Coltin Drew Herzog v. Dylan LaRowe

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana grants Corporal Dylan LaRowe’s motion for summary judgment in Coltin Drew Herzog’s action alleging excessive use of restraints and deprivation of water privileges in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court holds that Herzog failed to exhaust available administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act and had not shown that the grievance process was unavailable to him.

Holdings

1. Herzog failed to exhaust available administrative remedies because he filed no grievance concerning LaRowe's alleged placement of him in restraints or removal of his water privileges before bringing the action.
2. LaRowe's response to Herzog's unrelated August 25 grievance did not make administrative remedies unavailable because it would not have deterred a person of ordinary firmness from filing a grievance about the July restraints and water-privileges incident.

Questions Presented

1. Whether LaRowe was entitled to summary judgment because Herzog failed to exhaust administrative remedies before filing his prisoner civil-rights action.
2. Whether LaRowe's response to Herzog's unrelated August 25 grievance rendered the grievance process unavailable by deterring an objectively ordinary-firmness prisoner from filing a grievance about the July incident.

Disposition

other