UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA

KURT DWAIN EBY, )

)

Plaintiff, )

)

v. ) CAUSE NO.: 3:16-CV-354 TLS

)

MIKE MATTERN, )

)

Defendant. )

OPINION AND ORDER

Kurt Dwain Eby, a pro se prisoner, filed a Complaint [ECF No. 1] alleging that he was 

denied medical care by Jail Commander Mike Mattern while he was a pretrial detainee at the 

Marshall County Jail. “A document filed pro se is to be liberally construed, and a pro se complaint, 

however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted 

by lawyers . . . .” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

Nevertheless, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b), this Court must review the Complaint and dismiss 

it if the action is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks monetary relief against a 

defendant who is immune from such relief. “In order to state a claim under [42 U.S.C.] § 1983 a 

plaintiff must allege: (1) that defendants deprived him of a federal constitutional right; and (2) that 

the defendants acted under color of state law.” Savory v. Lyons, 469 F.3d 667, 670 (7th Cir. 2006).

Eby alleges that he was denied healthcare for 410 days despite three doctors recommending 

surgery for a tumor and two broken ear drums. As a result, he alleges that he was left in severe 

pain while bleeding from the ears. “In evaluating the constitutionality of conditions or restrictions 

of pretrial detention . . . the proper inquiry is whether those conditions amount to punishment of 

the detainee.” Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535 (1979). “[I]n the absence of an expressed intent 

to punish, a pretrial detainee can nevertheless prevail by showing that the actions are not ‘rationally 
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related to a legitimate nonpunitive governmental purpose’ or that the actions ‘appear excessive in 

relation to that purpose.’” Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466, 2473 (2015) (quoting Bell, 

441 U.S. at 561). These allegations against Jail Commander Mattern plausibly allege that denying 

Eby medical care was not rationally related to a legitimate nonpunitive governmental purpose. 

For these reasons, the court: 

(1) GRANTS Kurt Dwain Eby leave to proceed against Jail Commander Mike Mattern in 

his individual capacity for compensatory damages for preventing him from receiving surgery for 

his tumor and broken ear drums;

(2) DISMISSES all other claims;

(3) DIRECTS the clerk to transmit the summons and USM-285 for Jail Commander Mike 

Mattern to the United States Marshals Service along with a copy of the complaint and this order;

(4) DIRECTS the United States Marshals Service, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d), to 

effect service of process on Jail Commander Mike Mattern; and 

(5) ORDERS, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(g)(2), that Jail Commander Mike Mattern

respond, as provided for in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and N.D. Ind. L.R. 10-1(b), only 

to the claim for which the plaintiff has been granted leave to proceed in this screening order. 

SO ORDERED on June 24, 2016.

s/ Theresa L. Springmann_______________

THERESA L. SPRINGMANN

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FORT WAYNE DIVISION