Scott v. Mahlmeister

Opinions of the United
2009 Decisions States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
3-18-2009
Scott v. Mahlmeister
Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential
Docket No. 07-4197
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Recommended Citation
"Scott v. Mahlmeister" (2009). 2009 Decisions. Paper 1730.
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 07-4197
___________
STEVEN SCOTT,
Appellant
v.
DEBORAH MAHLMEISTER; SGT. EPERJESI: OFFICER EFAW
____________________________________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Civil Action No. 06-00034E)
District Judge: Honorable Sean J. McLaughlin
____________________________________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
March 13, 2009
Before: SCIRICA, Chief Judge, CHAGARES and WEIS, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: March 18, 2009)
___________
OPINION
___________
PER CURIAM.
Pro se appellant Steven Scott challenges the District Court’s denial of his
request to introduce additional testimony in response to questions from the jury regarding
damages in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action.
Scott, who is incarcerated at a Pennsylvania state prison, filed a civil rights
complaint in the Western District of Pennsylvania against three prison employees. As is
relevant here, he claimed that defendant Debra Mahlmeister violated his Eighth
Amendment rights because she failed to act after he warned her that another inmate,
Ronald Paige, had threatened him. Paige attacked Scott with a razor soon after Scott
informed Mahlmeister that Paige had threatened him.
The case went to trial in October 2007, and Scott represented himself at all
times. Although the record is not entirely clear, it appears that Scott received a
misconduct charge after Paige attacked him and that he was placed in a restricted housing
unit for thirty days. He had resided in the “K block” and worked in the kitchen prior to
the attack. At some point, the prison superintendent reduced the level of his disciplinary
write-up, and Scott subsequently asked Mahlmeister to allow him to return to K block so
that he could return to his kitchen job. The testimony was unclear as to whether he ever
returned to K block or to the kitchen job.
During deliberations, the jury sent the following questions to the judge:
“What was the hourly rate Mr. Scott was paid when working in the kitchen? How long
was Mr. Scott out of the kitchen position because of the altercation?” The District Judge
proposed that he tell the jury that “they’re just going to have to determine, as best they
can, from their recollection what the evidence on those points were.” The defense did not
object to the proposed response, but Scott asked if he could “tell” the jury that he “never
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got the kitchen job back.” The District Judge informed Scott that the case could not be
reopened and stated that “[t]he evidence is what the evidence was.” Scott dropped his
objection, and the jurors were told that they must rely on their own recollection of the
evidence.
The jury returned with a verdict finding that Mahlmeister violated Scott’s
civil rights because she knew that there was a substantial risk that Paige would attack
Scott but deliberately disregarded it. Furthermore, the jury found that Scott would not
have been harmed or would have suffered less harm if Mahlmeister had not been
deliberately indifferent. The jury did not, however, award any damages to Scott.
Scott timely appealed, asserting that the District Court erred by not allowing
him to testify in response to the jury’s questions.
II.
The District Court’s decision to reopen or to supplement the record once
jury deliberations have begun is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Gibson v. Mayor &
City Council of Wilmington, 355 F.3d 215, 229 (3d Cir. 2004). “Great flexibility is
accorded the District Court in its determination . . . though it must avoid perpetrating any
type of injustice.” Id.The District Judge did not abuse his discretion by declining to allow
supplemental testimony or argument in response to the jury’s factual questions. The
questions from the jury in this matter dealt squarely with damages, indicating that the jury
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had already determined that at least one of the defendants had violated Scott’s
constitutional rights. Scott contends that answering the jury’s questions would have
required him to only state his hourly wage and the fact that he never returned to his
kitchen job. However, the defense would likely have disputed, among other things,
whether the (apparently permanent) loss of the kitchen job resulted from the violation of
Scott’s rights.1 Allowing this type of process would have burdened the defendants by
requiring them to recall their witnesses; it also would have unnecessarily delayed the
resolution of the case, and could have distorted the importance of the evidence as a
whole. See Gibson, 355 F.3d at 229; cf. Eason v. United States, 281 F.2d 818, 822 (3d
Cir. 1960) (stating, in a criminal case, that “reopening for the purpose of introducing
overlooked evidence must be done with extreme reluctance because of the undue
emphasis given to the introduced evidence with the consequent distortion of the evidence
as a whole”). The District Court therefore did not perpetrate any type of injustice by
refusing to allow Scott to introduce new evidence in response to the jury’s questions. See
Gibson, 355 F.3d at 229.
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Furthermore, Scott provided scant information regarding
damages during the trial. We do not agree with the appellees’ assertion that the failure to
introduce such evidence was a “strategic design by Scott to invite the jury’s arrant
speculation . . . in the hope of getting a windfall.” It was, however, Scott’s burden to
prove every element of his case, including damages, Rochez Bros., Inc. v. Rhoades, 527
F.2d 891, 894 (3d Cir. 1975)), and if he did not provide the jury with enough evidence to
satisfy this burden during the trial, he should not have been allowed to remedy this
oversight after deliberations had begun.
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Scott also appears to argue that the jury was required to award damages in
light of its liability determination. Compensatory damages, however, are only
recoverable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to compensate “for actual injury suffered as a result
of the violation of a constitutional right” because the “abstract value of a constitutional
right . . . may not form the basis for 1983 damages.” Allah v. Al-Hafeez, 226 F.3d 247,
250 (3d Cir. 2000) (internal citations omitted). Thus, a liability determination does not
mandate a damages award. Moreover, although nominal damages may be awarded in the
absence of proof of actual injury to recognize a violation of a constitutional right, this
“entitlement is not automatic,” as the plaintiff must make a “timely request” for such
damages. Alexander v. Riga, 208 F.3d 419, 429 (3d Cir. 2000). The proposed jury
instructions submitted by Scott and the defendants included an instruction regarding
nominal damages. The final jury instructions did not, however, include such an
instruction. In response to the District Court’s query, neither party objected to the
instructions as given, and Scott thus waived any claim to nominal damages. Alexander,
208 F.3d at 426.
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the judgment in this matter.
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