Reynoso v. Selsky
Reynoso v. Selsky
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
In May 2002, Plaintiff-Appellant Ignacio Reynoso filed a complaint against the New York Department of Correctional Services (“DOCS”), the New York State Division of
This Court reviews the district courts grant of summary judgment and the district court s sua sponte dismissal of claims pursuant to § 1915A de novo. Howley v. Town of Stratford, 217 F.3d 141, 151 (2d Cir. 2000); Shakur v. Selsky, 391 F.3d 106, 112 (2d Cir. 2004). Summary judgment is warranted when, after construing the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and drawing all reasonable inferences in its favor, there is no genuine issue as to any material fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); June v. Town of Westfield, 370 F.3d 255, 257 (2d Cir. 2004). We have considered all of Appellant’s claims de novo and, for substantially the reasons stated by the district court, Reynoso v. Selsky, No. 02-cv-6318 (CJS), 2007 WL 1237684, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35208 (W.D.N.Y. Apr. 27, 2007), find them to be without merit with one exception,
As the Appellees admirably concede, there is a genuine issue of material fact that precludes summary judgment on the Appellant’s due process claim against Corrections Officer Held, arising out of the March 2001 disciplinary proceeding. Appellee’s Br. at 1, 12 n. 6. The district court held that Reynoso did not establish that a liberty interest had been violated as a result of the March 23, 2001 hearing beeause the sentence-thirty days in «keeplock»_was not an “atypical and signiflcant hardship„ compared to the burdeng of ord¡nary prison confmement. Reynoso, 2007 WL 1237684, at *6, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35208, at *16-17 see also Sealey v. Conner 515 U.S. 472, 483-84, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 132 L.Ed.2d 418 (1995)). In finding that this . , , punishment was not atypical and signifiCant,” however, the district court failed to consider that this penalty would immediately follow the four-month Special Housing Unit sentence imposed as a result of the Februaiy 2001 healing.
Overlapping disciplinary penalties may, under some circumstances, have to be aggregated for puiposes of determining whether a liberty interest was violated, Sims v. Artuz, 230 F.3d 14, 23-24 (2d Cir. 2000) (citing Giltner, 197 F.3d at 587 n. 7). We have previously held that 305 days of confinement under normal segregated housing unit conditions met the Sandin standard for atypicality, Colon v. Howard, 215 F.3d 227, 231-32 (2d Cir. 2000), and
Moreover, the Appellees concede that there are contradictory accounts as to whether Reynoso waived his right to be present at his March 2001 disciplinary hearing. When Reynoso did not appeal- at the hearing, Lieutenant Donahue, the hearing officer, asked Corrections Officer Held if he had gone to Reynoso’s cell to escort him to the hearing. Held advised Donahue that he had gone to Reynoso’s cell and that Reynoso refused to attend ,, , . m, . , • , the hearing. That much is undisputed. r, ,, Consequently, we agree with the district court that summary judgment is appropriate as to the hearing officer, Donahue. As to Held, however, there is a material dispute as to whether he actually went to Reynoso’s cell to inform him of the hearing and as to whether he in fact signed the „ .. ....... ...i form waiving his right to be present at the , . tt u . u tx i mi hearing as Held told Donahue. The contradictory accounts here preclude, as the Appellees graciously concede, summary judgment with respect to Held. Appellee’s Br. at 12 n. 7.
Accordingly, after considering all of the Appellant’s arguments, we AFFIRM the district court’s decision as to all but one of the Appellant’s claims. We VACATE and REMAND for further consideration consistent with this order Reynoso’s claim against Corrections Officer Held that Rey-noso’s due process rights were violated during the March 2001 hearing,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.