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CLOSED 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

 

 : 

RALPH BAKER, : 

: Civil Action No. 11-992 (JAP) 

Plaintiff, : 

: 

v. : MEMORANDUM OPINION 

: 

JIM BARNES, et al., : 

: 

Defendants. : 

 : 

PISANO, District Judge: 

1. Proceeding in forma pauperis, Plaintiff filed a Third Amended Complaint (ECF No. 23), 

in response to this Court’s Memorandum Opinion and Order (ECF Nos. 18, 19) in which the 

Court dismissed the Second Amended Complaint and granted Plaintiff leave to amend the claim 

of deliberate indifference to Hepatitis C and/or Plaintiff’s dental needs for extraction, filling and 

a partial plate. 

2. This Court has screened the Third Amended Complaint, along with Plaintiff’s other 

filings, for dismissal, as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). To the extent that Plaintiff now 

asserts any additional claims, this Court will dismiss all federal claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 

which are beyond the scope of this Court’s Order granting leave to amend, which limited the 

amended complaint to Eighth Amendment claims under § 1983 for deliberate indifference to 

Hepatitis C and/or Plaintiff’s dental needs for extraction, filling and a partial plate. 

3. The Court will now screen the allegations in the Third Amended Complaint with respect 

to Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference claims for dismissal under the pleading standard 

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set forth in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). In screening a complaint for dismissal, a 

court must disregard conclusions disguised as factual allegations. See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678-79 

(“Rule 8 marks a notable and generous departure from the hyper-technical, code-pleading regime 

of a prior era, but it does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing 

more than conclusions”); Mayer v. Belichick, 605 F.3d 223, 229-230 (3d Cir. 2010) (“[A] court 

is not required to accept legal conclusions alleged in the complaint. The pleading must contain 

sufficient factual allegations so as to state a facially plausible claim for relief.”) (citations 

omitted). After disregarding conclusory statements, a court must determine if the complaint 

contains “sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim for relief that is plausible on 

its face.’ A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the 

court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.’” 

Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (citation omitted). “Because vicarious liability is inapplicable to Bivens

and § 1983 suits, a plaintiff must plead that each Government-official defendant, through the 

official’s own individual actions, has violated the Constitution.” Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1948. 

4. By the Iqbal standard, the Third Amended Complaint is deficient. The Third Amended 

Complaint fails to state an Eighth Amendment deliberate claim, because Plaintiff does not plead 

facts showing a defendant’s deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs regarding 

Hepatitis C and/or Plaintiff’s dental needs for extraction, filling and a partial plate. As this Court 

has previously stated in this matter, “[t]o establish deliberate indifference, a plaintiff must show 

that the defendant was subjectively aware of the unmet medical need and failed to reasonably 

respond to that need.” (ECF No. 9 at 6.) (citing Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994)). 

Plaintiff’s filings in response to this Court’s previous Memorandum Opinion and Order do not 

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cure the deficiencies in pleading, namely the failure to state a claim upon which relief may be 

granted. Thus, the Third Amended Complaint will be dismissed. 

5. An appropriate Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion. 

 _/s/ Joel A. Pisano________ 

 JOEL A. PISANO 

 United States District Judge 

Dated: February 28, 2014 

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