FREDERICK J. KAPALA, District Judge.
Defendant's motion to dismiss [26] is granted. The first amended complaint is dismissed without prejudice. Plaintiff is granted leave to file an amended complaint within 30 days in accordance with the directives in this order. Should plaintiff's counsel determine that he is unable to file an amended complaint, he should so inform the court. Failure to timely comply with this order may result in dismissal of this case with prejudice.
Plaintiff, Lonnie Arsberry, a 71-year-old inmate in the Illinois Department of Corrections' ("IDOC") Dixon Correctional Center ("DCC"), has sued defendant, Wexford Health Sources, Inc. ("Wexford") in connection with the medical care Wexford has provided to him for various "chronic illnesses and injuries." Wexford has filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) and (6) claiming that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state claims. For the reasons that follow, the motion is granted.
The first amended complaint begins with the statement: "NOW COMES the Plaintiff, Lonnie Arsberry (A-013489), a state prisoner, and files this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging denial of medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution the [sic] state tort of lnstitutional Negligence." Next, there are allegations of this court's federal question subject matter jurisdiction under "42 [sic] U.S.C. § 1331" and a description of the patties. Two counts styled "Institutional Negligence" and "Improper Deduction of $5 Medical Co-Payment," respectively, follow. Count II is clearly an allegation that defendant violated state-law. The law allegedly violated in Count I is less clear.
In Count I, plaintiff alleges that Wexford is contracted by IDOC to provide medical services to prisoners confined to IDOC. Next, plaintiff alleges that "[p]ursuant to 730 ILCS 5/3-7-2, 730 ILCS 5/3-2-2, 730 ILCS 5/1-1-2(c), IDOC Administrative Directives 04.03.121, 04.03.101, 04.03.103 and 04.03.105, and Title 20 Section 415 of the Illinois Administrative Code inmates are to receive adequate and proper medical care, and not be [sic] receive treatment that is arbitrary or oppressive." A list of plaintiffs "chronic illnesses and injuries" follows. Next, plaintiff alleges that Wexford has adopted policies which fail to "comply with the proper standard of care" and, as a direct and proximate consequence of these alleged policies, plaintiff was deprived of proper health care causing him damages. Plaintiff then alleges that the alleged negligent policies were demonstrated in the ineffective and inadequate treatment of plaintiff's bulging and herniated disc in his lower back, chronic skin disease, heart issues, heel fracture or bone spurs, and other chronic medical issues including Hepatitis-C. Nowhere in Count I is there an express allegation of deliberate indifference in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(I) allows a party to challenge a federal court's lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
First, defendant contends that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiff'sclaims because both are based on state law and not on violations of the "Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States" as is required to invoke this court's federal question subject matter jurisdiction.
In the opening paragraph of the first amended complaint, plaintiff's counsel has included a citation to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and has written the words "denial of medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment." However, there are no allegations in Count I that Wexford's purported policies regarding the provision of health care to inmates was the moving force behind any action taken by Wexford employees which resulted in deliberate indifference to plaintiff's serious medical conditions in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.
Defendant also argues for dismissal pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) maintaining that (1) to the extent that plaintiff's claims are based on his Hepititis-C condition, they are issue precluded because plaintiff is a named plaintiff in two class actions pending in the Central District of Illinois; (2) plaintiff failed to disclose the Central District of Illinois litigation, (3) plaintiff has failed to comply with the certificate of merit required under 735 ILCS 5/2-622; and (4) the claim in Count II based on the improper deduction of $5 co-payments should be heard by the Illinois Court of Claims. Because it would only result in the dismissal of a small part of plaintiff's medical claim, the court need not address Wexford's issue-preclusion argument unless and until a federal claim is stated in Count I. While there is authority for the dismissal of an action with prejudice where prisoner-plaintiffs fail to disclose their litigation history, such action is discretionary.
For the foregoing reasons, Wexford's motion to dismiss is granted. The first amended complaint is dismissed without prejudice. Plaintiff is granted leave to file an amended complaint within 30 days in accordance with the directives in this order. Should plaintiff's counsel determine that he is unable to file an amended complaint, he should so inform the court. Failure to timely comply with this order may result in dismissal of this case with prejudice.