Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca5-19-30370/USCOURTS-ca5-19-30370-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Devill
Appellee
Benjamin Gottke
Appellant
Green
Appellee
Billy Tigner
Appellee
Winn Correctional Center
Appellee

Document Text:

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 19-30370

Summary Calendar

BENJAMIN GOTTKE,

Plaintiff - Appellant

v.

WINN CORRECTIONAL CENTER; GREEN, Inmate, Winn Correctional 

Center; BILLY TIGNER; WARDEN DEVILL

Defendants - Appellees

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Louisiana

USDC No. 1:18-CV-1400

Before BARKSDALE, HAYNES, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

Proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, Benjamin Gottke, Louisiana 

prisoner # 328995, challenges the district court’s dismissal, pursuant to 28 

U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) and 1915A, of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint. It 

claims a failure to protect and deliberate indifference to serious medical needs. 

The dismissal was for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. 

 

* Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not 

be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. 

R. 47.5.4.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

January 9, 2020

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

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 The complaint’s dismissal is reviewed under the same de novo standard

as a dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Ruiz v. 

United States, 160 F.3d 273, 275 (5th Cir. 1998) (per curiam) (citations 

omitted). A complaint “must be dismissed” if it fails to “set forth enough facts 

to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face”. Childers v. Iglesias, 848 

F.3d 412, 413–14 (5th Cir. 2017) (internal quotation marks and citation 

omitted).

To state a claim under § 1983, Gottke “must establish that [he was] 

deprived of a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States, 

and that the alleged deprivation was committed under color of state law”. Am.

Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U.S. 40, 49–50 (1999). Additionally, he 

must show “that the defendant was either personally involved in the 

deprivation or that his wrongful actions were causally connected to the 

deprivation”. James v. Tex. Collin Cty., 535 F.3d 365, 373 (5th Cir. 2008)

(citation omitted).

Pursuant to the Eighth-Amendment prohibition against cruel-andunusual punishment, prison officials have a duty to protect prisoners from 

attacks by other prisoners. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 832–33 

(1994) (citations omitted). “To establish a failure-to-protect claim under 

§ 1983, [Gottke] must show that he [was] incarcerated under conditions posing 

a substantial risk of serious harm and that prison officials were deliberately 

indifferent to his need for protection.” Neals v. Norwood, 59 F.3d 530, 533 (5th 

Cir. 1995) (citation omitted). “In order to act with deliberate indifference, the 

official must both be aware of facts from which the inference could be drawn 

that a substantial risk of serious harm exists, and he must also draw the 

inference.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

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Prison officials also violate the Eighth-Amendment prohibition against 

cruel-and-unusual punishment when they demonstrate deliberate indifference 

to a prisoner’s serious medical needs resulting in “the unnecessary and wanton 

infliction of pain”. Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 297 (1991) (internal quotation 

marks, italics, and citation omitted). To show deliberate indifference, plaintiff 

must establish that defendant “refused to treat him, ignored his complaints, 

intentionally treated him incorrectly, or engaged in any similar conduct that 

would clearly evince a wanton disregard for any serious medical needs”. 

Domino v. Tex. Dep’t of Criminal Justice, 239 F.3d 752, 756 (5th Cir. 2001) 

(citation omitted). A delay in medical care violates the Eighth Amendment 

only if it is due to deliberate indifference resulting in substantial harm. 

Mendoza v. Lynaugh, 989 F.2d 191, 195 (5th Cir. 1993).

Gottke asserts: unidentified prison officials failed to protect him from 

an attack by another inmate after he requested to be moved from his 

dormitory; there was a delay in their transferring him to the hospital following 

the attack, causing a left-leg infection that required the leg’s amputation below 

the knee; and he is not receiving adequate medical care where he is presently 

incarcerated.

These allegations fail to state a failure-to-protect claim. Gottke did not

show that any identified state actor was aware of articulated facts giving rise 

to an inference he was exposed to a substantial risk of harm, while also 

deliberately ignoring his need for protection, prior to his being attacked.

Additionally, Gottke fails to state a deliberate-indifference claim. He did 

not identify any state actor, aware of his injuries, who deliberately delayed 

transporting him to the hospital following the attack. Nor did he allege any 

facts—just his own opinion—showing that the alleged delay caused his leg’s

infection and subsequent amputation. Further, he failed to identify any state 

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actor who acted with deliberate indifference in the provision of medical care at 

his present place of incarceration.

The district-court dismissal of Gottke’s complaint counts as a strike 

pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Gottke is warned that, if he accumulates three 

strikes, he will not be allowed to proceed in forma pauperis in any civil action 

or appeal filed while he is incarcerated or detained in any facility, unless he “is 

under imminent danger of serious physical injury”. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). 

AFFIRMED. SANCTION WARNING ISSUED.

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