Eighth Circuit Upholds Denial of Qualified Immunity to Minnesota Guard Accused of Assaulting Restrained and Compliant Prisoner
by Matthew T. Clarke
On May 6, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of qualified immunity (QI) to a Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) prison guard who allegedly repeatedly assaulted a compliant and restrained prisoner.
Corey Fisherman is incarcerated at DOC’s maximum-security prison in Oak Park Heights, which holds the state’s most dangerous prisoners. He was in Complex 5, the second-most restrictive unit, because he threatened staff. Then a shank was found in his cell, and he was slated for transfer to the Administrative Control Unit.
The first step in a transfer between units is a strip search of the prisoner. But Fisherman refused to comply so a special team of guards trained in dealing with non-compliant prisoners was summoned. The team eventually convinced Fisherman to undergo the search, ordering him to kneel and place his hands through a small slot opening in his cell door to be handcuffed. He initially objected but eventually complied.
At this point, the guards slowly opened Fisherman’s cell door while he inched forward on his knees. But what happened next was obscured from surveillance cameras by guards blocking the line of sight. Fisherman alleged that guard David Launderville kneed him in the face six times while he was compliant and kneeling on the floor—his hands stuck through the slot and cuffed. Surveillance video captured him afterward, cursing the guard and expressing surprise at being kneed in the face. For his part, Launderville claimed that Fisherman was only partially restrained and resisting when he struck the prisoner, only twice, and only in the leg.
Fisherman filed a pro se federal civil rights action against team members in federal court for the District of Minnesota. The claim against Launderville was the only one to survive summary judgment, based upon denial of QI. Launderville filed an interlocutory appeal to that denial, and the Eighth Circuit appointed Fisherman representation from attorneys Paul W. Hughes III and Andrew Lyons-Berg of McDermott Will & Emery, along with Samuel Weiss of Right Behind Bars, all in Washington, D.C.
On interlocutory appeal, the Eighth Circuit noted that it was unable to decide fact issues so it accepted the district court’s fact findings as true. It noted that Fisherman’s theory was that Launderville “maliciously and sadistically” kneed him in the face and body multiple times. Applying the factors set out in Johnson v. Blaukat, 453 F.3d 1108 (8th Cir. 2006), the Court held that “a reasonable jury could conclude that the repeated blows to his head and body were ‘malicious and sadistic,’” to quote Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. (1992).
“It makes no difference, at least at this stage, that Fisherman had been combative just moments before,” the Court continued, pointing to Smith v. Conway County, 759 F.3d 853 (8th Cir. 2014). Further, case law holding that striking a fully restrained prisoner violates the Eighth Amendment had been settled “for at least three decades.”
“Nor does it matter that his injuries were minor and he refused a bandage,” the Court added, because “an inmate who is gratuitously beaten by guards does not lose his ability to pursue an excessive force claim merely because he has the good fortune to escape without serious injury,” as held in Wilkins v. Gaddy, 559 U.S. 34 (2020). Thus the Court found no error in the lower court’s conclusion that this material fact issue—the degree to which Fisherman was restrained—precluded summary judgment based on QI. See: Fisherman v. Launderville, 100 F.4th 978 (8th 2024).
The case has now returned to the district court, where St. Michael attorney Jason D. Gustafson represented Fisherman in settlement negotiations held in August 2024. Those failed, and the case is now headed to trial in January 2025. PLN will update developments as they are available. See: Fisherman v. Launderville, USDC (D. Minn.), Case No. 0:21-cv-02406.
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