Opinion ID: 2979447
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legal mail claim

Text: Murphy claims that the district court erred in granting summary judgment to Grenier, Bonnee, and Hodges regarding his legal mail claim on the ground that he did not allege sufficient facts to establish their personal involvement in unlawfully opening his mail. Personal involvement No. 09-2132 Murphy v. Grenier Page 3 is necessary to establish section 1983 liability. See, e.g., Gibson v. Matthews, 926 F.2d 532, 535 (6th Cir. 1991) (noting that personal liability “must be based on the actions of that defendant in the situation that the defendant faced, and not based on any problems caused by the errors of others”). Murphy’s complaint alleges only that Grenier, Bonnee, and Hodges were employed as mailroom staff at two of the prisons where he was incarcerated and that mailroom staff at those prisons opened his legal mail on four occasions. In his Affidavit in Support of Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and/or for Summary Judgment, Murphy alleges that Grenier, Bonnee, or Hodges opened, inspected, or read outside his presence his legal mail. Grenier, Bonnee and Hodges submitted affidavits stating that they did not do so or that they do not recall doing so, and Murphy failed to rebut these affidavits with any specific facts. Furthermore, as discussed below, Murphy did not make a proper request for discovery under Rule 56(d). It was proper for the district court to grant summary judgment when Murphy’s opposing affidavit merely stated that someone had opened his mail, and concluded that it must have been Grenier, Bonnee, or Hodges. See Lewis v. Philip Morris Inc., 355 F.3d 515, 533 (6th Cir .2004) (stating that “conclusory statements” unsupported by specific facts will not permit a party to survive summary judgment). In Berndt v. Tennessee, 796 F.2d 879, 882-83 (6th Cir. 1986), we remanded a case to permit a pro se plaintiff to amend his civil rights complaint to name as defendants staff and authorities of a state mental health institution, even though he had originally named only the state and the institution and alleged that unnamed individuals had violated his rights. We noted that the plaintiff had raised substantially cognizable claims in his complaint, and stated that the district court should closely scrutinize it before dismissing it in the pleading stage. Id. at 883. However, this case is at No. 09-2132 Murphy v. Grenier Page 4 the summary judgment stage rather than the pleading stage. Additionally, Murphy named specific individuals, but those individuals demonstrated that they were not involved. Thus, we AFFIRM the district court’s decision granting summary judgment to the defendants regarding Murphy’s legal mail claims.