Carmen Cox v. Tyler Lewey

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois grants Carmen Cox leave to file his response to Defendant Tyler Lewey’s motion to dismiss out of time. The court denies dismissal of Cox’s Eighth Amendment excessive-force claim under the prison mailbox rule and denies dismissal of his Illinois assault and battery claim based on the asserted statute of limitations. The Clerk is directed to correct the defendant’s name on the docket to Tyler Lewey.

Holdings

1. Leave to file the response out of time was warranted and was granted for good cause shown, particularly because Plaintiff stated that he did not receive the filing-order until after the deadline and Defendant did not object.
2. The § 1983 excessive-force claim was not untimely because, under the prison mailbox rule, the complaint was deemed filed when Plaintiff placed it in the prison mail system on May 20, 2024, rather than when the clerk received it on May 23, 2024.
3. The Illinois Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act did not apply to the assault and battery claim because Defendant was employed by the State of Illinois or an Illinois department rather than a local governmental entity.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff showed good cause for leave to file his response to Defendant's motion to dismiss out of time.
2. Whether the prison mailbox rule rendered the § 1983 excessive-force claim timely when Plaintiff placed the complaint in the prison mail system on the limitations deadline.
3. Whether the Illinois Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act's one-year limitations provision applied to assault and battery claims against an employee of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Disposition

other