Leggett v. Oneida Cnty. Corr. Facility ( 2022 )


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  •     21-3033-cv
    Leggett v. Oneida Cnty. Corr. Facility
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
    SUMMARY ORDER
    RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY
    ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF
    APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT=S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER
    IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN
    ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION ASUMMARY ORDER@). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY
    ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.
    At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit,
    held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of
    New York, on the 19th day of October, two thousand twenty-two.
    PRESENT:
    SUSAN L. CARNEY,
    JOSEPH F. BIANCO,
    MYRNA PÉREZ,
    Circuit Judges.
    _____________________________________
    Michael Leggett,
    Plaintiff-Appellant,
    v.                                                 21-3033-cv
    Oneida County Correctional Facility, Jonathan
    Wigderson, D.O. Orthopedic Surgeon, Oneida
    County Correctional Facility,
    Defendants-Appellees.
    _____________________________________
    FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT:                                       Michael Leggett, pro se,
    Utica, NY.
    FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES:                                      Kenneth L. Bobrow, Felt
    Evans, LLP, Clinton, NY.
    Appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New
    York (Hurd, J.).
    UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND
    DECREED that the order of the district court is AFFIRMED.
    Appellant Michael Leggett, proceeding pro se and incarcerated at the time of these events,
    appeals the district court’s sua sponte dismissal of his claims, pursuant to 
    42 U.S.C. § 1983
    , against
    Oneida County Correctional Facility (the “Oneida Facility”) and physician Jonathan Wigderson
    (“Dr. Wigderson”) for failure to state a claim. See 
    28 U.S.C. §§ 1915
    (e)(2)(B) and 1915A.
    Leggett alleged Eighth Amendment violations based on his conditions of confinement and
    inadequate medical care. In particular, Leggett asserted that he slipped and fell due to water
    spilling from a broken, leaky sink at the Oneida Facility, resulting in a fracture in his left knee.
    Leggett further alleged the medical care for his fractured knee was inadequate because he was
    given only a brace for the knee, without surgical intervention. We assume the parties’ familiarity
    with the underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal, to which we
    refer only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm. 1
    Sua sponte dismissals for failure to state a claim are reviewed de novo. McEachin v.
    McGuinnis, 
    357 F.3d 197
    , 200 (2d Cir. 2004). We accept as true all well-pleaded factual
    allegations in the complaint and draw all reasonable inferences in Leggett’s favor, assessing
    1
    As a threshold matter, we note that, although the district court’s dismissal was in part without prejudice
    and Leggett was granted leave to amend, he chose to appeal rather than amend his complaint. The deadline
    to amend has now expired, and judgment has been entered by operation of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
    58(c)(2)(B); Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(7)(A)(ii). Accordingly, we have appellate jurisdiction to review the
    dismissal order under 
    28 U.S.C. § 1291
    . See Slayton v. Am. Exp. Co., 
    460 F.3d 215
    , 224 & n.7 (2d Cir.
    2006).
    2
    whether the complaint “state[s] a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” See Bell Atl. Corp.
    v. Twombly, 
    550 U.S. 544
    , 570 (2007). Moreover, although we construe pro se submissions
    “liberally . . . to raise the strongest arguments that they suggest,” Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of
    Prisons, 
    470 F.3d 471
    , 474 (2d Cir. 2006) (emphasis and internal quotation marks omitted), a pro
    se complaint must nevertheless contain “factual allegations sufficient to meet the plausibility
    requirement,” Hill v. Curcione, 
    657 F.3d 116
    , 122 (2d Cir. 2011).
    The district court properly dismissed the claims against Oneida County (the “County”). 2
    Municipalities are liable under Section 1983 only if the challenged conduct was pursuant to a
    municipal policy or custom. Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 
    436 U.S. 658
    , 692–94 (1978);
    Patterson v. County of Oneida, 
    375 F.3d 206
    , 226 (2d Cir. 2004). The complaint does not contain
    any facts that could support a reasonable inference that the alleged wrongdoing, whether relating
    to his conditions of confinement or his medical treatment, occurred pursuant to a policy or custom
    of the County or its correctional facility. Accordingly, the complaint failed to state a plausible
    Monell claim against the County. See 
    436 U.S. at 691
     (“[A] municipality cannot be held liable
    solely because it employs a tortfeasor . . . .”).
    Additionally, the complaint failed to state a plausible claim against an individual defendant.
    With respect to the conditions of confinement claim, the complaint did not name an individual at
    the Oneida Facility who might have been personally involved in creating or failing to remediate
    the allegedly unsafe condition—namely, the wet floor caused by a leaking sink. See Brandon v.
    2
    Leggett does not challenge the district court’s determination that the County, rather than the Oneida
    Facility, was the proper defendant because the Oneida Facility lacks the capacity to be sued as an
    administrative arm of the County with no legal identity separate and apart from the County.
    3
    Kinter, 
    938 F.3d 21
    , 36 (2d Cir. 2019) (requiring “personal involvement of defendants” under
    Section 1983). In any event, the complaint fails to contain any facts that plausibly show that the
    condition was objectively an “unquestioned and serious deprivation[] of basic human needs,” the
    first requirement for this type of Eighth Amendment claim. Jolly v. Coughlin, 
    76 F.3d 468
    , 480
    (2d Cir. 1996); see also McCray v. Lee, 
    963 F.3d 110
    , 120 (2d Cir. 2020) (holding that slippery
    conditions in a recreation yard were not a grave and intolerable risk under the Eighth Amendment).
    In addition, the complaint lacks any allegations that could establish the requisite subjective
    intent—deliberate indifference—on the part of any individual responsible for the allegedly unsafe
    condition. See Hayes v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Corr., 
    84 F.3d 614
    , 620 (2d Cir. 1996). Instead, at most,
    the allegations suggest negligence, which is insufficient to give rise to an Eighth Amendment
    conditions of confinement claim. See Edwards v. Quiros, 
    986 F.3d 187
    , 192 (2d Cir. 2021).
    As to the Eighth Amendment claim against Dr. Wigderson alleging inadequate medical
    care, the complaint fails to describe how Dr. Wigderson was personally involved in the treatment
    of Leggett’s knee, as is required to survive a motion to dismiss. See Brandon, 938 F.3d at 36.
    Moreover, even assuming arguendo that Dr. Wigderson treated Leggett’s knee condition, the
    complaint fails to adequately allege the requisite “deliberate indifference to his serious medical
    needs.” Chance v. Armstrong, 
    143 F.3d 698
    , 702 (2d Cir. 1998). In fact, according to the
    complaint, Leggett received x-rays and eventually a brace for stabilization. Thus, the allegations
    in the complaint reflect a disagreement—or perhaps an assertion of negligence—as to the proper
    course of treatment for his injury, but neither “mere disagreement over the proper treatment” nor
    negligence establishes an Eighth Amendment violation for alleged inadequate medical care. 
    Id. at 703
    . Therefore, the district court properly dismissed the claim against Dr. Wigderson.
    4
    We have considered Leggett’s remaining arguments and find them to be without merit. 3
    Accordingly, we AFFIRM the order of the district court.
    FOR THE COURT:
    Catherine O=Hagan Wolfe, Clerk of Court
    3
    To the extent Leggett includes new allegations in his appellate brief and attaches several documents that
    were not presented to the district court, we conclude that there are no extraordinary circumstances that
    would warrant consideration of such allegations and documents for the first time on appeal. See Munn v.
    Hotchkiss Sch., 
    795 F.3d 324
    , 330 (2d Cir. 2015); Int’l Bus. Machs. Corp. v. Edelstein, 
    526 F.2d 37
    , 45 (2d
    Cir. 1975) (per curiam).
    5