Jolley v. Vinton

Excerpt

The self-represented, incarcerated plaintiff brought this action against the defendant, a former state correctional institution administrative captain, claiming violations of his federal constitutional rights. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant retaliated against him for providing legal advice to his fellow inmates by ordering the search of the plaintiff's cell, the seizure of items from his cell, and the removal of the plaintiff from his job at the prison's gym. Following a trial to the court, the court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant, finding that the plaintiff failed to prove that he was engaged in an activity protected by the first amendment, that he was denied access to the courts in a specific, pending, personal action, and that there was any causal connection between his alleged protected conduct and the defendant's alleged retal- iatory acts. From that judgment, the plaintiff appealed to this court. Held that the trial court properly rendered judgment in favor of the defendant, as that court's finding that the plaintiff had failed to prove a causal connection between his conduct and the defendant's alleged retaliation was not clearly erroneous: the court concluded that there was no evidence of a retaliatory motive on the basis of the defendant's testimony, which the court expressly found was credible, and the court noted that the only evidence to establish a causal relationship between the discharge of the plaintiff from his gym job and any claimed protected activity was that of temporal proximity, which the court found insuffi- cient to establish a causal connection; ample evidence supported the court's finding that the defendant's actions that the plaintiff alleged were retaliatory were premised solely on legitimate motives, and, although the plaintiff pointed to evidence that he asserted supported his claim of retaliation, the mere existence of evidence to support an alternative conclusion is not sufficient to reverse a trial court's fin