Madison v. Cruz

359 F.Supp.3d 135

Linanel Brown MADISON, Plaintiff,

v.Timothy CRUZ, et al., Defendants.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 17-40168-TSH

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

Filed February 13, 2019

Linanel Madison, Shirley, MA, pro se.

Eric A. Haskell, Attorney General's Office, Boston, MA, for Defendants.

ORDER AND MEMORANDUM ON DEFENDANT McDONALD'S MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 24)

TIMOTHY S. HILLMAN, DISTRICT JUDGE

Linanel Brown Madison ("Plaintiff") asserts several claims against various Defendants for retaliation after it was revealed that he worked as an informant for law enforcement officials. Relevant to this motion, he brings claims against Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald ("Defendant McDonald") in his official and individual capacities for violation of his Eighth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights by failing to provide for Plaintiff's safety (Count VI),¹ negligent hiring, training, and supervision (Counts XIX, XXI), vicarious liability for assault and battery (Count XXV), and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress (Count XXXI). Defendant McDonald has moved to dismiss all claims pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). (Docket No. 24). For the reasons stated below, Defendant's motion is granted in part and denied in part.

Background

The factual background is taken from Plaintiff's Complaint (Docket No. 1) and assumed to be true at this stage of the litigation.

Prior to 2015, Plaintiff worked as an informant for the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office ("PCDAO"), the Massachusetts State Police, and the Brockton Police. On July 5, 2015, Defendants Bradley and Cruz revealed to the Boston Globe Plaintiff's identity as an informant and his activities as such.

When the Boston Globe article was published, Plaintiff was a pretrial detainee at the Essex County Correctional Facility ("ECCF"). After the article was published, other inmates continually harassed Plaintiff, threw urine on him, placed feces in his food, and assaulted him, which resulted in a black eye and abrasions on his face. Plaintiff was subsequently placed in solitary confinement and, upon rejoining the general population, was again assaulted.

Thereafter, Plaintiff was transferred to the Plymouth County Correction Facility ("PCCF") where he was again attacked by other inmates. Plaintiff continues to experience blurred vision, difficulties concentrating, migraines, insomnia, and anxiety as a result of the attacks.

Defendant McDonald is the Sheriff of Plymouth County. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant McDonald failed to protect him from other prisoners while he was in custody at the PCCF.

Legal Standards

1. Rule 12(b)(1)

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), a defendant may move to dismiss an action for lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction. "The party invoking the jurisdiction of a federal court carries the burden of proving its existence." Murphy v. United States, 45 F.3d 520, 522 (1st Cir. 1995). To determine if the burden has been met, a court "take[s] as true all well-pleaded facts in the plaintiffs' complaints, scrutinize[s] them in the light most hospitable to the plaintiffs' theory of liability, and draw[s] all reasonable inferences therefrom in the plaintiffs' favor." Fothergill v. United States, 566 F.3d 248, 251 (1st Cir.2009).

2. Rule 12(b)(6)

A defendant may also move to dismiss, based solely on the complaint, for the plaintiff's "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a complaint must allege "a plausible entitlement to relief." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 559, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Although detailed factual allegations are not necessary to survive a motion to dismiss, the standard "requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." Id. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. "The relevant inquiry focuses on the reasonableness of the inference of liability that the plaintiff is asking the court to draw from the facts alleged in the complaint." Ocasio-Hernandez v. Fortuno-Burset , 640 F.3d 1, 13 (1st Cir. 2011).

In evaluating a motion to dismiss, the court must accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Langadinos v. American Airlines, Inc. , 199 F.3d 68, 68 (1st Cir. 2000). It is a "context-specific task" to determine "whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief," one that "requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense."

Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (internal citations omitted). "[W]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged—but it has not ‘show[n]’—that the pleader is entitled to relief." Id. (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) ). On the other hand, a court may not disregard properly pled factual allegations, "even if it strikes a savvy judge that actual proof of those facts is improbable." Twombly , 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

Because Plaintiff appears pro se, we construe his pleadings more favorably than we would those drafted by an attorney. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007). Nevertheless, Plaintiff's pro-se status does not excuse him from complying with procedural and substantive law. See Ahmed v. Rosenblatt, 118 F.3d 886, 890 (1st Cir. 1997).

Discussion

1. Official Capacity Claims

Insofar as Plaintiff's seeks monetary relief for his claims against Defendant McDonald in his official capacity, they must be dismissed. Such official capacity suits "generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent" and is therefore "to be treated as a suit against the entity." Kentucky v. Graham , 473 U.S. 159, 165-66, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985) (citations omitted).² Accordingly, official capacity suits are subject to the Eleventh Amendment, which bars suits for damages brought by individuals in Federal Court, absent lawful Congressional abrogation or consent of the state. Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Fla. , 517 U.S. 44, 54-71, 116 S.Ct. 1114, 134 L.Ed.2d 252 (1996). Therefore, Defendant McDonald, in his official capacity, is not amenable to suit for damages pursuant to Section 1983. See Will v. Mich. Dep't of State Police , 491 U.S. 58, 65, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989) ("[A] state is not a ‘person’ within the meaning of § 1983."); Nieves-Marquez v. Puerto Rico , 353 F.3d 108, 124 (1st Cir. 2003) ("No cause of action for damages is stated under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against a state, its agency, or its officials acting in an official capacity."); Destek Grp., Inc. v. State of New Hampshire Publ. Utilities Comm'n , 318 F.3d 32, 40 (1st Cir. 2003) ("[N]either a state agency nor a state official acting in his official capacity may be sued for damages in a § 1983 action.").

2. Individual Capacity Claims

a. Constitutional Claims (Count VI)

Defendant McDonald argues that he is shielded from liability in an individual capacity by qualified immunity. "Government officials performing discretionary functions are generally shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald , 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982).

The First Circuit has adopted a two-part test to assess qualified immunity. A court must consider: "(1) whether the facts alleged or shown by the plaintiff make out a violation of a constitutional right; and (2) if so, whether the right was ‘clearly established’ at the time of the defendant's alleged violation."

Maldonado v. Fontanes , 568 F.3d 263, 269 (1st Cir. 2009) (citation omitted).

The second prong of the test itself has two aspects. "One aspect of the analysis focuses on the clarity of the law at the time of the alleged civil rights violation." Id. Thus, in order "[t]o overcome qualified immunity, ‘[t]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.’ " Id. (quoting Anderson v. Creighton , 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) ). The second aspect "focuses more concretely on the facts of the particular case." Id. Thus, a court must assess "whether a reasonable defendant would have understood that his conduct violated the plaintiffs' constitutional rights." Id. Importantly, "this inquiry must be undertaken in light of the specific context of the case, not as a broad general proposition." Id. (quotation marks and citation omitted). In short, "the salient question is whether the state of the law at the time of the alleged violation gave the defendant fair warning that his particular conduct was unconstitutional." Id.

When assessing qualified immunity at the motion to dismiss stage, this Court is required to "evaluate the sufficiency of the plaintiffs' pleadings. Indeed, because whether a particular complaint sufficiently alleges a clearly established violation of law cannot be decided in isolation from the facts pleaded, we must scrutinize the plaintiffs' complaint to determine whether it states a plausible entitlement to relief." Id. at 268 (quotation marks and citation omitted). At this stage, however, the Supreme Court has noted that "the precise factual basis for the plaintiff's claim or claims may be hard to identify." Pearson v. Callahan , 555 U.S. 223, 238-39, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009). Thus, the First Circuit has instructed that "where the answer to the first prong of the immunity question may depend on the further development of the facts, it may be wise to avoid the first step." Maldonado , 568 F.3d at 270 (citation omitted); see also Giragosian v. Bettencourt...