Grenning v. Stout

144 F.Supp.3d 1241

Neil GRENNING, Plaintiff,

v.Maggie Miller STOUT, et. al., Defendant.

No. 2:09–CV–389–JPH.

United States District Court, E.D. Washington.

Signed Nov. 3, 2015.

Hunter O. Ferguson, Stoel Rives LLP, Seattle, WA, for Plaintiff.

Timothy J. Feulner, Attorney General of Washington, Olympia, WA, for Defendant.

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION TO GRANT IN PART AND DENY IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ROSANNA MALOUF PETERSON, Chief Judge.

BEFORE THE COURT are the parties' objections to United States Magistrate Judge James P. Hutton's Report and Recommendation to Grant in Part and Deny in Part Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 136. Both parties have filed objections to the magistrate decision and responses to the objections of opposing counsel. See ECF Nos. 137–141. The Court has reviewed the pleadings and is fully informed.

BACKGROUND

On March 2, 2010, Plaintiff, who is currently incarcerated, filed an Amended Complaint, ECF No. 11, suing Defendants both in their individual and official capacities. After filing an Answer, ECF No. 15, Defendants moved for summary judgment, ECF No. 23, which the district court granted upon the recommendation of a magistrate judge. See ECF No. 80. Plaintiff filed a timely appeal. See ECF No. 81. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings, finding that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants due to deficiencies in the record that demonstrated the presence of genuine issues of material fact. See Grenning v. Miller–Stout, 739 F.3d 1235, 1241 (9th Cir.2014) ; ECF No. 89.

On July 14, 2015, United States Magistrate Judge James P. Hutton drafted a Report and Recommendation to this Court to grant in part and deny in part Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. See ECF No. 136. Specifically, the magistrate found that (1) it would be improper to grant summary judgment against Plaintiff regarding his Eighth Amendment claim because there are genuine issues of material fact regarding essential elements of the claim, (2) Defendants are nonetheless entitled to qualified immunity because they acted reasonably in light of unclear legal standards, (3) it would be improper to grant summary judgment against Plaintiff on the issue of his standing to bring this suit, (4) Plaintiff may be entitled to injunctive relief, and (5) that the Department of Corrections should not garnish more than twenty percent of Plaintiff's income to pay multiple sets of court fees pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2).

This Court has conducted a de novo review of each section of the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation and has reviewed the parties' objections, and addresses each objection in turn.

ANALYSIS

The moving party is entitled to summary judgment when there are no disputed issues of material fact when all inferences are resolved in favor of the non-moving party. Northwest Motorcycle Ass'n v. United States Dep't of Agric., 18 F.3d 1468, 1471 (9th Cir.1994) ; Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). If the non-moving party lacks support for an essential element of their claim, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law regarding that claim. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Importantly, at the summary judgment stage, the Court does not weigh the evidence presented, but instead assumes its validity and determines whether it supports a necessary element of the claim. Id. In order to survive a motion for summary judgment once the moving party has met their burden, the non-moving party must demonstrate that there is probative evidence that would allow a reasonable jury to find in their favor. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 251, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Although the Magistrate Judge properly stated the summary judgment standard to be applied in this case, it bears repeating here as Defendants base their objections to the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation largely on the weight of their evidence, rather than the lack of a sufficient dispute over issues of material fact.

Defense Objection 1

In order for Plaintiff to overcome Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment regarding his Eighth Amendment claim, he must demonstrate that Defendants deprived him of a “minimal civilized measure of life's necessities,” See Hallett v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 744 (9th Cir.2002), and that Defendants acted with “deliberate indifference” in doing so, See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 829, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994).

Defendants first argue that Plaintiff has failed to raise a viable Eighth Amendment claim because subjecting him to continuous light for thirteen days is not a deprivation of rights that is sufficiently serious to be the basis for an Eighth Amendment claim. See ECF No. 137 at 3. Defendants believe that their pleadings have remedied the lack of evidence that was before the Ninth Circuit as they have provided new details regarding the lights and the penological purposes that justify their continuous use. Id.

Defendants' justifications and arguments that downplay the severity of the lights would be proper at trial as support for a defense against an Eighth Amendment claim, but those justifications and arguments fail to address whether there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding an essential element of Plaintiff's claim that makes the case unsuitable for resolution at summary judgment. Defendants analogize this case to the facts of Chappell v. Mandeville, 706 F.3d 1052, 1058 (9th Cir.2013), wherein a prisoner was subjected to continuous light for seven days and the Ninth Circuit had “some doubt that the conditions that Chappell experienced ... amounted to an Eighth Amendment violation.” See ECF No. 137 at 7.

On the other hand, the Ninth Circuit in Keenan v. Hall, 83 F.3d 1083, 1089 (9th Cir.1996), held that when an inmate suffers physical and psychological harms due to continuous light (sixty days in that case), that amounted to a deprivation of a “minimal civilized measure of life's necessities.” Ninth Circuit case law only establishes that different facts result in different legal analyses.

Between the extremes of Keenan and Chappell, Plaintiff has provided evidence that he suffered harm resulting from his exposure to continuous light for thirteen days, including the testimony of a board certified sleep medicine expert. See ECF No. 136 at 6. This Court finds that Plaintiff has provided sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact and persuade a reasonable jury that he suffered harm resulting from a deprivation of a “minimal civilized measure of life's necessities.” See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 251, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Defendants also object to the magistrate's finding as an issue of fact that Defendants acted with “deliberate indifference.” See ECF No. 137 at 9. The Ninth Circuit determined that a finding of deliberate indifference in this case would require that Defendants knew of the risk posed to Plaintiff by the lighting and that Defendants nonetheless deliberately ignored that risk. Grenning, 739 F.3d at 1241. Defendants argue that they could not have known of the risk posed to Plaintiff because previous cases have found similar lighting practices to be constitutional, and there was not any evidence to show the presence of what they would refer to as an “excessive” risk. See ECF No. 137 at 10. Additionally, Defendants argue: that they responded to complaints, but that it was not their responsibility to fix what was done to Plaintiff; that they acted in a way that should be afforded deference¹ ; and that in nine years, only sixteen complaints were filed regarding the lighting. Id. at 11. These arguments would be relevant to support Defendants' defenses at trial, but fail to show at the summary judgment stage that Plaintiff has not provided sufficient evidence that could cause a reasonable jury to find deliberate indifference.

Despite the Ninth Circuit decision doubting the relevance of Defendants' stated penological purposes to an Eighth Amendment analysis, Grenning, 739 F.3d at 1240, Defendants' objections rely heavily on the strength of penological purposes as proper justifications for subjecting inmates in the Segregation Management Unit (“SMU”) to continuous light. See ECF No. 137 at 11. However, Defendants' line of argument does nothing to defeat the validity of Plaintiff's evidence that creates disputed issues of material fact. Therefore, the penological purposes defense is not relevant to this Court's determination at the summary judgment stage.

Plaintiff has met his burden by alleging that Defendants made callous statements in response to legitimate complaints and failed to conduct even a basic investigation of the conditions of confinement. ECF No. 136 at 9. In light of such evidence, and resolving inferences in favor of the non-moving party, this Court is compelled to find that deliberate indifference is a disputed issue of material fact in this case that prohibits summary judgment on this issue.

There is sufficient evidence to find that Plaintiff suffered physical harm as a result of the lighting in the SMU, that this harm was a result of Defendants depriving him of a “minimal civilized measure of life's necessities,” and that Defendants acted with deliberate indifference to the harm they caused. Any evidence to the contrary is properly submitted to support Defendants' case at trial, but does not diminish the presence of a factual dispute regarding essential elements of Plaintiff's claim. Accordingly, this Court approves of the magistrates' recommendation to deny Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff's Eighth Amendment claims. ECF No. 136 at 3–9.

Defense Objection 2

The Magistrate Judge held that in order for Plaintiff to be entitled to injunctive relief, he must demonstrate that (1) he must have suffered an...