Marion Allen Whitten, Jr. v. McCurtain County Jail Trust; Larry Hendrix, individually and in his official capacity; Trent Mitchell; Joe Ebert; and Tyler Sivards, individually

Summary

This Report and Recommendation addresses Defendant Joe Ebert’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action arising from alleged excessive force and deliberate indifference during Plaintiff Marion Allen Whitten, Jr.’s incarceration at the McCurtain County Jail. The magistrate judge concludes that Oklahoma’s savings statute applies because the allegations in Plaintiff’s earlier pro se action sufficiently identified Ebert despite naming him as “Joe LNU.” The recommendation is that Ebert’s motion be denied.

Holdings

1. Section 1983 claims in Oklahoma are subject to the state's two-year statute of limitations for personal-injury claims.
2. A party not properly named in the caption may nevertheless be treated as a defendant when the allegations in the body of the complaint make it plain that the party was intended as a defendant. Under that rule, the original action's reference to Joe LNU, together with the description of the restraint-chair incident and the night-supervisor job title, sufficiently identified Ebert.
3. Oklahoma's savings statute applied to Whitten's claims against Ebert because the original action failed for reasons other than the merits and the present action was filed within one year after judgment in the original action.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the remaining § 1983 claims against Ebert were barred by Oklahoma's two-year statute of limitations.
2. Whether Oklahoma's savings statute applied when the original action identified the alleged defendant as Joe LNU and described facts and a job title that made clear Ebert was the intended defendant.
3. Whether substituting the name Joe Zappala for Joe LNU in a later pleading caused the savings period to run from the substitution date rather than from the date judgment was entered in the original action.

Disposition

other