Opinion ID: 3169927
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Adequate predeprivation remedy.

Text: [¶18] With regard to Television 2, Chapman in effect argues that he was deprived of his property without due process as the result of an established state procedure, specifically WDOC Policy and Procedure #3.013, Searches. Certainly there are instances where “[p]ost-deprivation remedies alone are insufficient where the deprivation of property results from an established state procedure.” Griffin v. Hickenlooper, 549 Fed. Appx. 823, 828 (10th Cir. 2013). See also Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U.S. 422, 436, 102 S.Ct. 1148, 1158, 71 L.Ed.2d 265 (1982).3 In Griffin, an inmate in the Colorado state prison system, complained that the corrections policy of disposition of inmate property was unconstitutional as it applied to him, based on the confiscation and disposal of his personal property. Id., 549 Fed. Appx. at 827-28. Nevertheless, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of this claim because the inmate was provided with both adequate predeprivation and postdeprivation remedies. Id. at 828. See also Jackson v. Central N.M. Corr. Facility, No. 91-2234, 1992 WL 236921,  (10th Cir. Sept. 21, 1992) (unpublished opinion) (“any procedural due process to which Plaintiff was entitled was provided by the post-deprivation grievance procedure available within the prison system”) and Cosco, 229 P.3d 962 (where this Court ruled that an inmate is not denied due process on a claim that he was wrongly deprived of his personal property where a grievance procedure affords the required process). 1983 or any other Federal law. Thus federal prisoners suing under Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), must first exhaust inmate grievance procedures just as state prisoners must exhaust administrative processes prior to instituting a § 1983 suit. Porter, 534 U.S. at 524, 122 S.Ct. at 988 (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). 3 Unlike the complainant in Parratt, the complainant in Logan was not challenging the state’s error, but the “established state procedure” that destroyed his entitlement without according him proper procedural safeguards. Logan, 455 U.S. 422, 102 S.Ct. 1148. In Logan, Appellant was discharged from his job because a physical disability purportedly made it impossible for him to do his job. The Supreme Court held that (1) the employee’s right to use the Fair Employment Practices Act’s adjudicatory procedures is a property right protected by the due process clause, (2) the employee had a right to adjudication by the state’s Fair Employment Practices Commission, and (3) availability of a post-termination tort action pursuant to the state’s claims act would not provide the employee due process as the claims act does not provide for reinstatement of an employee’s job. Thus, even a successful suit will not entirely vindicate an employee. 12 [¶19] Chapman, like the inmate in the Griffin case, was also provided with adequate preand postdeprivation remedies through the WDOC’s Inmate Communication and Grievance Policy #3.100. When Television 2 was confiscated on June 18, 2012, Chapman filed a grievance on July 3, 2012. Chapman’s grievance was ultimately determined to be without merit and dismissed on August 13, 2012, in the final appeal process to Director Lampert. Television 2 was not disposed of until November 2012, well after Chapman completed the grievance process. Chapman completed the grievance process after Television 3 was confiscated with the same result; his appeal was determined to be without merit and dismissed on September 9, 2013. “The fact that Plaintiff did not receive the result he desired from the grievance procedure does not mean that he was denied due process.” Jackson, 1992 WL 236921, at  (unpublished opinion). Given the availability of both adequate predeprivation and postdeprivation remedies, Chapman suffered no deprivation of his procedural due process rights. Summary judgment on this issue was appropriately granted. III. Are the Government officials who are the subject of Chapman’s claims entitled to qualified immunity? [¶20] Chapman named three Department of Corrections employees, in their official and individual capacities, as Defendants in the district court, two of whom fall within the definition of a “government official:” Robert O. Lampert, Director of the Department of Corrections; and Steve Hargett, Warden at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution. Although not considered a “government official,” Cpl. Kelli Dolan, Property Officer at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution, is also a named Defendant. Appellees argue Director Lampert and Warden Hargett have qualified immunity from civil damages as government officials. Chapman argues that “[t]he Eleventh Amendment does not forbid suing state officials for damages in their individual capacities, and for declaratory or injunctive relief in their official capacities.” Aside from arguing simply that these Appellees “are not entitled to qualified immunity,” Chapman does not provide a cogent argument in support of his contention. [¶21] We have said about the doctrine of qualified immunity: Qualified immunity generally shields government officials performing discretionary functions from liability for civil damages when their conduct “‘does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’” Park County v. Cooney, 845 P.2d 346, 351 (Wyo. 1992), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 813, 114 S.Ct. 60, 126 L.Ed.2d 30 (1993) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, [818], 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)) (emphasis in original). Qualified immunity “‘gives ample room for mistaken judgments’ by protecting ‘all but the plainly incompetent or 13 those who knowingly violate the law.’” Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, [229], 112 S.Ct. 534, [537], 116 L.Ed.2d 589 (1991) (quoting Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 343, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 1096-97, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986)). Abell v. Dewey, 870 P.2d 363, 367 (Wyo. 1994). Qualified immunity balances two important interests—the need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably. The protection of qualified immunity applies regardless of whether the government official’s error is “a mistake of law, a mistake of fact, or a mistake based on mixed questions of law and fact.” Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 815, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009). There are two prongs to the qualified immunity analysis: A court must decide (1) whether the facts that a plaintiff has alleged or shown make out a violation of a constitutional right, and (2) whether the right at issue was “clearly established” at the time of defendant’s alleged misconduct. Qualified immunity is applicable unless the official’s conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right. Id., 555 U.S. at 232, 129 S.Ct. at 815-16. The standard for a “clearly established right” is defined as follows: To be clearly established, a right must be sufficiently clear “that every ‘reasonable official would [have understood] that what he is doing violates that right.’” [Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731], 131 S.Ct. [2074, 2083, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011)] (quoting Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)). In other words, “existing precedent must have placed the statutory or constitutional question beyond debate.” 563 U.S.[ at ––––, 131 S.Ct. at 2083]. This “clearly established” standard protects the balance between vindication of constitutional rights and government officials’ effective performance of their duties by ensuring that officials can “‘reasonably ... anticipate when their conduct may give rise to liability for damages.’” Anderson, supra, at 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034 (quoting Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183, 195, 104 S.Ct. 3012, 82 L.Ed.2d 139 (1984)). Reichle v. Howards, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 132 S.Ct. 2088, 2093, 182 L.Ed.2d 985 (2012). 14 [¶22] Certainly, Chapman’s right to procedural due process either pre- or postdeprivation is clearly established. Chapman fails, however, to set out any facts establishing a violation of that right. Director Lampert’s and Warden Hargett’s only role was reviewing Chapman’s grievances and making a determination based on the information presented to them pursuant to Policy #3.100. Where officials have not caused or personally participated in an alleged constitutional violation, they are properly dismissed as parties in an inmate’s § 1983 civil action. Pettigrew v. Zavaras, 574 Fed. Appx. 801, 808 (10th Cir. 2014) (unpublished). Merely participating in the grievance procedure by denying the inmate’s request does not constitute sufficient involvement to establish personal participation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Larson v. Meek, 240 Fed. Appx. 777, 780 (10th Cir. 2007) (unpublished). The facts are undisputed and Chapman’s allegations against Director Lampert and Warden Hargett are insufficient to state a cause of action. Summary judgment was therefore appropriate. [¶23] Again, using the analysis for qualified immunity above, Chapman fails to show there is clearly established law that would put Cpl. Dolan on notice that her actions would violate Chapman’s procedural due process rights. As the district court noted in its summary judgment order, the property policy in place at the Wyoming State Penitentiary and the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution is the type of administrative policy that courts have “accorded wide-ranging deference” to prison officials, so as to “preserve internal order and discipline and to maintain institutional security.” Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 547, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1878, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). Courts will give prison officials deference in policy matters regarding the safety and security of the prisons. See also Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 827, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 2806, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974). [¶24] Cpl. Kelli Dolan is not considered a government official, yet Chapman names her in her official and individual capacity in his civil action. Although Chapman does not explicitly make a respondeat superior argument, Director Lampert and Warden Hargett are Cpl. Dolan’s superiors, so we will address this issue simply to say “there is no concept of supervisor strict liability under section 1983.” Harris v. Greer, 750 F.2d 617, 618 (7th Cir. 1984). See also Schultz v. Baumgart, 738 F.2d 231, 238–39 (7th Cir. 1984); Wolf-Lillie v. Sonquist, 699 F.2d 864, 869 (7th Cir. 1983); cf. Monell v. New York City Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 691–94, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2036–37, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Section 1983 creates a cause of action based upon personal liability and predicated upon fault. An individual cannot be held liable in a § 1983 action unless he caused or participated in an alleged constitutional deprivation. McBride v. Soos, 679 F.2d 1223, 1227 (7th Cir. 1982); Adams v. Pate, 445 F.2d 105, 107 (7th Cir. 1971). Pursuant to this requirement, courts have rejected § 1983 claims based upon respondeat superior theory of liability. See Polk Co. v. Dodson, 454 U.S. 312, 325, 102 S.Ct. 445, 453, 70 L.Ed.2d 509 (1981); Iskander v. 15 Village of Forest Park, 690 F.2d 126, 128 (7th Cir. 1982) (cases cited therein). Without a showing of direct responsibility for the improper action, liability will not lie against a supervisory official. A causal connection, or an affirmative link, between the misconduct complained of and the official sued is necessary. Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 371, 96 S.Ct. 598, 604, 46 L.Ed.2d 561 (1976). Wolf-Lillie, 699 F.2d at 869 (emphasis in original). There are no facts or evidence to support a claim based on respondeat superior. We hold these named Appellees are entitled to qualified immunity and that summary judgment was appropriate. IV. Did Chapman comply with the jurisdictional requirements of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-113? [¶25] Chapman’s state law negligence claim is against a governmental entity, and “[t]his Court has long held that a party seeking to bring an action against a governmental entity must first comply with the constitutional and statutory requirements by presenting a notice of claim to the entity.” Harmon v. Star Valley Med. Ctr., 2014 WY 90, ¶ 18, 331 P.3d 1174, 1178 (Wyo. 2014) citing Brown v. City of Casper, 2011 WY 35, ¶ 19, 248 P.3d 1136, 1141 (Wyo. 2011). Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-113(d) reads: (d) In any action under this act, the complaint shall state: (i) That the claim required under subsection (c) of this section was filed in accordance with this section; (ii) The date the claim under subsection (c) of this section was filed; (iii) That the claim was in compliance with the signature and certification requirements of article 16, section 7 of the Wyoming Constitution. [¶26] While failure to file a claim strictly complying with the WGCA does not deprive a district court of subject matter jurisdiction, the WGCA’s requirements are substantive and a plaintiff’s failure to strictly comply may require dismissal of his claim. See Harmon, ¶ 49, 331 P.3d at 1188.4 4 It is important to note here that even though failure to strictly comply with the requirements of the WGCA may require dismissal of a state law claim, that failure would not bar a § 1983 claim: [T]he Supreme Court has stated that “[c]onduct by persons acting under color of state law which is wrongful under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 … cannot be immunized by state law.” Howlett ex rel. Howlett v. Rose, 496 U.S. 16 [¶27] The parties do not dispute that Chapman failed to submit a notice of claim as required by the WGCA. Chapman’s state law negligence claim was therefore appropriately dismissed in summary judgment. V. Does the doctrine of sovereign immunity bar Chapman’s claims against the State of Wyoming, two state agencies, and three state officials? [¶28] Suits against state officials in their official capacity should be treated as suits against the State. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 166, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3105, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985); Hafer v. Melo, 502 U.S. 21, 25, 112 S.Ct. 358, 361, 116 L.Ed.2d 301 (1991). Chapman brought suit against the Wyoming Department of Corrections, the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution, and against Director Lampert, Warden Hargett, and Cpl. Dolan in their official capacities as well as individually. “[N]either a State nor its officials acting in their official capacities are ‘persons’ under § 1983.” Will v. Michigan Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 2312, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989). As such, there is no cause of action for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Stidham v. Peace Officer Standards and Training, 265 F.3d 1144, 1156 (10th Cir. 2001). [¶29] Unless a state consents to a suit brought by her own citizens or citizens of another state, the state is entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity. Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1355, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). The Wyoming Department of Corrections, the Wyoming State Penitentiary, and the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution are all part of the State of Wyoming. Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 9-2-2012 and 25-2- 104. The State of Wyoming has not waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity. Chapman, therefore, has no claim for damages against Appellees in their official capacities, and summary judgment in Defendants’/Appellees’ favor was appropriate. 356, [376], 110 S.Ct. 2430, 110 L.Ed.2d 332 (1990) (quoting Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 284 n.8, 100 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980)). The Tenth Circuit has very plainly held this statement to mean that “[a] § 1983 claim may be available, even though a state remedy is foreclosed by the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act.” Tiemann v. Tul–Ctr., Inc., 18 F.3d 851, 853 (10th Cir. 1994); see also Phillips v. Wiseman, 857 P.2d 50, 52 (Okla. 1993) (“[T]he [Oklahoma] Governmental Tort Claims Act and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provide a ‘doublebarreled system,’ and ... escaping liability under one does not necessarily mean that a party also escapes liability under the other.”). Indeed, a cursory review of prior rulings from this Court would have demonstrated to OMUSA that Romero’s § 1983 was not foreclosed under the GTCA. See, e.g., Poore v. Glanz, 11–CV–0797–[CVE]–TLW, 2012 WL 1536933 (N.D. Okla. Apr. 30, 2012) (“plaintiff’s lack of compliance with the notice requirements of the GTCA is not a defense to a § 1983 claim.”). Romero v. City of Miami, 8 F. Supp. 3d 1321, 1327-28 (N.D. Okla. 2014). 17