Edwards v. Tarascio
Edwards v. Tarascio
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that this matter is hereby STAYED pending this Court’s decision in Giano v. Goord, Docket No. 02-0105;
Plaintiff-appellant Michael Edwards, pro se, appeals from a district court judgment dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to satisfy the exhaustion requirements of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e (“PLRA”). Edwards brought suit against Warden John Tarascio and Corrections Officers Saundry, Bolger, Mulligan, Sandy, Paradise and Lewis. See ROA Doc. 3 (Complaint).
In his complaint, Edwards claimed that the defendants-appellees violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights during a January 1997 body and cavity search. See id. at 4. Edwards also claimed that the defendants-appellees’ actions constituted tortious assault and battery under Connecticut state law. See id. at 6. Specifically, Edwards alleged that: (1) corrections officers used excessive force and committed sexual assault, battery and negligence during the search; (2) the officers failed to check the sanction book properly to verify whether he was on “confined to quarters” status; (3) he was placed in punitive segregation for thirty days and improperly denied unspecified medical care; and (4) Taraseio threatened him with additional sanctions if he continued to complain about the incident and also improperly failed to take administrative action against the corrections officers after being notified of the incident. See id. at 4-6.
Edwards did not state in his complaint that he had exhausted his administrative remedies, but attached a February 1997 letter from Taraseio to Edwards, which contained the subject line, “RE: Letter to Captain Peters for Investigation” in which Taraseio stated that his office was “in receipt of the investigation finding regarding your claims of inappropriate staff behavior” and that a “review of the facility video tape surrounding your placement into the Restrictive Housing unit for interfering with safety and security reveal[ed]” that “[a]t no time was there inappropriate staff behavior.” See id., Attachment 1. Taraseio then stated that Edwards’s claims of inappropriate treatment were unsubstantiated and instructed Edwards to direct any future issues to his counselor or unit manager. See id. Edwards did not attach a copy of any written grievance made by him.
The defendants-appellees moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Edwards was given an opportunity to respond to the motion but failed to provide additional evidence that he had exhausted his administrative remedies. The district court thereafter granted the motion to dismiss “without prejudice to [Edwards] moving to reopen the case within thirty days based on a presentation of evidence that he exhausted his administrative remedies” and found that although Tarascio’s letter was attached to the complaint, there was “no indication that [Edwards] ever utilized the administrative grievance procedures that are available to prisoners in Connecticut to address the type of conduct at issue in this case.” See ROA Doc. 33 at 2-3.
We review de novo a district court’s dismissal of a complaint pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). See Cooper v. Parksy, 140 F.3d 433, 440 (2d Cir. 1998). We ac
We have noted, in dicta, that under New York’s corrections scheme, resolution of an inmate’s grievances through informal channels may satisfy the exhaustion requirement of § 1997e(a). See Marvin v. Goord, 255 F.3d 40, 43 (2d Cir. 2001). More recently, we have ordered appointment of counsel in four pending cases to address whether inmates who did not fully comply with the dictates of the New York statute nonetheless exhausted their claims in other ways. See Giano v. Goord, Docket No. 02-0105; Ortiz v. McBride, Docket No. 02-0088; Hemphill v. State of New York, Docket No. 02-0164; Abney v. Dep’t of Corrections, 02-0241.
We find that a liberal reading of Edwards’s complaint indicates that, like the prisoner in Johnson, he may have attempted to exhaust his administrative remedies. It appears from Tarascio’s letter attached to the complaint that, at a minimum, Edwards made some form of complaint, resulting in a formal investigation of the claims and a letter from the Warden detailing the results of the investigation. Thus, it appears that Edwards may have satisfied both the informal portion of Connecticut’s grievance procedure as well as the first step of the formal grievance procedure. See Connecticut Administrative Directive 9.6 1Í1Í 9, 10. However, like the petitioner in Johnson, Edwards has not demonstrated that he has formally exhausted his administrative remedies under Connecticut’s grievance procedure. Whether and how the Warden’s instruction for Edwards to direct any future issues to his counselor or unit manager affected any total exhaustion requirement of the PRLA was unaddressed by the district court.
We STAY this case pending this Court’s decision in Giano v. Goord, Docket No. 02-0105; Ortiz v. McBride, Docket No. 02-0088; Hemphill v. State of New York, Docket No. 02-0164; Abney v. Dep’t of Corrections, 02-0241; and Johnson v.
. The four cases are scheduled to be heard in tandem on May 27, 2004.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Michael EDWARDS v. John TARASCIO, Warden, I/O
- Status
- Published