Hernandez v. Hart

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendants-prison officials’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-prisoner’s section 1983 action alleging excessive force and deliberate indifference claims, where Dist. Ct. found that plaintiff had failed to exhaust internal administrative remedies prior to filing instant lawsuit as required under Prison Litigation Reform Act. While plaintiff failed to file written grievance within 15 days of his claim that defendants improperly shackled him to his hospital bed, record showed that defendants had failed to inform plaintiff of applicable grievance process while plaintiff was hospitalized, and thus exhaustion requirement did not apply to said claim. Moreover, while plaintiff was aware of grievance process with respect to his claim that defendants refused to help him transport himself from his wheelchair to his bed, record showed that plaintiff had filed his grievance within applicable time period prior to filing instant lawsuit, and thus plaintiff had exhausted any internal grievance procedure.