Black v. Kendig

Barbie Black (plaintiff) was a presurgical transsexual prisoner who sued the Bureau of Prisons (the prison) and its medical director, Dr. Newton Kendig (defendants) regarding Black’s request for estrogen therapy. The district court referred the matter to Magistrate Judge Facciola for settlement. Facciola supervised the parties’ settlement discussions, including flying to the prison to meet personally with Black. The discussions culminated in a settlement agreement, which obligated the prison to create and propose a treatment plan for Black within three months. One provision of the settlement agreement covered the process for Dr. Kendig to decide on a treatment plan for Black (paragraph 5). The district court accepted the settlement agreement, and the case was dismissed. About one year later, Black filed motions in district court to reinstate the case and for injunctive relief. The matter turned on the interpretation of paragraph 5, which was hotly contested. Black argued that the provision obligated Dr. Kendig to adopt one of the treatment plans presented to him, while the prison believed that Dr. Kendig was required to consider the presented plans but was free to reject some or all the recommendations. The district court once again referred the matter to Facciola for a report and recommendation on the pending motions. The prison and Dr. Kendig filed a motion for recusal of Facciola.