Traylor v. Minnesota Dept of Corrections
Rayco DelShaune Traylor v. Minnesota Dept of Corrections, MNDOC – sued in its official capacity; Binkley, Lt. – sued individually; Connors, Captain – sued individually; Oak Park Heights Corr. Facility, sued in its official capacity; Witter, Discipline Staff – sued in their individual capacities; Klok, Discipline Staff – sued in their individual capacities; Teresa Kincannon, Nurse – sued in her individual capacity; Seth Olive, Employed by DOC – sued in their individual capacities; Jayee Browne, Employed by DOC – sued in their individual capacities; Lucus B Evenson, Employed by DOC – sued in their individual capacities; Adam Perry, Employed by DOC – sued in their individual capacities; Brian Louis, Employed by DOC – sued in their individual capacities; Pawelk, AWO and Warden’s A
- Jerry Blackwell
- 0:24-cv-01275
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 5
In Traylor v. Minnesota Department of Corrections, Judge Blackwell accepted summary judgment for defendants, dismissed Traylor’s federal claims, and dismissed state claims without prejudice.
Rayco DelShaune Traylor’s federal civil-rights claims were dismissed after the court granted the defendants’ summary-judgment motions. His state-law claims against all defendants were dismissed without prejudice, and certain official-capacity claims were barred by sovereign immunity.
What happened
Rayco DelShaune Traylor sued the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility, and several employees over alleged constitutional violations involving medical and corrections staff after a January 3, 2024 medical appointment. He claimed excessive force, denial of due process, deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, and violations of state law.
A magistrate judge recommended granting defendants’ summary-judgment motions and dismissing Traylor’s complaint. Traylor filed a response that the court treated as an objection, but the court found that his general statements about video evidence and the record did not specifically identify errors in the recommendation.
Judge Jerry W. Blackwell overruled the objection and accepted the recommendation. The court granted defendants’ summary-judgment motions and dismissed Traylor’s claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, concluding that the evidence showed no genuine dispute on the alleged claims and that sovereign immunity barred certain official-capacity claims. The court dismissed Traylor’s state-law claims against all defendants without prejudice.
The detailed version
- Traylor v. Minnesota Dept of Corrections · No. 0:24-cv-01275
- Jerry W. Blackwell
- Feb. 5, 2026
Background
Rayco DelShaune Traylor alleged that medical and corrections staff at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Oak Park Heights violated his constitutional rights after a scheduled medical appointment with Defendant Milender on January 3, 2024. His claims included excessive force, denial of due process, deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, and violations of state law. The defendants were sued in various individual and official capacities.
United States Magistrate Judge Shannon G. Elkins issued a Report and Recommendation on November 24, 2025, recommending summary judgment for the defendants and dismissal of Traylor’s complaint. Traylor filed a response that the district court construed as an objection to the recommendation.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that specific objections to a magistrate judge’s recommendation receive fresh review. Because Traylor’s response made repeated, general assertions that the record supported his allegations, rather than identifying specific errors, the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error.
The court found no clear error. The recommendation had considered video footage, sworn affidavits, medical records, and prison incident reports, and had concluded that the evidence did not create a genuine dispute over the key elements of Traylor’s claims. The court therefore accepted the recommendation to grant summary judgment on Traylor’s individual-capacity claims against Browne, Olive, Evenson, Perry, Louis, Binkley, Connors, Halvorson, Klok, Witter, Pawelk, Doeden, Kincannon, McNamara, Tran, and Milender.
The court also noted that Traylor did not object to the finding that Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity barred his claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Minnesota Department of Corrections and Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility, or against Halvorson, Doeden, McNamara, Pawelk, and Tran in their official capacities. Traylor also did not challenge the recommendation to dismiss his state-law claims.
Disposition
Judge Jerry W. Blackwell overruled Traylor’s objection and accepted the Report and Recommendation. The court granted the summary-judgment motion filed by the listed defendants and dismissed Traylor’s § 1983 claims against them. The court separately granted Milender’s summary-judgment motion and dismissed Traylor’s § 1983 claim against Milender. Finally, the court dismissed Traylor’s state-law claims against all defendants without prejudice. The court ordered that judgment be entered accordingly.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.