Hummel

MEMORANDUM ***

Appellant Ronald Hummel appeals from a judgment after trial, and from the district court’s order denying a new trial, in his suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. Appellant claims that Defendants, who were officials at the Montana State Prison where he was an inmate, acted with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm to him in not responding to threats that Appellant claims to have received from other inmates. In particular, Appellant contends that Defendants took no steps to secure his safety because he refused to provide the names of the threatening inmates.

Appellant claims that the district court erred in: (1) denying Appellant his right to exercise three peremptory challenges by failing to excuse an unqualified juror for cause; and (2) refusing to admit a preexisting settlement agreement between the United States and the Montana Department of Corrections that specifically stated that prison officials would not require prisoners to immediately name the person who might be threatening them as a precondition to being moved for their protection. We find that neither of the claims of error have…