A nonsmoking prisoner filed a 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983 action seeking damages for violation of his Eighth Amendment rights stemming from his exposure to secondhand smoke while incarcerated.  The Defendant prison officials filed a motion for leave to amend their answer and a motion for summary judgment.  The district court denied the Defendants’ motion for leave to amend on the grounds that they had been dilatory in moving to amend the answer.  However, the court granted the motion for summary judgment, ruling that the plaintiff did not present evidence that he himself was exposed to unreasonably high levels of secondhand smoke or evidence on plaintiff’s current or future medical condition.  Also,  the court ruled that the Plaintiff’s evidence “is insufficient to satisfy the subjective element of deliberate indifference” on the part of the Defendant prison officials; therefore, the court concluded that “no reasonable juror could find from such actions that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to plaintiff’s situation.”

2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59 (U.S.D.C., D.C.).