Antonio McClain v. Dhaliwal

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedJanuary 14, 2026
Docket2:25-cv-00859
StatusUnknown

This text of Antonio McClain v. Dhaliwal (Antonio McClain v. Dhaliwal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Antonio McClain v. Dhaliwal, (W.D. Wash. 2026).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 5 AT TACOMA 6 ANTONIO MCCLAIN, Case No. 2:25-cv-00859-LK-TLF 7 Plaintiff, v. REPORT AND 8 RECOMMENDATION DHALIWAL, 9 Noted for January 29, 2026 Defendants. 10 11 Plaintiff proceeds pro se and in forma pauperis in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil 12 rights action. This matter is before the Court on defendant’s motion to dismiss. Dkt. 10. 13 This matter has been referred to this Magistrate Judge. Mathews, Sec’y of H.E.W. v. 14 Weber, 423 U.S. 261 (1976); 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B); Local Rule MJR 4. For the 15 reasons below, the undersigned recommends that the Court GRANT IN PART and 16 DENY IN PART defendant’s motion. Dkt. 10. 17 BACKGROUND 18 Plaintiff’s complaint names a single defendant, “Dhaliwal”, a corrections officer at 19 SCORE Jail. Dkt. 6. Plaintiff’s complaint alleges violations of the First, Fifth, Eighth and 20 Fourteenth Amendments. Id. at 5. 21 Plaintiff’s complaint alleges female staff members, including defendant Dhaliwal, 22 sexually harassed him between September 2024 and February 2025. Id. He alleges that 23 defendant Dhaliwal asked plaintiff if he was raped under “false pretenses.” Id. at 10. He 24 alleges defendant Dhaliwal found out plaintiff “was raped” and “singled [him] out 1 because he was raped.” Id. at 7. He alleges defendant Dhaliwal “looked at a list of 2 witnesses that [k]new I was sexually assaulted and sexually harassed[.]” Id. He alleges 3 defendant Dhaliwal placed him in a particular unit (S-7) which is a 23-hour lockdown 4 unit in order to single him out and sexually harass him. Id. He alleges that defendant

5 Dhaliwal would let people out of S-7 who had gotten into fights but that he remained in 6 S-7. Id. He alleges defendant Dhaliwal stole his PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) 7 letter and made copies and slid it back under plaintiff’s door. Id. He also alleges 8 defendant Dhaliwal took his 401K paperwork. Id. at 9. He alleges defendant Dhaliwal 9 “came through while [he] was taking a shower . . . had a huge smile on her face . . . said 10 she would ruin [Plaintiff’s] innocence and laughed like Isabella Rosselli a very mature 11 European laugh.” Id. at 7. Plaintiff alleges defendant Dhaliwal said she would “check the 12 camera when she walked past plaintiff’s cell” and that she told plaintiff she found out he 13 did not have any STDs and that he made gelato from scratch and baked professionally. 14 Id. at 8. Plaintiff further alleges that defendant Dhaliwal would stare at him while he was

15 on the toilet and in the shower, and that she pulled him off the toilet. Id. at 7-12. 16 Plaintiff alleges his requests to move housing units were denied and that he was 17 “illegally shipped” to Shelton. Id. at 10-11. He alleges this was done “without anybody 18 telling” defendant Dhaliwal but also that “she is not the first classification person to try to 19 send me to a COA and I have not done anything.” Id. 20 Plaintiff alleges he was given a tablet to speak with his attorney and the tablet 21 kept freezing. Id. at 8. Plaintiff further maintains when he was given the tablet, an “older 22 woman” was on the other side of the call purporting to be his attorney but, plaintiff knew 23 she was not his attorney because his “attorney is an older gentleman and deaf.” Id.

24 1 With respect to injuries, plaintiff alleges that he “suffered psychological trauma 2 from begin raped” and that defendant Dhaliwal tried to pull him off the toilet and stared 3 at him in the shower and toilet. Id. at 12. 4 Plaintiff seeks $100,000 in “actual and punitive damages.” Id.

5 Defendant moves to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint for failure to state a claim upon 6 which relief can be granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Dkt. 7 10. Plaintiff did not file a response. Defendant filed a reply. Dkt 13. 8 DISCUSSION

9 The Court’s review of a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10 (FRCP) 12(b)(6) is limited to the complaint. Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 11 688 (9th Cir. 2001). The Court held in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 680 U.S. 662, 678 (2009): 12 “sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on 13 its face” must be contained in the complaint in order to survive a motion to dismiss 14 under FRCP 12(b)(6). A pro se complaint must be liberally construed. Mangiaracina v. 15 Penzone, 849 F.3d 1191, 1195 (9th Cir. 2017). All material factual allegations in the 16 complaint “are taken as admitted,” and the complaint is to be liberally “construed in the 17 light most favorable” to the plaintiff. Id.; Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421 (1969). 18 A. Cruel and Unusual Punishment/Right to be Free from Punishment 19 “The status of the detainees determines the appropriate standard for evaluating 20 conditions of confinement.” Gary H. v. Hegstrom, 831 F.2d 1430, 1432 (9th Cir. 1987). 21 Under the Fourteenth Amendment “[d]ue process requires that a pretrial detainee not be 22 punished. A sentenced inmate, on the other hand, may be punished, although that 23

24 1 punishment may not be ‘cruel and unusual’ under the Eighth Amendment.” Bell v. 2 Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 537 n.16, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). 3 A convicted prisoner may state an Eighth Amendment claim under Section 1983 4 for sexual harassment if the alleged sexual harassment was sufficiently harmful — “a

5 departure from ‘the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing 6 society,’ and the defendant acted with intent to harm the prisoner.” Jones v. Darden, No. 7 15-CV-02022-JSC, 2016 WL 4585765, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 2, 2016) (quoting Thomas 8 v. District of Columbia, 887 F. Supp. 1, 3-4 (D.D.C. 1995) (citing Hudson v. McMillian, 9 503 U.S. 1, 6, 8 (1992)) (internal quotations and citation omitted)). “Sexual assault, 10 coercion and harassment certainly may violate contemporary standards of decency and 11 cause physical and psychological harm[.]” Id. (citing Jordan v. Gardner, 986 F.2d 1521, 12 1525-31 (9th Cir. 1993) (en banc)). 13 A prisoner must demonstrate that “the alleged sexual harassment was egregious, 14 pervasive and/or widespread in order to state a claim under the Eighth Amendment.” Id.

15 (citing Jordan, 986 F.2d at 1525-31 (prison policy requiring male guards to conduct 16 body searches on female prisoners violated Eighth Amendment); Watson v. Jones, 980 17 F.2d 1165, 1165-66 (8th Cir. 1992) (reversing grant of summary judgment for defendant 18 on Eighth Amendment claim where evidence was submitted that correctional officer 19 sexually harassed two inmates on almost daily basis for two months by conducting 20 deliberate examination of genitalia and anus)). 21 With respect to a pretrial detainee, “[f]or a particular governmental action to 22 constitute punishment [under the Fourteenth Amendment], (1) that action must cause 23 the detainee to suffer some harm or ‘disability,’ and (2) the purpose of the governmental

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Related

Jenkins v. McKeithen
395 U.S. 411 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Mathews v. Weber
423 U.S. 261 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Bell v. Wolfish
441 U.S. 520 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Harlow v. Fitzgerald
457 U.S. 800 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Thomas v. Arn
474 U.S. 140 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Hudson v. McMillian
503 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1992)
County of Sacramento v. Lewis
523 U.S. 833 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Pearson v. Callahan
555 U.S. 223 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Clairmont v. Sound Mental Health
632 F.3d 1091 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Angelynn York v. Ron Story and Louis Moreno
324 F.2d 450 (Ninth Circuit, 1963)
Edward G. Eldridge v. Sherman Block
832 F.2d 1132 (Ninth Circuit, 1987)
Jordan v. Gardner
986 F.2d 1521 (Ninth Circuit, 1993)
Lee v. City Of Los Angeles
250 F.3d 668 (Ninth Circuit, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
Antonio McClain v. Dhaliwal, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/antonio-mcclain-v-dhaliwal-wawd-2026.