Sosa v. Robinson


*********************************************** The “officially released” date that appears near the be- ginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be pub- lished in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the be- ginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the “officially released” date appearing in the opinion. All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the advance release version of an opinion and the latest version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest version is to be considered authoritative. The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publica- tions, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. *********************************************** ANDRES SOSA v. DAVE ROBINSON ET AL. (AC 41832) Prescott, Bright and Moll, Js.* Syllabus The plaintiff inmate appealed to this court from the summary judgment rendered by the trial court in favor of the defendant D, a commissary operator at the correctional facility in which the plaintiff was incarcer- ated. The plaintiff brought an action against D in his individual and official capacities, claiming under federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1983) that D violated his rights under the first amendment by denying his application to work in the prison commissary in retaliation for claims the plaintiff previously had filed against other Department of Correction employees. The plaintiff further alleged that D discriminated against him on the basis of race in employment assignments and violated the takings clause of the fifth amendment by misappropriating from inmate trust accounts the interest earned on inmates’ Social Security benefits. The plaintiff had been employed in the prison commissary in 2006 until he was given a disciplinary citation and his employment was terminated, which he did not dispute. More than seven years later, he applied for an assignment in the commissary, but was denied by D because of the prior termination. At the time the plaintiff’s application was denied, the prison had a written policy that provided that, for an inmate to be eligible to work in the commissary, he must have not been previously terminated from a com- missary position. The trial court dismissed the first two counts of the plaintiff’s complaint, in which he sought money damages and injunctive and declaratory relief against D in his individual capacity. The court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because sovereign immunity barred those claims. The court rendered summary judgment on the plaintiff’s remaining claims because he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (42 U.S.C. § 1997e (a)) or to seek ...

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