United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division
R.
Steven Whalen, U.S. Magistrate Judge.
ORDER
ADOPTING IN PART REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION [232];
SUSTAINING IN PART AND OVERRULING IN PART
PLAINTIFF'S OBJECTIONS TO REPORT AND
RECOMMENDATION [236]; DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION
FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [210]; DENYING
DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [211]
Arthur
J. Tarnow, Senior United States District Judge.
On
January 17, 2014, Plaintiff Robert Annabel filed this 42
U.S.C. § 1983 prisoner civil rights action against
Defendants Jack Frost, Steven Kindinger, Sherman Campbell,
James Eaton and Keith McConnell. Defendants are all employees
of the Michigan Department of Corrections
(“MDOC”) at Gus Harrison Correctional Facility
where Plaintiff is incarcerated. Plaintiff filed his Motion
for Summary Judgment [Dkt. # 210] on January 3, 2019.
Defendants filed their Motion for Summary Judgment [211] on
January 4, 2019. On August 9, 2019, the Magistrate Judge
issued a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”)
[232] recommending that the Court deny Plaintiff's
motion, grant Defendants' motion and dismiss the case.
Plaintiff filed Objections [236] to the R&R on August 23,
2019.
For the
reasons stated below, the R&R [232] is ADOPTED in
part; Plaintiff's Objections [236] are
SUSTAINED in part and OVERRULED in part;
Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment [210] is
DENIED and Defendants' Motion for
Summary Judgment [211] is DENIED.
Factual
and Procedural Background
The
Court adopts the facts of this case as set forth in the
R&R:
A.
Plaintiff's Allegations
At the
time of the alleged incidents giving rise to the complaint,
Plaintiff was incarcerated at the Gus Harrison Correctional
Facility. Amended Complaint, Docket #18,
filed April 8, 2014. On July 1, 2013, he asked Assistant
Resident Unit Manager (“ARUM”) Steven Kindinger
(“Kindinger”) to post a sign-up sheet for inmates
seeking to obtain a position as unit representative.
Kindinger told him, “I don't want you as block
rep.” Id, ¶ IV-1. Because Kindinger had
still not posted a sign-up sheet by July 12, 2013, Plaintiff
filed a grievance on July 17, 2013. Id. ¶ IV-3.
Defendants James Eaton (“Eaton”), Grievance
Coordinator and Sherman Campbell (“Campbell”),
Deputy Warden rejected the grievance and, Plaintiff alleges,
he notified Defendants Kindinger and Jack Frost
(“Frost”), a Corrections Officer, that Plaintiff
had written a grievance and should be disqualified from a
unit representative position. Id. ¶ IV-4-5.
On July
22, 2013, Plaintiff opened the tray slot in prisoner
McQuitter's cell and delivered a folded t-shirt to
McQuitter. Id. ¶ IV-8. Defendant Frost then
walked toward Plaintiff and said, “You're in
trouble, go lock up.” Id. ¶ IV-9. Frost
wrote a Class II misconduct ticket against Plaintiff for
disobeying a direct order. Id. ¶ 10. Plaintiff
alleges that “Frost would not have written a Class II
misconduct for disobeying a direct order if Plaintiff
hadn't pressed the issue about a unit representative
position with his superiors and then filed a
grievance.” Id. ¶ IV-12.
At the
misconduct hearing on August 4, 2013, Plaintiff admitted to
opening McQuitter's tray slot, but denied that Frost had
ever given him a direct order to not pass items to another
prisoner. Plaintiff states that Captain Keith McConnell
(“McConnell”), who conducted the hearing,
“falsely claimed in a hearings report that Plaintiff
admitted disobeying a direct order.” Id.
¶¶ IV-17-20. He also alleges that in the August 6,
2013 hearings report, McConnell “acknowledged that
Plaintiff said the incident could not have occurred at 1620
hrs., as stated on the misconduct report and changed the time
to ‘approximately 1830 hours'....”
Id. ¶ IV-20. Following the misconduct report,
Plaintiff, who had won election as unit representative, was
removed from that position. Id. ¶¶ IV-19,
21.
Plaintiff
brings the following claims:
(1) That all Defendants retaliated against him, in violation
of his First Amendment right to file a grievance and
“for his exercise of the right to freedom of speech on
behalf of himself and other prisoners.”
(2) That Defendant Frost violated substantive due process by
issuing a false misconduct charge.
(3) That Defendant McConnell violated procedural due process
at the misconduct hearing.
(4) That Defendant Campbell violated due process by upholding
McConnell's “false and unsupported findings.”
Id. ¶¶ V -1-4.
Plaintiff
requests monetary damages, attorney fees, and costs against
all five ...