Cruel & Unusual Punishment

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Civil

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and ROVNER, Circuit Judges 

Cruel & Unusual Punishment

No. 14-2489 Ronald Beal v. Brian Foster

Magistrate judge misunderstanding of alleged cruel & unusual punishment warrants reversal.

“A certain latitude should be allowed in the interpretation of complaints filed by pro se prisoner litigants, such as the plaintiff in this case, whose legal knowledge and expressive skills are palpably deficient. This is a case in which before dismissing the complaint the district court should have considered seeking clarification and amplification. In Williams v. Wahner, 731 F.3d 731, 734 (7th Cir. 2013), we pointed out that “many prisoners can explain themselves orally but not in writing. They may be illiterate in English, or they may simply be such poor writers that they can’t convey their thoughts other than orally. So we can understand a judge’s wanting to clarify an unclear pro se complaint by interviewing the plaintiff,” provided, as we explain in Henderson v. Wilcoxen (7th Cir. 2015) (issued today) that a transcript or recording of the interview (which will usually be conducted telephonically) is made. Where appropriate, hearings can be a useful means of “trying to determine what the plaintiff is alleging” Williams v. Wahner, supra, 731 F.3d at 734. But as Henderson and Williams both emphasize, and we take this opportunity to re-emphasize, the interview must be limited to elucidating the plaintiff’s claim, and not allowed to become a determination of its merits. The judge who after the hearing decides there is nothing to the prisoner’s case, and therefore dismisses it on a section 12(b)(6) motion or at screening under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, converts the interview to an ex parte adjudication of the merits, and that is improper, as stressed in the two cases just cited. But at the same time, expecting a pro se prisoner to be able to explain his case without some prodding, some guidance, by the presiding judicial officer will often be unrealistic. A judge who does not recruit a lawyer for the pro se in such a case should at least consider making a modest effort to assist the pro se in articulating his claims.”

Reversed and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.