Antwan Rush v. Rachelle Brower, John Mershon, Martial Kneiser

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana grants Defendant Rachelle Brower’s unopposed motion for judgment on the pleadings in an inmate’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Eighth Amendment deliberate-indifference action. The court concludes that the claims against Brower accrued no later than June 12, 2021, and are barred by Indiana’s two-year statute of limitations, and dismisses those claims with prejudice.

Holdings

1. The court may exercise discretion to consider a Rule 12(c) motion before all defendants have answered where doing so causes no undue prejudice, and it could therefore decide Brower's motion even though Kneiser had not yet been served or answered.
2. Rush's claim against Brower was barred by Indiana's two-year statute of limitations because it accrued no later than June 12, 2021, when he knew of the alleged injury and its connection to Brower's confiscation of his cane, and he did not file suit until January 19, 2024.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court could exercise discretion to decide Brower's Rule 12(c) motion before all defendants had answered or been served.
2. Whether Rush's § 1983 claim against Brower accrued no later than June 12, 2021 and was barred by Indiana's two-year statute of limitations when the action was filed on January 19, 2024.

Disposition

dismissed