Opinion
4:20-cv-215-AW-MAF
03-25-2022
WALTER L. CHANEY, Plaintiff, v. JOHN W. BROOKS, et al., Defendants.
ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
ALLEN WINSOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
I have considered the magistrate judge's Report and Recommendation. ECF No. 59. I have also considered de novo the issues raised in Plaintiff's objections. ECF No. 61. I agree with the magistrate judge: Defendants are entitled to summary judgment.
Plaintiff did not submit evidence from which a jury could conclude either Defendant violated his constitutional rights. In his response to the motion, and again in his objection to the Report and Recommendation, Plaintiff insists that all allegations in his complaint must be accepted as true, but that is not so. At the summary-judgment stage, after the movant shows the absence of a genuine issue of material fact, “the burden shifts to the non-moving party to rebut that showing by producing affidavits or other relevant and admissible evidence beyond the pleadings.” Josendis v. Wall to Wall Residence Repairs, Inc., 662 F.3d 1292, 1315 (11th Cir. 2011) (emphasis added). At the summary-judgment stage, Plaintiff did not meet that burden.
Plaintiff did submit exhibits, but only long after the magistrate judge issued the report and recommendation. I decline to consider evidence submitted at that stage-evidence the magistrate judge necessarily did not have before issuing his report and recommendation. See Williams v. McNeil, 557 F.3d 1287, 1292 (11th Cir. 2009) (noting that “[t]o require a district court to consider evidence not previously presented to the magistrate judge would effectively nullify the magistrate judge's consideration of the matter and would not help to relieve the workload of the district court” (quoting United States v. Howell, 231 F.3d 615, 622 (9th Cir. 2000)); Lodge v. Kondaur Capital Corp., 750 F.3d 1263, 1274 (11th Cir. 2014) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to consider evidence not presented to magistrate judge before report and recommendation on summary judgment); Rashad v. Fulton County, 851 Fed.Appx. 924, 926 (11th Cir. 2021) (noting that “[w]ithout some reason for that delay, we can't say that the district court abused its broad discretion by declining to consider” evidence presented after magistrate judge issued report and recommendation on summary judgment). I also decline to consider evidence not cited in the parties' papers. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1) (parties must cite “particular parts of materials in the record” to support their factual assertions and court “need consider only the cited materials”); see also N.D. Fla. Loc. R. 56.1(F).
The Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 59) is adopted and incorporated into this order. Defendants' motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 49) is GRANTED. The clerk will enter a judgment that says, “This case was resolved on summary judgment. Plaintiff's claims are dismissed on the merits, and Plaintiff shall recover nothing.” The clerk will then close the file.
SO ORDERED.