Eric D. Sales v. Clyde Johnson, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin addresses defendants’ motion for summary judgment in Eric D. Sales’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. Sales alleges that a correctional officer used excessive force in violation of the Eighth Amendment and that a warden intentionally delayed his disciplinary appeal in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The order discusses disputed facts concerning the alleged use of force, a prison conduct report, and the loss or delay of Sales’s disciplinary appeal.

Holdings

1. Summary judgment must be denied because Sales's sworn account that Johnson entered his cell without justification, attacked him, and fabricated a conduct report conflicts with Johnson's account, creating a genuine dispute of material fact for a jury.
2. Warden Wells was entitled to summary judgment because Sales offered no evidence that Wells intentionally delayed the appeal or that the delay deprived Sales of a protected liberty or property interest.
3. Officer Johnson was not entitled to qualified immunity at summary judgment because, accepting Sales's version of events, a jury could find that Johnson used unnecessary and excessive force in violation of a clearly established Eighth Amendment right.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a genuine dispute of material fact concerning the alleged cell assault required denial of summary judgment on Sales's Eighth Amendment excessive-force claim against Officer Johnson.
2. Whether Sales presented evidence that Warden Wells violated a protected liberty or property interest by intentionally delaying Sales's prison disciplinary appeal.
3. Whether Officer Johnson was entitled to qualified immunity on the excessive-force claim at summary judgment.

Disposition

other