Jereme Maxwell v. John Does et al.

Summary

The court screened Jereme Maxwell’s § 1983 complaint concerning disciplinary restrictions and an allegedly false investigative report arising from events at an Illinois treatment and detention facility. The court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim and untimeliness, granted leave to amend within thirty days, granted in forma pauperis status, denied appointed counsel, and found the remaining motions moot.

Holdings

1. An unsigned, incomplete draft investigative report, without allegations establishing a breached duty and actual damages, does not state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
2. A defendant cannot be liable under § 1983 without personal responsibility for the alleged deprivation of the plaintiff's constitutional rights.
3. Restrictions imposed after a detainee was found to have committed a major rule violation do not trigger procedural due process protections unless they impose an atypical and significant hardship in relation to the ordinary incidents of confinement.
4. The complaint's due-process claim was untimely because it was filed more than two years after Maxwell knew of the restrictions and their alleged injury.
5. An indigent civil litigant is not entitled to appointed counsel merely by filing a request; the plaintiff must first show a reasonable attempt to obtain counsel or effective preclusion from doing so.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the complaint stated a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against an official who allegedly authored an unsigned and incomplete investigative report.
2. Whether the complaint stated a § 1983 claim against an official whom the complaint did not connect to any act or omission causing a constitutional deprivation.
3. Whether the restrictions imposed after Maxwell's battery finding constituted an atypical and significant hardship triggering Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process protections.
4. Whether the due-process claim was barred by Illinois's two-year statute of limitations.
5. Whether Maxwell was entitled to appointed counsel in this civil case.

Disposition

dismissed