Ashker v. Beard

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMarch 11, 2021
Docket3:18-cv-06350
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Ashker v. Beard, (N.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 7 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 TODD ASHKER, No. C 18-6350 WHA (PR) 10 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS; SEVERING 11 v. AND TRANSFERRING CERTAIN CLAIMS TO THE EASTERN 12 SCOTT KERNAN; JEFFREY DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA; BEARD; GEORGE GIURBINO; ORDERING SERVICE OF 13 SUSAN HUBBARD; KELLY ADDITIONAL DEFENDANTS; HARRINGTON; KATHLEEN GRANTING EXTENSION OF TIME; 14 ALLISON; J. MCLAUGHLIN; M. DENYING APPOINTMENT OF RUFF; C. PARIS; J. PRELIP; D. COUNSEL 15 ROTHCHILD; J. ROBERTSON; B. MOAK; C.E. DUCART; C. 16 PFEIFFER; A. ALAFA; MARTINEZ; HIGHTOWER; MANUAL ORTIZ; 17 HAMMER; SPEIDEL; STEBBINS; (Dkt. Nos. 23, 28) VARGAS; M. RUSSELL; J. FALLIS; 18 J. FRISK; W. BLACK; S. ALFARO; C. GIPSON; R. DIAZ, 19 Defendants. 20 / 21 INTRODUCTION 22 Plaintiff, a California prisoner, filed this pro se civil rights case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 23 Based upon a review of the Complaint under Section 1915A, certain claims were dismissed. 24 Thereafter, plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) (ECF No. 33). Defendants move 25 to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff has filed an 26 opposition, and defendants filed a reply brief. For the reasons discussed below, defendants’ 27 motion to dismiss is GRANTED IN PART, certain claims are severed and transferred to the 28 Eastern District of California, certain other claims are dismissed, and the remaining defendants 1 are granted an extension of time to file their summary judgment motion. 2 STATEMENT 3 Plaintiff is the lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit Ashker v. Brown, No. C 09-5796 4 CW (N. D. Cal.), in which California inmates claimed that their assignment to an indeterminate 5 term in the Secured Housing Unit (“SHU”) at Pelican Bay State Prison (“PBSP”) violated their 6 constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth 7 Amendment. On May 6, 2016, the clerk entered judgment in accordance with the Order 8 Granting Final Approval of Class Action Settlement Agreement, which awarded class members 9 declaratory and injunctive relief. In the instant lawsuit, plaintiff seeks money damages from 10 California prison officials for violating his constitutional rights and breaching the Ashker 11 settlement agreement when they detained him in the SHU at PBSP from September 10, 2014, to 12 February 11, 2016, and in the Administrative Segregation Unit (“ASU”) at Kern Valley State 13 Prison (“KVSP”) from May 1, 2017, to the present. 14 ANALYSIS 15 A. STANDARD OF REVIEW 16 Failure to state a claim is a grounds for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal 17 Rules of Civil Procedure. Dismissal for failure to state a claim is a ruling on a question of law. 18 Parks School of Business, Inc., v. Symington, 51 F.3d 1480, 1483 (9th Cir. 1995). "The issue is 19 not whether plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but whether he is entitled to offer evidence to 20 support his claim." Usher v. City of Los Angeles, 828 F.2d 556, 561 (9th Cir. 1987). 21 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only “a short and plain statement of the 22 claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” “Specific facts are not necessary; the 23 statement need only give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . . claim is and the grounds 24 upon which it rests.” Erickson v. Pardus, 127 S. Ct. 2197, 2200 (2007) (citations and internal 25 quotations omitted). Although in order to state a claim a complaint “does not need detailed 26 factual allegations, . . . a plaintiff's obligation to provide the 'grounds of his 'entitle[ment] to 27 relief' requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a 28 1 cause of action will not do. . . . Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief 2 above the speculative level.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 1964-65 (2007) 3 (citations omitted). A complaint must proffer “enough facts to state a claim for relief that is 4 plausible on its face.” Id. at 1986-87. A motion to dismiss should be granted if the complaint 5 does not proffer "enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face." Id. at 570; 6 see, e.g., Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1952 (2009). 7 Review is limited to the contents of the complaint, Clegg v. Cult Awareness Network, 18 8 F.3d 752, 754-55 (9th Cir. 1994), including documents physically attached to the complaint or 9 documents the complaint necessarily relies on and whose authenticity is not contested. Lee v. 10 County of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 688 (9th Cir. 2001). In addition, the court may take 11 judicial notice of facts that are not subject to reasonable dispute. Id. at 688 (discussing Fed. R. 12 Evid. 201(b)). Allegations of fact in the complaint must be taken as true and construed in the 13 light most favorable to the non-moving party. Sprewell v. Golden State Warriors, 266 F.3d 14 979, 988 (9th Cir. 2001). The court need not, however, “accept as true allegations that are 15 merely conclusory, unwarranted deductions of fact, or unreasonable inferences.” Ibid. 16 A pro se pleading must be liberally construed, and "however inartfully pleaded, must be 17 held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Twombly, 550 U.S. 18 at 570 (quoting Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 (1976)). Allegations of fact in the 19 complaint must be taken as true and construed in the light most favorable to the non-moving 20 party. Symington, 51 F.3d at 1484. 21 B. LEGAL CLAIMS 22 Defendants argue that the claims arising from plaintiff’s time in the ASU at KVSP are 23 not properly joined to the claims arising from his time in the SHU at PBSP because they are 24 against involve different defendants, facts, locations, and time periods. Defendants also argue 25 that claims against defendants Frisk and Beard should be dismissed for failure to state a 26 cognizable for a relief, and that defendants Martinez and Molina should be dismissed because 27 they were not included in the FAC. Finally, defendants seek screening of the claims against 28 1 three new defendants added to the FAC, Alfaro, Gipson and Diaz. 2 A. UNDISPUTED DISMISSAL 3 Plaintiff agrees that the claims against Frisk should be dismissed as time-barred. He 4 also does not dispute that the claims against Martinez and Molina should be dismissed because 5 there are no claims or allegations against them in the FAC. Accordingly, the claims against 6 these defendants will be dismissed. 7 B. JOINDER 8 Defendants argue that plaintiff may not join the claims against KVSP officials arising 9 from events that occurred at KVSP in the same lawsuit as the claims arising from events at 10 PBSP. Claims against multiple defendants may be joined in one action only if "if any right to 11 relief is asserted against them jointly, severally, or in the alternative with respect to or arising 12 out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences; and any 13 question of law or fact common to all defendants will arise in the action." Fed. R. Civ. P. 14 20(a)(2).

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