Morales v. United States
Morales v. United States
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This is a negligence action brought against the United States of America in accordance with the Court’s federal-question -jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Plaintiff Mario A. Morales claims that yfhile he was in custody of the United -States Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) at the Federal Correctional Institution in Memphis, Tennessee (“FCI Memphis”), the BOP breached a duty of care by failing to protect him from another prisoner. Thus, Morales argued, the United States is liable under 18 U.S.C. § 4042 and the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”). The Court tried this civil action without a jury on August 19, 2014. Following the trial, the parties filed proposed findings of facts and conclusions of law. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52 requires that “[i]n an action tried on the facts without a jury ..., the court must find the facts specially and state its conclusions of law separately.”
1. The June 8, 2006 Attack
Plaintiff Mario Morales was in the custody of the BOP at FCI Memphis from spring 2004 to August 2006. In late 2004 or early 2005, Mr. Morales became cell mates with Mr. Ignacio Rodriguez. In December of 2005, Mr. Rodriguez was. placed in the Special Housing Unit (“SHU”) for possession of a knife, and Mr. Morales, who also spent time in the SHU, requested that Mr. Rodriguez be moved to another cell. Upon Mr. Morales’s release into general population, he witnessed an altercation in the prison’s recreation yard with Mr. Rodriguez and another inmate.
While in the SHU, inmates may leave their cells and go to the recreation area, or “rec cage,” for one hour a day, five days a week. At the relevant time, Mr. Morales and Mr. Rodriguez were on “keep-away” status, meaning that the two inmates were to have no physical contact with each other and were not to be placed in the rec cage together. FCI Memphis policy required SHU officers to transport inmates in pairs. On’ the morning of June 8, 2006, SHU Officer Ann Simon escorted Mr. Morales from his cell to the rec cage alone. FCI Memphis policy also required a pat-down search and handheld-metal-detector search of inmates before they entered the rec cage. Officer Simon only performed a pat-down search of Mr. Morales. She did not check to determine if Mr. Morales and Mr. Rodriguez were in keep-away status. She then escorted and placed Mr. Rodriguez into the rec cage with Mr. Morales. It is unclear whether Officer Simon performed a search of Mr. Rodriquez, but she did not ensure that there was an officer observing the rec cage. She then walked away.
After Officer Simon left the rec area, Mr. Rodriguez attacked Mr. Morales with a 7-inch metal weapon, similar to an ice pick. Mr. Rodriguez stabbed Mr. Morales 14 times with the ice pick — in the arms, shoulders, and abdomen. Mr. Morales attempted to evade Mr. Rodriguez and feared for his life. After SHU officers finally arrived at the rec cage, they entered the area and separated Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Morales. An investigation later determined that Mr. Rodriguez was the attacker.
II. Treatment of Physical Injuries
SHU officers then transported Mr. Morales to the SHU Medical Triage room, where he was treated by the medical staff. Mr. Morales received six or seven wounds on his left arm, which were the most severe. A Registered Nurse cleaned the scratches and puncture wounds with soap and water, administered a tetanus shot, and indicated that follow-up in the clinic would be “as needed.” The medical staff described Mr. Morales’s wounds as “superficial” and “scant,” and they did not run any tests to determine the depth of the punctures.
After his last visit with the physician’s assistant on August 16, Mr. Morales was transferred to the Federal Correction Institution in Edgefield, South Carolina (“FCI Edgefield”).
too many variables to answer that for certainty.... [A]s far as how far after the injury are you supposed to do this test, it really varies depending on a case-by-case basis.... But ... I would say, you know, the sooner obviously the better just to find out what direct damage resulted, yes.5
Mr. Morales continues to suffer from numbness and loss of feeling in his left hand, although Dr. Kamel also testified that, over time, nerve damage may heal.
III. Treatment of Psychological Injuries
Mr. Morales suffered psychological trauma as a result of the attack. The Defendant presented evidence that Mr. Morales had frequent contact with psychological services during the period of his incarceration before the attack. Furthermore, a test in August 2005 concluded that Mr. Morales “exaggerated negative characteristics and psychiatric symptoms in order to appear more distressed or disturbed.”
At trial, Dr. Selma De Jesus-Zayas (“Dr. De Jesus”), the former Chief of Psychology Services at the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami, Florida (“FCI Miami”) testified as to her contact with the Defendant.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
I. The Federal Tort Claims Act
As set forth in the Pretrial Order, Mr. Morales alleges that the Defendant was negligent and grossly negligent in failing to keep Mr. Morales from Mr. Rodriguez, in allowing Mr. Rodriguez to have the weapon, and in failing to care for Mr. Morales both physically and psychologically after the attack. Mr. Morales brings these claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”).
The Defendant' filed a Motion in Limine seeking to exclude consideration of the Plaintiffs claim that the Defendant was negligent in failing to treat Mr. Morales’s psychological injuries because the Plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies under the FTCA and did not plead said claim in his Complaint. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2675, a plaintiff may not bring an action against the United States “unless the claimant shall have first presented the claim to the appropriate Federal agency
11. Negligence Under the FTCA
The FTCA allows a federal prisoner to sue for personal injury suffered as a result of a federal employee’s negligence.
In determining liability, “the elements of state tort law must be applied.”
A. Failure to Provide Safekeeping
The Defendant breached its duty of care to Mr. Morales when it allowed him to enter the recreation cage with Mr. Rodri
The Court also holds that Mr. Morales suffered psychological harm as a result of the attack. Although Mr. Morales had previous contact with psychological services and his condition seemed to improve at times, the Defendant’s negligence caused at least some psychological harm. Mr. Morales testified that he had nightmares, panic attacks, trouble breathing, hallucinations, anxiety, and depression as a result of the attack. Dr. De Jesus was not present to witness Mr. Morales’s symptoms shortly after the attack, but she persuasively opined at trial that the effects that Mr. Morales suffered were consistent with incidents of trauma.
B. Failure to Provide Treatment for Physical Injuries
In addition to the harm that Mr. Morales suffered as a result of the attack, the Plaintiff also argued that the BOP’s broad failure to treat Mr. Morales’s physical and psychological injuries caused further harm. The Defendant breached its duty of care to Mr. Morales when it failed to provide Mr. Morales with access to an EMG for eight months; however, the Plaintiff did not prove that the Defendant’s inaction caused any further harm. After the June 8, 2006 attack which led to Mr. Morales’s arm wounds, the Chief Physician at FCI Memphis recommended that Mr. Morales have an EMG. The BOP’s utilization review team approved the recommendation a month later. Nevertheless, the Defendant did not receive an EMG until March 29, 2007. The Court holds that the BOP’s failure to timely treat Mr. Morales’s physical injuries constitutes a breach of its duty of care to a federal inmate. Nevertheless, the Plaintiff did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence the BOP’s delay in procuring an EMG for Mr. Morales caused any further injury.
C. Psychological Treatment
•The Plaintiff introduced evidence that the BOP’s broad failure to treat Mr. Morales’s psychological injuries caused him additional harm.
But the Plaintiff did have early contact with psychological services. Whether the actual treatment provided met the professional standard of standard of care is a claim that sounds in medical malpractice, not ordinary negligence. If the Court were to analyze the competence or adequacy of psychologists’ decisions, it would allow the Plaintiff to side-step Tennessee’s requirement of a certificate of good faith under Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-122.
The Plaintiff received a prompt response from a psychologist after he requested to see one — just five days after the incident on June 13, 2006. At that meeting, Mr. Morales stated that he experienced some anxiety in the recreation yard, Where he thought he saw blood on the floor. Mr. Morales explained that he conquered the •anxiety and adequately faced the fear that day. Furthermore, his symptoms of anxiety soon abated. The psychologist commended Mr. Morales and stated that she could bring him some literature dealing with anxiety.
When Mr. Morales arrived at FCI Edgefield just three months after the incident, a clinical psychologist conducted an intake screening on October 3, 2006.
III. Damages
The Defendant owed a duty to the Plaintiff to act reasonably in protecting him. It breached that duty when it allowed Mr. Rodriquez to enter the rec cage with Mr. Morales. Mr. Morales suffered physical and psychological injuries that are the direct and proximate result of the Defendant’s negligence. Under the FTCA, the United States may be liable “‘in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances,’ [but] the government is not liable for pre-judgment interest or for punitive damages.”
The Plaintiff should recover damages in three categories. First, the Plaintiff should recover for the pain and suffering he experienced as a result of the attack. Second, the Plaintiff should receive damages for any injury to his left arm as a result of the attack. And third, the Plaintiff should recover for any psychological injury he experienced as a result of the attack. All of these awards are noneconomic,
The first category of damages — pain and suffering as a result of the attack — are the most serious. Mr. Morales testified that he was doing sit-ups in the corner of the rec cage when an officer placed Mr. Rodriguez in them same rec cage. When Mr. Morales looked up, Mr. Rodriguez was standing above him with the weapon. Mr. Morales was stabbed, quickly rose, started to parry the stabbings with his left arm, ran to the gate of the rec cage, and yelled for help. No officers were present. He continued blocking and kicking Mr. Rodriguez, and he attempted to evade the attack by running in circles in the rec cage. Mr. Morales was, quite justifiably, afraid for his life in those short moments. He testified, “[AJs I was running I was like ... I’m not getting help, I’m not going to die in here, I can’t die, I can’t die.”
•The second category of damages — for continued physical injury to Mr. Morales’s left arm — is less significant.
continue[] to this day.... My thumb and my hand, especially in the cold*837 weather, sometimes it will just fall asleep on me, and I’m like rubbing my fingers and my thumb, and I hold a cup or even a piece of paper in my hand, and I can’t feel it on the tips of my thumb and ring finger and pinkie.44
Mr. Morales did not have these problems before the attack. Thus, Mr. Morales is entitled to compensatory damages for the short-term loss of closing his hand and a continued, sporadic loss of feeling in the tips of his fingers. While these damages are certainly not taken lightly by the Court, they do not represent significant loss of function or pain that seriously impairs Mr. Morales’s enjoyment of life. Therefore, the Court awards the Plaintiff $5,000 for loss of physical health in his left hand.
The third category of damages recoverable is the loss of mental health that Mr. Morales suffered as a result of the attack. These damages are understandably less clear. Mr. Morales testified that after the attack he would have nightmares of the stabbing, see Mr. Rodriguez in his sleep, have panic attacks and trouble breathing, and experience hallucinations, depression, and anxiety. Dr. De Jesus confirmed that these ’ experiences are consistent with the effects of a traumatic event such as the attack on Mr. Morales. While the consequences of the attack still manifest, by his own admission, Mr. Morales’s condition has substantially improved. He testified that he has been “in a much better place” since 2010, and he declined treatment at some points after the attack. Mr. Morales is entitled to compensatory damages for the mental harm he suffered and occasionally continues to suffer as a result of the Defendant’s negligence. The Court awards Mr. Morales $25,000 for loss of mental health.
CONCLUSION
The Plaintiff has established that the Defendant’s negligence in placing him in a confined area with another keep-away-status prisoner caused him injury. For such injuries — including pain and suffering and loss of physical and mental health — the Court awards the sum of $105,000, as accounted for above. The Plaintiff has not established that the Defendant’s delay in scheduling treatment for the Plaintiffs left arm caused any further injury, nor has he established that the Defendant broadly failed to treat his psychological injury after the attack. Thus, for these last two claims, the Plaintiff is not entitled to damages.
IT IS so ordered;
. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a)(1).
. The Defendant proposes that Mr. Morales was identified as being "involved" in the altercation and states that another inmate identified him as an aggressor. Such facts are not relevant to the Court's decision.
. The Plaintiff filed a Motion in Limine for an Adverse Inference with regard to a video recording of what happened in the rec cage. ECF No. 110. The video no longer exists. The Court took the Motion under advisement. The Court is the finder of fact in this case, and, after hearing all of the evidence, the Court determines that no real dispute exists as to what took place in the rec cage during the attack. Thus, the Motion is denied as moot.
. Mr. Morales also spent a brief period of time in the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City.
. Dep. of Dr. Khaled Kamel 16:25-17:1-13.
.Evaluation Report of Kristen Stone, M.S., Pl.’sEx. 13.
. The Court does not accept Dr. De Jesus's "diagnosis” of PTSD, as she stated that she "could only testify as to [her] observations of Mr. Morales’s behavior when [she] met him, and at the time he was not experiencing any symptoms of PTSD." Trial Tr. 58:24-59:9. Her "diagnosis” was based on documentation in the system from years before, and he had not received an actual diagnosis of PTSD from any psychologist.
. In late 2007, Dr. Jessica Seaton met three times with the Plaintiff and could not make an affirmative diagnosis. She believed that Mr. Morales was not showing signs of mental illness that merited an affirmative diagnosis.
. Mr. Morales was transferred to FCI Miami in 2011, where he met Dr. De Jesus.
. 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), 2671-2680.
. Montez v. United States, 359 F.3d 392, 395 (6th Cir. 2004) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)). There is no contention in this case that BOP employees were not “acting within the scope of [their] office[s] or employment,” as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b).
. 28 U.S.C. § 2675.
. See Pl.’s Compl. 9.
. Id.
. See Estate of Trentadue ex rel. Aguilar v. United States, 397 F.3d 840, 853 (10th Cir. 2005).
. United States v. Muniz, 374 U.S. 150, 83 S.Ct. 1850, 10 L.Ed.2d 805 (1963).
. 18 U.S.C. § 4042; see Friedman v. United States, No. 99-1445, 2000 WL 876391, at *3, 2000 U.S.App. LEXIS 15353, at *8 (6th Cir. June 21, 2000).
. See Owens v. Haas, 601 F.2d 1242, 1249 (2d Cir. 1979); Strachan v. United States, No. 08-394, 2009 WL 1586812, at *4, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49005, at *11 (E.D.Ky. June 5, 2009).
. Flechsig v. United States, 991 F.2d 300, 303 (6th Cir. 1993) (citing Schindler v. United States, 661 F.2d 552, 560 (6th Cir. 1981)).
. White v. Lawrence, 975 S.W.2d 525, 529 (Tenn. 1998) (citing McClung v. Delta Square Ltd. Partnership, 937 S.W.2d 891, 894 (Tenn.1996)).
. Aff. of Ann Simon, PL’s Ex. 25.
. Trial Tr. 58:9-13.
. Defendant’s contention that Dr. Kamel’s diagnosis of nerve injury could not connect the injury to the stabbings, however, is without merit. The Court draws the reasonable factual inference that Mr. Morales would not have suffered the nerve damage but for the attack.
. The Court previously ruled that the Plaintiffs claim for failure to provide medical care was not a claim for negligent medical care under the Tennessee Health Care Liability Act, Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-26-115 to -122. Order Denying Mot. J. on Pleadings 9-10, ECF No. 108.
. Id.
. The Defendant filed a Motion in Limine on this issue. See Def.’s Mot. in Limine with Respect to Dr. De Jesus’s Testimony, ECF No. 109. To the extent that the Motion seeks to limit testimony on the adequacy or quality of mental health care actually provided by psychologists, the Motion is granted.
. Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-26-122; See also Order Denying Mot. J. on Pleadings -9-10.
. Report of Stacy A. Spier, Pl.’s Ex. 20.
. Mr. Morales had also taken similar medication before the attack.
. Part-B Resp. to Request for Administrative Remedy, Pl.’s Ex. 22.
. Brief Counseling Session Report, Pl.’s Ex. 22.
. Intake Screening of Dr. Angela Coleman, . Pl.’s Ex. 19.
. Id.
. Report of Dr. Jessica Seaton, PL’s Ex. 17.
. Premo v. United States, 599 F.3d 540, 545 (6th Cir. 2010) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 2674).
. Kirchgessner v. United States, 958 F.2d 158, 159 (6th Cir. 1992).
.See Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-39-101(2) (" ‘Noneconomic damages’ means damages, to the extent they are provided by applicable law, for: physical and emotional pain; suffering; inconvenience; physical impairment; ... mental anguish; emotional distress; ... noneconomic effects of disability, including loss of enjoyment of normal activities, benefits and pleasures of life and loss of mental or physical health, well-being or bodily functions; and all other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or nature.”). Noneconomic dam
. Duran v. Hyundai Motor Am., Inc., 271 S.W.3d 178, 210-11 (Tenn.Ct.App. 2008).
. Dunn v. Davis, No. W2006-00251-COA-R3-CV, 2007 WL 674652, at *39, 2007 Tenn. App. LEXIS 120, at *25 (Tenn.Ct.App. Mar. 6, 2007).
. Trial Tr. 114:21-23.
.Id. 115:12-14.
. The second and third category of damages could rightly be classified as “noneconomic , effects of disability, including loss of enjoyment of normal activities, benefits and pleasures of life and loss of mental or physical health, well-being or bodily functions; and all other nonpecuniaiy losses of any kind or nature.” See Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-39-101.
. Dep. of Dr. Khaled Kamel 11:7-11.
. Trial Tr. 130:24-131:6.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mario A. MORALES v. United States
- Status
- Published