Efaw

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ROBERT EFAW, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, v. TERESA WILLIAMS, Detention Officer or Deputy Sheriff, Winslow Jail, in her official and individual capacity, Defendant-Appellant, and GARY H. BUTLER, Navajo County Sheriff; JACK KERR, Detention No. 04-16920  Officer or Deputy Sheriff in his D.C. No. official and individual capacity; CV-96-01751-PCT- MIKE DURAN, Jail Commander, MHM Navajo County Sheriff’s Department; FARRELL YONNIE, Detention Officer or Deputy Sheriff at Navajo County Sheriff’s Department in her official and individual capacity; NAVAJO

COUNTY; NAVAJO COUNTY SHERIFF’S

OFFICE; GAILENE BUTLER, aka Jane Doe Butler; DEBBIE KERR, aka Jane Doe Kerr; JANE DOE DURAN; JANE

DOE YONNIE; JANE DOE WILLIAMS,

Defendants. 

613 614 EFAW v. WILLIAMS

ROBERT EFAW, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, v. TERESA WILLIAMS, Detention Officer or Deputy Sheriff, Winslow Jail, in her official and individual capacity, Defendant-Appellant, and GARY H. BUTLER, Navajo County No. 05-16062…

Plaintiff Robert Efaw claims that he was beaten severely by two guards while imprisoned at a Navajo County jail in Arizona. He filed suit against Defendant Officer Teresa Williams, one of the two guards involved in the incident, and various institutional and individual defendants. Plaintiff failed to serve Defendant with the complaint until seven years after it was filed.

Defendant moved to be dismissed as a defendant pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m). The district court denied the motion and granted Plaintiff additional time to effect service of process. A jury trial followed, resulting in a judgment for Plaintiff. Defendant appeals. We vacate the judgment and remand with instructions to dismiss the action against Williams.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On August 9, 1995, Plaintiff was in custody at the Navajo County jail in Winslow, Arizona. According to Plaintiff, Sheriffs Deputy Jack Kerr and Defendant entered his cell and assaulted him. Plaintiff testified at trial that Kerr and Defendant struck him more than 20 times in the face, throat, and head, and “four-pointed” him by handcuffing his hands and feet to the bed with his arms splayed above his head.…

dissenting:

I respectfully dissent in this close case. Although seven years is indeed an extraordinary delay in serving a defendant, I would find that the district court did not abuse its broad discretion in granting an extension of time under Rule 4(m).

A jury awarded Robert Efaw $100,000 in damages in a lawsuit arising out of a series of beatings Efaw suffered over the course of a day in the Navajo County jail in August 1995. Although defendant Teresa Williams testified at trial that she herself did not punch Efaw, she admitted that the officer acting with her, Jack Kerr, did punch him. She further admitted that she and Kerr “four-pointed” Efaw by handcuffing his arms and legs to the bed with his arms splayed above his head, even though the normal position for a four-point restraint is to put the person’s arms by his side. During the night following the beatings, a third officer discovered Efaw still “four-pointed” and released him; later, she radioed for paramedics and an ambulance after finding Efaw sprawled on the floor of his cell with blood around his face.

As the majority opinion recounts in greater detail, Efaw failed to serve Williams for seven years, from 1996 to…