Opinion
CAUSE NO.: 3:19-CV-204-RLM-MGG
03-25-2019
ZACHARY LUBIN, Plaintiff, v. JULIE LAWSON, Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
Zachary Lubin, a prisoner without a lawyer, filed a complaint alleging he was denied a food tray at the St. Joseph County Jail on March 17, 2019. The court must review the merits of a prisoner complaint and dismiss it if the action is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A "A document filed pro se is to be liberally construed, and a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (quotation marks and citations omitted).
Mr. Lubin alleges he takes medication that must be taken with food. He alleges he suffered unnecessary pain because he had to take his medication without food. He doesn't say who gave him the medication or whether that person knew he did not have food. Mr. Lubin says he asked a guard for food, but he doesn't name that guard. Neither does he say why the guard refused to feed him. He names only Warden Julie Lawson as a defendant, and alleges she is responsible for everything. There is no general respondeat superior liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Burks v. Raemisch, 555 F.3d 592, 596 (7th Cir. 2009). "[P]ublic employees are responsible for their own misdeeds but not for anyone else's." Id. "Only persons who cause or participate in the violations are responsible." George v. Smith, 507 F.3d 605, 609 (7th Cir. 2007). Therefore this complaint doesn't state a claim against Warden Lawson. Mr. Lubin night be able to state a claim against either the guard who denied him a meal or the person who provided him with medication without food, so he may file an amended complaint. See Luevano v. Wal-Mart, 722 F.3d 1014 (7th Cir. 2013). If he does so, he must describe in greater detail what happened and why he was denied a meal. He must also describe the injuries he suffered as a result of missing this meal.
Finally, the court notes Mr. Lubin filed this complaint on an outdated form. The court adopted a new Prisoner Complaint form in August 2016. The clerk distributed this form to all of the prisons and jails in the Northern District of Indiana. The clerk has repeatedly sent copies of the new form to the St. Joseph County Jail and ask the law library there to destroy copies of the outdated form and stop distributing it to inmates. Nevertheless, St. Joseph County Jail inmates continue to obtain and file the outdated form. It has now been more than two and a half years the clerk has tried to get the St. Joseph County Jail to store and distribute the correct form.
For these reasons, the court:
(1) DIRECTS the clerk to place this cause number on a blank Prisoner Complaint (INND Rev. 8/16) form and send it to Zachary Lubin;
(2) GRANTS Zachary Lubin until April 24 , 2019 , to file an amended complaint on that form;
(3) CAUTIONS Zachary Lubin if he does not respond by the deadline, this case will be dismissed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A because this complaint does not state a claim; and
(4) DIRECTS the clerk to send a blank Prisoner Complaint (INND Rev. 8/16) form and a copy of this order to Warden Julie Lawson with a blank Prisoner Complaint (INND Rev. 8/16) form ; and
(5) ORDERS Warden Julie Lawson to file a notice acknowledging receipt of this order and that form.
SO ORDERED on March 25, 2019
s/ Robert L. Miller, Jr.
JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT