Court Opinion

ID: 9490183
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:35:34.737452+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:56.681708
License: Public Domain

HARRY W. WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I am in full agreement with Judge Moore in all respects save the discussion about defendant Tessmer. I therefore DISSENT in the reversal of the district court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant Tessmer.
The majority correctly concludes that the ease against deputy warden Tessmer at least preliminarily depends on whether there was sufficient evidence for a jury to reasonably infer that he had received the so-called “Vink Report.” In looking at all of the proof in the record, however, I have serious reservations about joining the majority in singling out one piece of potentially contradictory evidence as a basis for concluding that Tessmer should have received the Vink Report.
The record shows that deputy warden Tessmer testified without qualification that he had never received or even seen the Vink Report, and indeed it could not be found in Billups’ file. I would concede that Eric Vink, the prison official that Tessmer assigned to investigate the initial assault on inmate Barlow and the subsequent stabbing inmate Rogers, did indicate that he sent the report to Tessmer. Nevertheless, Vink was unable to remember definitively when he sent the report or whether he had ever discussed it with Tessmer personally. In any event, he was unable to recall the content of any such conversation. Furthermore, the record indicates that as a matter of procedure, a transfer of documents to Tessmer would generally be recorded in a logbook, and the Vink Report was not so recorded. Although I am mindful of the majority’s warning to refrain from “weighing the evidence” at this stage in this case, I am also aware that judgment as a matter law is not a hollow procedure either. There is, in my view, a serious question about whether a reasonable jury could infer that Tessmer ever actually received any of the information garnered by Vink.
Even assuming that we could presume that deputy warden Tessmer received the Vink Report, I have some question about whether the report would necessarily raise an obvious red flag of warning about Billups’ safety, especially at another prison. This observation is important since there is no direct evidence of any culpable state of mind on Tessmer’s part. As our court has explained, a plaintiff may still prevail when there is no direct evidence, but it must demonstrate circumstantially that the risk of harm to the inmate was so obvious that it would be reasonable for a jury to conclude that an official knew of and disregarded it. See Brooks v. Celeste, 39 F.3d 125, 129 (6th Cir.1994). As noted above, however, my reading of the Vink Report does not lead me to conclude that a reasonable jury could find an obvious risk.
As a preliminary matter, it is important to note that the Vink Report is not really a report per se, but was instead a mere collection of prisoner interviews conducted by Erie Vink. Further, the transcripts and notes of these interviews are, in my opinion, confusing and inconsistent at best. Much of the content of the interviews is irrelevant and incoherent, and at least one of the interviewees refused even to sign his statement. In any event, the plaintiff argues that the interviews cumulatively suggest that the “topheads,” or leaders of the Melanies, had not authorized the “hit on Barlow and that they were unhappy about it.” In fact, the plaintiff points out that another inmate, Rogers, had been stabbed prior to Billups, and that at least two prisoners attributed the stabbing to Rogers’ participation in the assault on Barlow. However, Rogers himself did not believe that was the reason he was stabbed. In contrast, he indicated simply that the Melanies were a gang that was into the drug business and that he felt that he was assaulted “because [he] stepped out from being a Melanie.” In my opinion, when examined as a whole in context, these circumstances do not suggest that an obvious risk to Billups’ safety existed. After all, despite being privy to prison gossip, no inmate indicated that he was aware of any threat made toward Billups, or even Rogers.
Notwithstanding the paucity of this information, the majority asserts that Tessmer himself admitted that further investigation would have been warranted if he had in fact received the reports. In looking carefully at *1227his testimony, however, it is apparent that the majority’s characterization is somewhat of an exaggeration. In fact, Tessmer stated only that he would have asked Billups about the situation, which did in fact occur anyway, and even then, Billups did not indicate any concern for his own safety.
Ultimately, I find that the district court’s opinion properly took into account the meaning of “deliberate indifference” as that term has been defined by the Supreme Court and this court in the prison context. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994); Marsh v. Arn, 937 F.2d 1056 (6th Cir.1991). As Farmer makes clear, the Eighth Amendment requires a “sufficiently culpable state of mind,” which is more than mere negligence. Id. at 834, 114 S.Ct. at 1978. In Marsh, we emphasized further that a plaintiff must establish “obduracy and wantonness not inadvertence or error.” Id. at 1060. I find that even giving the plaintiff the benefit of favorable inferences, no reasonable jury could conclude on the basis of all of the evidence that Tessmer was guilty of recklessness or callous neglect. Therefore, I cannot disagree with the district court’s conclusion that Tessmer’s conduct, at worst, cannot “reasonably be characterized ... as deliberately indifferent, wanton or obdurate.” (Emphasis added.) As a result, I would AFFIRM in all respects.