No. 18-760

Oberist Lee Saunders v. Wayne Ivey, Sheriff, Brevard County, Florida, et al.

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2018-12-14
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Experienced Counsel
Tags: civil-rights conditions-of-confinement constitutional-rights due-process fourteenth-amendment hutto-v-finney kingsley-v-hendrickson pretrial-detention qualified-immunity rhodes-v-chapman sanitation-standards
Key Terms:
SocialSecurity DueProcess Punishment CriminalProcedure JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2019-03-15
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Fourteenth Amendment conditions-of-confinement claim should be evaluated under an objective or subjective standard

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED The Eleventh Circuit granted qualified immunity to several Brevard County Jail officials on Petitioner’s Fourteenth Amendment claim that he was subjected to appalling and inhumane conditions of confinement while in pretrial detention. Specifically, Petitioner alleged that he, with as many as seven other men, was confined in a cell that was covered in human excrement and bodily fluids, infrequently and _ ineffectively cleaned, and inadequately cooled and ventilated. These conditions were exacerbated by the lack of ready access to soap, toilet paper, and eating utensils, and the fact that Petitioner was forced to sleep on a mat directly on the waste-covered floor, so that Petitioner was eating, sleeping, and living with constant exposure to human waste. In fact, these conditions were so severe that, on one occasion, they induced a panic attack, causing Petitioner to repeatedly bang his head against a metal doorframe until he _ needed _ stitches. Respondent Corporal John Wright watched the entire episode and laughed. The case presents two questions: (1) Whether, consistent with Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466 (2015), a Fourteenth Amendment claim brought by a _ pretrial detainee should be evaluated under an objective or subjective standard, a question on which the federal courts of appeals have split. (2) Whether, at the time of Petitioner’s confinement, the right of a detainee not to be ll confined in conditions lacking basic sanitation was clearly established under Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678 (1978), Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337 (1981), and myriad court of appeal decisions, or, alternatively, whether Petitioner’s conditions of confinement were so obviously unconstitutional that any reasonable officer would have recognized them as such.

Docket Entries

2019-03-18
Petition DENIED.
2019-02-27
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
2019-02-27
Reply of petitioner Oberist Lee Saunders filed. (Distributed)
2019-02-13
Brief of respondents Sheriff of Brevard County, et al. in opposition filed.
2019-01-09
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 14, 2019.
2019-01-07
Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 14, 2019 to February 14, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
2018-12-13
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 14, 2019)
2018-09-18
Application (18A268) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until December 13, 2018.
2018-09-12
Application (18A268) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 14, 2018 to December 13, 2018, submitted to Justice Thomas.

Attorneys

Oberist Lee Saunders
Sarah Gardner BoyceMunger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Petitioner
Sarah Gardner BoyceMunger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Petitioner
Sheriff of Brevard County, et al.
Donald Andrew DeBevoiseDeBevoise & Poulton, P.A., Respondent
Donald Andrew DeBevoiseDeBevoise & Poulton, P.A., Respondent