Filed: Feb. 13, 2004
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS February 13, 2004 FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III _ Clerk No. 03-30629 Summary Calendar _ ZEBEDEE HUTCHINSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus KENT O. ANDREWS; CLAYTON, Captain; WACKENHUT OFFICIALS; MARK FREEMAN, Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court For the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 01-CV-469 Before BARKSDALE, EMILIO M. GARZA, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:*
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS February 13, 2004 FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III _ Clerk No. 03-30629 Summary Calendar _ ZEBEDEE HUTCHINSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus KENT O. ANDREWS; CLAYTON, Captain; WACKENHUT OFFICIALS; MARK FREEMAN, Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court For the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 01-CV-469 Before BARKSDALE, EMILIO M. GARZA, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* Z..
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United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
February 13, 2004
FIFTH CIRCUIT
Charles R. Fulbruge III
____________ Clerk
No. 03-30629
Summary Calendar
____________
ZEBEDEE HUTCHINSON,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
KENT O. ANDREWS; CLAYTON, Captain; WACKENHUT
OFFICIALS; MARK FREEMAN,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
For the Western District of Louisiana
USDC No. 01-CV-469
Before BARKSDALE, EMILIO M. GARZA, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Zebedee Hutchinson, Louisiana prisoner # 98608, challenges the summary-judgment dismissal
of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit, specifically his claim that Sgt. Mark Freeman was deliberately indifferent
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not
be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R.
47.5.4.
to his safety by failing to intervene in an altercation between himself and another inmate. Hutchinson
has waived any challenge to the 28 U.S.C. § 1915 (e)(2)(B) dismissal of his claims against Warden
Andrews and Captain Milton Clayton, by not briefing any argument on the issue, and that dismissal
is AFFIRMED. See Yohey v. Collins,
985 F.2d 222, 223-24 (5th Cir. 1993).
This court reviews a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same
standard as would the district court. Wyatt v. Hunt Plywood Co. Inc,
297 F.3d 405, 408 (5th Cir.
2002). “A motion for summary judgment is properly granted only if there is no genuine issue as to
any material fact.”
Id. at 408-09. An issue is material if its resolution could affect the outcome of
the action.
Id. at 409. In deciding whether a fact issue has been created, this Court views the facts
and the inferences to be drawn from them in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.
Id.
Hutchinson claims on appeal that the affidavits of fellow inmates Isiah Tate and Donald Smith
contradicted Freeman’s affidavit testimony, creating a material factual dispute regarding whether
Freeman failed to take reasonable measures to intervene in the fight, which precluded summary
judgment. Smith’s affidavit disputes Freeman’s affidavit regarding who advised Freeman about the
fight; because that question is immaterial to the question of whether Freeman acted with deliberate
indifference, Smith’s affidavit did not preclude summary judgment. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby,
Inc.,
477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986).
Tate’s affidavit, however, presents a more complicated issue. Hutchinson submitted two
affidavits by Tate to the district court. Tate’s earlier affidavit did raise a question of whether Freeman
acted with deliberate indifference because in it Tate stated that Freeman viewed the fight and then left
the area without trying to break it up. Tate’s second affidavit, however, did not state that Freeman
did not try to break up the fight, but rather that Freeman did not break up the fight as claimed, rather
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Tate and Captain Milton Clayton intervened in the fight. As who actually broke up the fight is
immaterial to whether Freeman acted with deliberate indifference, the second affidavit does not
preclude summary judgment. Liberally construing Hutchinson’s pro se brief, the brief encompasses
Tate’s first affidavit, and accordingly does establish a genuine issue of material fact. As such,
summary judgment was inappropriate.
VACATED and REMANDED for further proceedings.
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