JOSEPH BERNSTEIN, ET AL. V. STATE OF NEW JERSEY, ET
AL.
A-1601-08T3 01-11-10
In this prisoner-on-prisoner homicide, the decedent's
estate sued a number of Department of Corrections (DOC)
officials as well as administrators and employees of East Jersey
State Prison, alleging common law tort and federal civil rights
claims based on defendants' alleged delayed response to the
attack, resulting in the inmate's death. Specifically,
plaintiff claimed that the attack was delayed by: (1) a prison
policy dictating supervision of the mess hall from protective
cages above the floor rather than direct floor patrol and (2) a
violation of a standing order by assembling two emergency
response teams rather than one before interceding. Plaintiff
also sought to hold defendants liable for failing to remove the
attacking inmate from the prison's general population, as he
suffered from psychological problems.
We affirmed the summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff's
complaint finding the individual State defendants immune from
State tort claims under N.J.S.A. 59:5-2(b)(4) in the absence of
any evidence of willful misconduct. As to the federal civil
rights claims under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983, we also found no proof
of a constitutional violation, that is, no evidence defendants
acted with a deliberate indifference to a substantial risk to
decedent in violation of the Eighth Amendment's "cruel and
unusual punishment" ban. Moreover, because we discerned no
violation of a clearly established constitutional right, we held
the individual State defendants have a qualified immunity from
liability under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983.
