In February 2002, plaintiff Anthony J. Sandoval, an inmate at New Mexico State Penitentiary in Santa Fe, filed a Section 1983 suit, pro se, in the District of New Mexico against officials of the New Mexico Department of Corrections. Plaintiff alleged that defendants used excessive force in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.

In October 2002, plaintiffs in a related class action suit, Ayers v. Perry (PC-NM-003), sought to consolidate the two cases arguing that both lawsuits "involve constitutional challenges to the conditions of extreme sensory deprivation and social isolation in the [Special Control Facilities] operated by the [Department of Corrections]." In December 2002, Magistrate Judge Lorenzo F. Garcia granted plaintiffs' motion to consolidate the two cases.

In June 2003, the District Court (Judge Bruce D. Black) granted plaintiffs' unopposed motion for dismissal with prejudice. The order for dismissal references an agreement between the parties that resolves all of the plaintiffs' claims originating from the Ayers v. Perry case, but didn't resolve the claims made in Sandoval v. Lopez.

Litigation regarding plaintiff Sandoval's claims continued throughout 2003 and into 2004. In September 2004, the parties reached a tentative settlement, however, the terms of the settlement were not made available through the Court's electronic filing system. In January 2005, the Judge Browning ordered the case dismissed.

Eoghan Keenan - 07/11/2005


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