Wilder v. Krebs
Filing
96
OPINION AND ORDER granting 93 Motion for Summary Judgment. Defendant has established res judicata and collateral estoppel apply to Plaintiff's instantclaim. Summary judgment is granted to Defendant, and this matter is dismissed with prejudice. Signed by Honorable Cameron McGowan Currie on 04/25/2019. (hada, )
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA
CHARLESTON DIVISION
Samuel Wilder, #258295,
C/A. No. 2:17-763-CMC-MGB
Plaintiff
v.
Opinion and Order
William F. Krebs,
Defendant.
This matter is before the court on Defendant William F. Krebs’ (“Defendant”) renewed
motion for summary judgment on the sole issue of whether res judicata and collateral estoppel bar
Plaintiff’s claim. ECF No. 93.1 Plaintiff filed a response in opposition (ECF No. 94), and
Defendant filed a reply (ECF No. 95).
Previously, Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment on the merits, arguing he was
not deliberately indifferent to Plaintiff’s medical needs. ECF No. 42. After full briefing, the
Magistrate Judge recommended denial of summary judgment. ECF No. 52. Defendant objected
(ECF No. 55), Plaintiff replied (ECF No. 60), and the court adopted the Report and denied
summary judgment (ECF No. 62). Thereafter, at a pretrial conference, Defendant requested leave
to amend his Answer and to file an additional motion for summary judgment based on res judicata
and collateral estoppel. ECF No. 70. The court allowed Defendant to file a motion for leave to
amend the Answer, which he did. ECF No. 73. Although Plaintiff opposed, the court determined
1
After initial review of this Complaint, the Magistrate Judge entered a Report suggesting the case
may be subject to dismissal based on res judicata. ECF No. 8. However, the court declined to
dismiss based on res judicata at that point, as it did not have the state court documents and could
not determine whether dismissal of the state court action was on the merits. ECF No. 16.
the res judicata issue was one that required resolution prior to trial as a matter of law, and allowed
the Amended Answer and renewed motion for summary judgment. ECF No. 88. Defendant filed
his Amended Answer (ECF No. 91) and the instant motion.
1. Standard
Summary judgment should be granted if “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute
as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P.
56(a). It is well established that summary judgment should be granted “only when it is clear that
there is no dispute concerning either the facts of the controversy or the inferences to be drawn from
those facts.” Pulliam Inv. Co. v. Cameo Properties, 810 F.2d 1282, 1286 (4th Cir. 1987). The
party moving for summary judgment has the burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of
material fact, and the court must view the evidence before it and the inferences to be drawn
therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369
U.S. 654, 655 (1962).
Rule 56(c)(1) provides as follows:
(1) A party asserting that a fact cannot be or is genuinely disputed must
support the assertion by:
(A) citing to particular parts of materials in the record, including
depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or
declarations, stipulations . . . , admissions, interrogatory answers or other
materials; or
(b) showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence or
presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party cannot produce
admissible evidence to support the fact.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1).
2
2. Discussion
The sole issue before the court is whether res judicata and collateral estoppel bar Plaintiff’s
claims as a matter of law. Defendant notes Plaintiff filed a prior case in South Carolina Circuit
Court, bringing claims against the South Carolina Department of Corrections (“SCDC”) arising
out of the same instances of alleged dental mistreatment as the instant case. ECF No. 93-1, 93-2
(State Court Complaint). The Circuit Judge determined Plaintiff failed to show SCDC was grossly
negligent, and therefore granted summary judgment to SCDC. ECF No. 93-4.2 As this was a
determination on the merits, Defendant argues res judicata and collateral estoppel apply to bar
Plaintiff’s instant lawsuit.
Plaintiff contends he only argued gross negligence and did not name Dr. Krebs as a
defendant in his state court action, and therefore res judicata and collateral estoppel do not apply.
ECF No. 94 at 5. He also argues the final judgment of the prior action was not on the merits, but
the case was dismissed because Plaintiff did not submit an expert affidavit. Id. at 6. He contends
the issue in the current lawsuit, deliberate indifference, was not previously litigated because the
South Carolina Tort Claims Act “had no jurisdiction to here [sic] this present claim.” Id. at 7.
In reply, Defendant asserts summary judgment in the prior action was granted on the
merits, and Plaintiff had a “full and fair opportunity to litigate” his case in state court. ECF No.
95 at 1-2. He argues the difference in defendants (SCDC and Dr. Krebs) does not preclude
collateral estoppel because Dr. Krebs was adequately identified in the prior action. Id. at 2.
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The court also found Plaintiff failed to provide expert testimony, as required in medical
malpractice cases in South Carolina. Id. at 3.
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Finally, he contends “Plaintiff’s claims are still barred even though a different cause of action was
asserted” in the state case. Id. at 3.
Res judicata is also known as claim preclusion, and bars relitigation of claims that were or
could have been raised in a prior proceeding between the same parties. Collateral estoppel, or
issue preclusion, bars the relitigation of specific issues that were actually determined in a prior
action. Sartin v. Macik, 535 F.3d 284, 287 (4th Cir. 2008). If the prior proceeding is a state court
one, federal courts use the law of the state to determine if preclusion applies. Sartin, 535 F.3d at
287. Under South Carolina law, in order for res judicata to apply, there must be: (1) an identity
of parties or their privies; (2) an identity of the subject matter of the litigation; and (3) a final
determination on the merits in the former proceeding. H.G. Hall Constr. Co. v. J.E.P. Enters., 321
S.E.2d 267, 271 (S.C. Ct. App. 1984). The party asserting collateral estoppel under South Carolina
law must show the issue of fact or law in the prior lawsuit was: “(1) actually litigated in the prior
action; (2) directly determined in the prior action; and (3) necessary to support the prior judgment.”
Carolina Renewal, Inc. v. S.C. Dep’t of Transp., 684 S.E.2d 779, 782 (S.C. Ct. App. 2009).
In a nearly identical case, another judge of this court has found collateral estoppel when a
plaintiff brought a lawsuit in state court based in negligence, that was dismissed with prejudice,
and then filed a federal case alleging a § 1983 claim for deliberate indifference to his serious
medical needs involving dental care. Lyles v. Broach, No. 4:16-cv-3188, 2018 WL 1064251 at *1
(D.S.C. Feb. 26, 2018). Lyles argued his § 1983 claim was not barred by res judicata and collateral
estoppel because the claims were different (negligence vs. deliberate indifference) and the South
Carolina Tort Claims Act prevented him from naming an individual defendant in the state court
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case, therefore he was only able to sue the agency. Id. at *2.3
However, the court found Lyles
could have brought his § 1983 claim in his state court action but did not, even though Lyles
acknowledged the two actions were based on the same facts and the same transaction or
occurrence. Id. at *3 (citing Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131, 139 (1988) (finding state courts possess
concurrent jurisdiction over § 1983 litigation)). The court also held the absence of strict mutuality
of the parties did not bar application of preclusion, as long as the plaintiff previously “had a full
and fair opportunity to litigate the relevant issue effectively in a prior action.” Id. at *2 (citing
Graham v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Ins. Co., 287 S.E.2d 495, 496 (S.C. 1982)). Therefore, the
Lyles court held the plaintiff was barred from bringing his § 1983 claim in federal court. Id.; see
also Timpson v. Pondexter, No. 5:17-cv-760, 2017 WL 6280871 (D.S.C. Nov. 15, 2017) (holding
res judicata barred the plaintiff from bringing a § 1983 claim when he previously brought a state
court action based on the same facts, as the defendants were in privity as employees of the
defendant agency in the state court action, and the subject matter was the same as it arose out of
the same transaction as the previous claim).
In this case, it is clear Plaintiff’s § 1983 claim is precluded by the prior judgment on the
merits in state court. Despite Plaintiff’s arguments regarding the finality of the state court case,
that Order granted summary judgment not only because Plaintiff lacked an expert affidavit, but
also because he failed to establish gross negligence as required by the South Carolina Tort Claims
Act. ECF No. 93-4. Although not a trial, this decision is a determination on the merits.
There is also an identity of claims between this case and the state court lawsuit. Under the
“transactional approach,” a subsequent action cannot be brought “by the same parties when the
3
These are the same arguments Plaintiff makes in his opposition to summary judgment.
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claims arise out of the same transaction or occurrence that was the subject of a prior action between
those parties.” Plum Creek Dev. Co., Inc. v. City of Conway, 512 S.E.2d 106, 109 (S.C. 1999).
Plaintiff’s current claim against Dr. Krebs is indisputably based on the same underlying transaction
as the state court lawsuit: Plaintiff’s tooth decay and the delay in/failure to appropriately treat. The
facts articulated in the state court summary judgment order and Plaintiff’s Complaint in state court
are essentially identical to those in this case. The issue of fact, whether Plaintiff received
substandard dental care, is also the same. Plaintiff actually litigated the issue of the treatment of
his tooth in the state court lawsuit, and the issue was directly determined in that action. Plaintiff
had a full and fair opportunity to litigate his claim in state court: the motion for summary judgment
was fully briefed and there was a hearing on the motion, at which Plaintiff attended and represented
himself.
Further, although Plaintiff did not bring a deliberate indifference action under § 1983 in
the state case, there was no reason he could not have. See Felder, 487 U.S. at 139 (holding state
courts have concurrent jurisdiction over § 1983 claims); Harnett v. Billman, 800 F.2d 1308, 1314
(4th Cir. 1986) (“[C]laims may arise out of the same transaction or series of events even if they
involve different harms or different theories or measures of relief.”); S.C. Public Interest Found.
v. Greenville Cty., 737 S.E.2d 502, 508 (S.C. Ct. App. 2013) (claim preclusion applies “with
respect to all or any part of the transaction, or series of connected transactions, out of which the
first action arose, even when the plaintiff is prepared to present a theory in the second action not
presented in the first action.”) (internal citation omitted). Plaintiff could have brought his § 1983
claim against Dr. Krebs in the same state court action as his dental malpractice claim against the
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agency, but he did not.4 It appears it is only because he lost that suit that he brought this one: he
is barred from doing this.
There is also identity of the parties or their privies. “The term ‘privity’ when applied to a
judgment or decree means one so identified in interest with another that he represents the same
legal rights.” Yelsen Land Co. v. State, 723 S.E.2d 592, 596 (S.C. 2012) (citing Richburg v.
Baughman, 351 S.E.2d 164 (1986)). In this case, Dr. Krebs is in privity with SCDC, because his
interests as the treating dentist at SCDC whose actions are challenged are the same as SCDC’s in
the prior litigation: to deny that dental mistreatment occurred.
For the reasons above, res judicata and collateral estoppel bar Plaintiff’s instant lawsuit.
3. Conclusion
Defendant has established res judicata and collateral estoppel apply to Plaintiff’s instant
claim. Summary judgment is granted to Defendant, and this matter is dismissed with prejudice.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
s/Cameron McGowan Currie
CAMERON MCGOWAN CURRIE
Senior United States District Judge
Columbia, South Carolina
April 25, 2019
4
There is no reason Plaintiff could not have brought two causes of action and named two separate
defendants in his state court action: a South Carolina Tort Claims Act claim against SCDC, and a
§ 1983 deliberate indifference claim against Dr. Krebs.
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