to ETS is DENIED with respect 12 to Defendants Harlow, Hodge, Jones, Ferraro, Maloney, and Wagner; 13 (b) Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff’s First 14 Amendment retaliation claim is DENIED with respect to Defendant 15 Wagner; and 16 (c) Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff’s First 17 18 Amendment retaliation claim is GRANTED with respect to Defendants 19 Sullivan, Lindsey, Williamson, and Pierce. 20 21 22 (14) The Clerk of the Court is respectfully directed to send copies of this Order to Plaintiff, Defendants, and to Judge Baxter. IT IS SO ORDERED. 23 24 DATED this 27th day of September, 2017. A 25 Barbara Jacobs Rothstein U.S. District Court Judge 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7

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