Lanaghan v. Koch

Oshkosh inmate Lanaghan reported to Health Services on November 21 and was treated only for a rash. He received four further treatments but increasingly experienced problems with activities of daily living, and was rushed to the hospital on December 6. Diagnosed with a rare muscle disease, he returned a week later with medication. His conditions worsened. He was no longer eating or sleeping; he could not sit up, lay down, or move. On December 20, he attempted to prepare an inmate complaint form regarding inadequate treatment. In a wheelchair, he was transported to Oshkosh’s dayroom, for assistance, unable to write. All of the recreational tables were occupied. Denied permission to use a study table, Lanaghan was returned to his cell where no visitors were allowed. On December 28, he was hospitalized, for approximately two months. Lanaghan returned to Oshkosh in March 2012 but did not file any grievance. He later decided to file suit and learned that he had to first file an inmate complaint. His July 2 complaint was rejected as untimely. The institutional examiner testified that his condition would have been good cause to extend the filing period but not until July.His civil rights suit was rejected under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. 1997e(a) for failure to exhaust administrative remedies within 14 days, as required by Wisconsin law. The Seventh Circuit vacated. Whether a grievance procedure is unavailable does not depend whether the defendants engaged in affirmative misconduct, but whether Lanaghan was not able to timely file the grievance through no fault of his own. Concluding that nothing prevented him from filing the grievance immediately after he returned to Oshkosh holds Lanaghan responsible for failing to follow a procedure of which he was not aware and which was not in the handbook. View "Lanaghan v. Koch" on Justia Law