Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-2_12-cv-01524/USCOURTS-azd-2_12-cv-01524-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 555
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Prison Condition
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights

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WO

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

John Doneld Womack, 

Plaintiff, 

vs.

The GEO Group, Inc., 

Defendant. 

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No. CV-12-1524-PHX-SRB (LOA)

ORDER

Pro se Plaintiff moves the Court to appoint an expert witness “to analyze health

effects and harm on inmates by being required to live under constant illumination by

Defendant GEO Group[.]” (Doc. 40 at 1) Plaintiff represents he “lacks funds or means of

securing funds to retain an expert[.]” (Id.) Plaintiff cites Rules 702 and 706, Federal Rule

of Evidence (“Fed.R.Evid.”); Steele v. Shah, 87 F.3d 1266, 1270-71 (11th Cir. 1996)

(remanding motion to appoint counsel and expert to district court where “district court gave

no explanation for the refusal to appoint [counsel and expert]”); and Beard v. Banks, 548

U.S. 521, 534 (2006) as authority to support his request. Defendant GEO Group has not

responded to this Motion. For the reasons discussed below, Plaintiff’s Motion to Appoint

Expert to Analyze Health Effects and Harm of Constant Illumination will be denied.

I. Background

At the time he filed this Section 1983 action on July 16, 2012, pro se Plaintiff was an

inmate confined in the Central Arizona Correctional Facility (“CACF”), a private

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correctional facility owned and operated by Defendant GEO Group, which has contracted

with the State of Arizona to incarcerate prisoners.

In the First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleged that, since approximately 2009,

the GEO Group has maintained the prison dorms in which Plaintiff was housed with

“constant illumination” by four large fluorescent lights that brightly illuminated his living

area and bed “24 hours a day.” (Doc. 8, ¶¶ 4-8 at 3-4) He also asserts that the GEO Group

instituted a practice of its staff members awakening inmates who attempt to block the light

by covering their heads at night. Plaintiff contends the constant, bright illumination of his

cell deprived him of normal sleep and rest; caused him to suffer headaches, sleep disorders,

placed “out of sync” his internal sleep clock; and rendered him too sleepy and fatigued to

participate in basic daily activities. In Count One, Plaintiff alleged the GEO Group has

violated his Eighth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution and was

deliberately indifferent to Plaintiff’s “basic right to shelter” that caused him harm and

threatened his mental and physical well-being. (Id.¶ 1 at 3) See Keenan v. Hall, 83 F.3d

1083, 1088, 1090-91 (9th Cir. 1996) (Because “[t]here is no legitimate penological

justification for . . . constant illumination[,]” a triable issue of fact existed on a continuous

lighting claim where prisoner was subjected to two large fluorescent lights on 24 hours a day

for six months, and prisoner claimed the lighting caused him grave sleeping and other mental

and psychological problems.) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted), opinion

amended on denial of rehearing by 135 F.3d 1318 (9th Cir. 1998). Plaintiff seeks declaratory

and injunctive relief and monetary damages.

On November 5, 2012, the Arizona Department of Corrections (“ADOC”) moved

Plaintiff to its south unit in Florence, Arizona, which does not have the continuous lighting

problem about which Plaintiff has complained. (Doc. 15, ¶ 10 at 3) 

II. Appointment of Expert Witness

Federal Rule of Evidence 702(a) authorizes “[a] witness who is qualified as an expert

by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education [to] testify in the form of an opinion

or otherwise if: (a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help

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the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue[.]” Rule 706

provides that a district court may appoint expert witnesses, set compensation for the witness,

and determine which portion of the expert’s bill each party will pay. Specifically, Rule

706(a), Fed.R.Evid., reads, in part, “[o]n a party’s motion or on its own, the court may order

the parties to show cause why expert witnesses should not be appointed[.]” See Walker v.

American Home Shield Long Term Disability Plan, 180 F.3d 1065, 1071 (9th Cir. 1999).

Rule 706(a), however, “[o]nly allows a court to appoint a neutral expert.” Gorton v. Todd,

793 F.Supp.2d 1171, 1178 (E.D. Cal. 2011) (citation and footnote omitted). “However,

‘[r]easonably construed, Rule 706 does not contemplate the appointment of, and

compensation for, an expert to aid one of the parties.’” Hollis v. Sloan, 2010 WL 4069336,

at *1 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 18, 2010) (quoting Gamez v. Gonzalez, 2010 WL 2228427, *1 (E.D.

Cal. June 3, 2010)). “[T]he principal purpose of a court- appointed expert is to assist the trier

of fact, not to serve as an advocate.” Id. In determining whether to appoint a neutral expert

witness, a district court considers the “[c]omplexity of the evidence, and the court’s need for

an impartial viewpoint.” Beaver v. Board of County Commissioners, 1991 WL 350749, at

*1 (D. Idaho 1991) (citations omitted); see also McKinney v. Anderson, 924 F.2d 1500, 1511

(9th Cir. 1991) (suggesting that district court consider appointing an expert in a § 1983 action

involving second-hand tobacco smoke), affirmed on other grounds Helling v. McKinney, 509

U.S. 25 (1993). 

The Ninth Circuit has found that, while no funds have been provided by law to

compensate an expert witness in civil rights cases, Rule 706(c)(2), “in an appropriate case,

permits the court to apportion all the cost to one side.” McKinney, 924 F.2d at 1511.

“Otherwise, we are faced with an inflexible rule that would prevent the district court from

appointing an expert witness whenever one of the parties in an action is indigent, even when

the expert would significantly help the court.” Id. The Fifth Circuit has noted, however, that

the Supreme Court has held that “expenditure of public funds [on behalf of an indigent

litigant] is proper only when authorized by Congress.” Pedraza v. Jones, 71 F.3d 194, 196

(5th Cir. 1995) (quoting United States v. MacCollom, 426 U.S. 317, 321 (1976)). “The plain

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language of section 1915 does not provide for the appointment of expert witnesses to aid an

indigent litigant.” Id. Plaintiff has not pointed to, and the Court’s independent research has

not discovered, any federal statute authorizing the expenditure of public funds for the

appointment of an expert witness to assist a pro se party in litigation.

District “[c]ourts do not commonly appoint an expert pursuant to Rule 706 and

usually do so only in ‘exceptional cases in which the ordinary adversary process does not

suffice’ or when a case presents compelling circumstances warranting appointment of an

expert.” Hart v. Agnos, 2008 WL 2008966, at *5 (D. Ariz. April 25, 2008) (citations

omitted).

III. Discussion

Plaintiff has made no showing that the evidence or his claims are so complex that the

appointment of a court expert is necessary to “help the trier of fact to understand the evidence

or to determine a fact in issue[,]” Rule 702(a), Fed.R.Evid., or that this case presents

compelling circumstances warranting the appointment of an expert. See Lopez v. Scribner,

2008 WL 551177, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 27, 2008) (denying plaintiff’s request to appoint

medical expert witness in § 1983 action because “the legal issues involved in this action are

not particularly complex.”) (citing Ledford v. Sullivan, 105 F.3d 354, 358-59 (7th Cir. 1997)

(district court did not abuse its discretion by denying request to appoint expert under Rule

706 where trier of fact’s determination of deliberate indifference was not so complicated that

an expert was required); Hooker v. Adams, 2007 WL 4239570, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Dec. 3, 2007)

(plaintiff’s motion for the appointment of an expert witness denied as “the legal issues

involved in this action are not particularly complex.”). The adverse effects of sleep

deprivation on the human body are within the common knowledge of potential jurors. An

expert witness will not be necessary to relate the cause and effect that constant, bright

illumination may have on normal sleep and rest, causing headaches, inability to sleep,

upsetting one’s internal sleep clock, and rendering someone too fatigued to participate in

basic daily activities. Accordingly, the Court cannot conclude a medical expert’s opinion is

essential to the presentation and fair resolution of the legal issues in this case. 

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Additionally, because there is a summary judgment motion pending on Plaintiff’s

Eighth Amendment liability claim, doc. 34, it is premature to decide whether appointment

of a medical or sleep expert is warranted on issues related to causation or damages. See

Estrada v. Rowe, 2011 WL 249453, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 25, 2011). As the district court in

Estrada noted, “[u]ntil the Court has had the opportunity to review the arguments and

evidence submitted by the parties on summary judgment, no determination can be made that

the issues are so complex as to require the testimony of an expert to assist the trier of fact.”

Id.

Plaintiff’s reliance on Steele v. Shah, 87 F.3d 1266, 1270-71 (11th Cir. 1996) and

Beard v. Banks, 548 U.S. 521, 534 (2006) is unavailing. In Steele, the Eleventh Circuit

reversed the district court’s denial of plaintiff’s motion for appointment of an expert witness

where no explanation was given for the denial and, absent an explanation, the circuit court

was “unable to review the [ ] denial [ ] for abuse of discretion.” Steele, 87 F.3d at 1270. In

Beard, the Supreme Court held that a ban on all newspapers, magazines, and personal

photographs for inmates housed in long term segregation unit does not violate the First

Amendment because it is rationally related to rehabilitation. There is no discussion of Rule

706(a), Fed.R.Evid., in Beard.

Accordingly,

IT IS ORDERED Plaintiff’s Motion to Appoint Expert to Analyze Health Effects and

Harm of Constant Illumination, doc. 40, is DENIED.

Dated this 3rd day of June, 2013.

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