United States District Court, D. Kansas
JAMES K. WALKER, Plaintiff,
v.
JEFF EASTER and HAROLD STOPP, D.O., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
ERIC
F. MELGREN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Plaintiff
James Walker, proceeding pro se, alleges that he received
inadequate medical care while in custody of the Kansas
Department of Corrections. Plaintiff is currently on his
Third Amended Complaint, and Defendants Jeff Easter and
Harold Stopp, D.O. are the only remaining defendants. This
matter come before the Court on three motions filed by
Plaintiff: (1) Doc. 68, which is captioned as “Pro-Se
Plaintiff James Walker Petition a Motion to Dissolve;”
(2) Doc. 69, which is captioned as “Pro-Se Plaintiff
James Walker Petition a Motion to Add Defendants to the Court
Docket;” and (3) Doc. 70, which is captioned as
“Pro-Se Plaintiff James Walker Petition a Motion of
Objection to Order of rulings of Court at Time Ruling of
Court is made or sought, if party has no opportunity to
object to ruling or Order at Time it was made and/or motion
to Strike.” The Court denies Plaintiff's motions
set forth in Docs. 68 and 69. Because Plaintiff is entitled
to a jury trial, it grants in part and denies is part
Plaintiff's motion set forth in Doc. 70.
I.
Procedural Background
Plaintiff
filed his initial Complaint in this case on October 5, 2017.
The Court reviewed the Complaint and found that it did not
comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governing
joinder. Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint on November 13,
2017, which also failed to comply with the joinder rules. The
Court gave Plaintiff thirty days to file a Second Amended
Complaint that corrected the deficiencies. On January 31,
2018, Plaintiff filed two Second Amended Complaints. The
first Second Amended Complaint named (fnu) Harvey, (fnu)
Padoc, Jeff Roberts, (fnu) Craft, (fnu) Showlander, (fnu)
Taylor, Audrey Griffin, and (fnu) Abbett as Defendants. The
second named Alisa (lnu), Bill (lnu), Sara (lnu), Travis
(lnu), Audrey Griffin, and Harold Stopp as Defendants. The
Court then ordered Plaintiff to inform it which Second
Amended Complaint he wished to proceed on as the operative
complaint in this case. In response, Plaintiff filed another
complaint on February 26, 2018, which the Court docketed as
his Third Amended Complaint.
The
Third Amended Complaint names Dr. Stopp, Dr. Audrey Griffin,
Dr. Travis (lnu), Sara (lnu), Alicia (lnu), Jeff Easter, Bill
(lnu), (fnu) Smith, (fnu) Taylor, (fnu) Padic, (fnu) Santos,
(fnu) Tombs, (fnu) Sullentroupe, and (fnu) Perceil as
Defendants. Plaintiff asserts multiple claims, including
violation of his constitutional rights under the First,
Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments because of
cruel and unusual punishment, negligence, entrapment, and
defamation. Plaintiff's claims arise from an alleged lack
of medical care he received for a painful skin condition
while incarcerated at the Sedgwick County Adult Detention
Facility.
On
March 9, 2018, the Court issued a show cause order (Doc. 23)
directing Plaintiff to show cause as to why Defendants
Taylor, Smith, Padic, Santos, Tombs, Sullentroupe, and
Perceil should not be dismissed from the action. The Court
also ordered a Martinez report to be completed.
On June
6, 2018, the Court issued a screening order (Doc. 29)
dismissing Defendants Taylor, Smith, Padic, Santos, Tombs,
Sullentroupe, and Perceil. The order referred to these
Defendants as “non-medical personnel” and
concluded that Plaintiff failed to state a claim against
these Defendants upon which relief may be
granted.[1] The Court also dismissed Plaintiff's
damages claims against Defendant Easter, his claims under the
Equal Protection Clause, the First, Fifth, and Sixth
Amendments, and the Americans with Disability Act, and his
entrapment and defamation claims.
Defendants
Sara (lnu), Alicia (lnu), Dr. Bill (lnu), Dr. Travis (lnu),
and Dr. Griffin (the “Medical Defendants”)
subsequently filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a
claim. Dr. Stopp also filed a motion to dismiss, joining in
and incorporating by reference the Medical Defendants'
motion. In its order filed November 7, 2018, the Court
dismissed the Medical Defendants from the case. The Court,
however, denied Dr. Stopp's motion.
On June
24, 2019, Plaintiff filed the three motions pending before
the Court. Plaintiff's first and second motions relate to
the dismissal of the Non-medical Personnel Defendants and the
Medical Defendants. The third motion is a hand-written
84-page document seeking multiple forms of relief. The two
remaining Defendants in this case, Easter and Dr. Stopp, have
responded to the motions. Therefore, they are ripe for the
Court's consideration.
II.
Legal Standard
“A
pro se litigant's pleadings are to be liberally construed
and held to a less stringent standard.”[2] A court must look
beyond a failure to cite proper legal authority, confusion of
legal theories, and poor syntax or sentence
construction.[3] But, the Court is not an advocate for the
pro se litigant.[4] “Despite the liberal construction
afforded pro se pleadings, the court will not construct
arguments or theories for the plaintiff in the absence of any
discussion of those issues.”[5]Furthermore, pro se litigants
are not relieved from following the same rules of procedure
as any other litigant.[6] Thus, a pro se litigants must follow the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the District of Kansas
Local Rules.[7]
III.
Analysis
A.
Motion to “Dissolve” (Doc. 68)
Plaintiff's
first motion seeks to “reverse judgment” on 14
listed pleadings and the dismissal of the Non-medical
Personnel Defendants, the Medical Defendants, and non-parties
to the lawsuit. Specifically, Plaintiff seeks to reverse
judgment on 11 pleadings that are not orders of the Court:
(1) Doc. 26- Written Report
(2) Doc. 33- Answer of Defendant Sheriff Jeff Easter
(3) Doc. 36- Waiver of the Service of Summons by Jeff Easter
(4) Doc. 37- Waiver of the Service of Summons by Audrey
Griffin
(5) Doc. 38- Waiver of the Service of Summons by Bill Wondra
(6) Doc. 39- Waiver of the Service of Summons by Sara Hallacy
(7) Doc. 40- Waiver of the Service of Summons by Alicia
Mefford
(8) Doc. 41- Waiver of the Service of Summons by Travis
...