Second Circuit – Eighth Amendment: Collymore v. Commissioner of D.O.C.

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United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Eighth Amendment

Sufficiency of complaint – Sua sponte dismissal

Collymore v. Commissioner of D.O.C.

21-2292

Judges Jacobs, Lynch, and Lee

Background: After a prior dismissal, the inmate plaintiff appealed from the dismissal of his amended complaint regarding his Section 1983 claim. The court found that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity as he had not sufficiently pleaded a serious medical condition.

Ruling: The Second Circuit vacated and remanded. The court held that the initial dismissal of his complaint was improper as it was done as a frivolous appeal and the defendant stated a non-frivolous claim that his Eighth Amendment rights were violated. The court further noted that the plaintiff alleged that his scalp condition created intolerable pain and that it repeatedly became infected and required antibiotics and that his scalp repeatedly produced scabs and oozed pus.

Lauren E. Matlock-Colangelo, of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, for the plaintiff-appellant; Thomas J. Plumridge, of Danaher Lagnese, and James M. Belforte, assistant attorney general, for the defendants-appellees.

Oral argument audio