Belton v. Gutierrez

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 16, 2022
Docket3:19-cv-01909
StatusUnknown

This text of Belton v. Gutierrez (Belton v. Gutierrez) 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
Belton v. Gutierrez, (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 VERNON L. BELTON, Case No. 19-cv-01909-WHO (PR)

Plaintiff, 12 ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ v. 13 MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT; 14 J. GUTIERREZ, et al., ORDER REFERRING THE Defendants. 15 MATTER TO JUDGE ILLMAN FOR SETTLEMENT;

16 ORDER STAYING ACTION;

17 INSTRUCTIONS TO CLERK

18 Dkt. No. 75

20 INTRODUCTION 21 Plaintiff Vernon L. Belton alleges in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit that prison guards at 22 Salinas Valley State Prison violated his constitutional rights by failing to protect him from, 23 or intervene in, an attack from Moore, another inmate; by finding him guilty of a rule 24 violation; and by providing constitutionally inadequate medical care.1 Defendants move 25

26 1 This is the second motion for summary judgment in this suit. The prior MSJ addressed Belton’s claims that Dr. Zewert, a surgeon, failed to provide him with constitutionally 27 adequate medical care. (Dkt. No. 73.) I granted Zewert’s motion for summary judgment. 1 for summary judgment and have presented supporting evidence. Belton has not filed an 2 opposition.2 3 The motion for summary judgment will be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. 4 Defendants have presented undisputed evidence that the prison guards were unable to 5 prevent the attack: they had no notice that Moore posed a threat to Belton, and because 6 they were deceived by Moore’s assertion that he had a medical problem, they were 7 surprised by the attack. 8 However, defendants’ papers show a genuine dispute of material fact that 9 defendants failed to intervene to stop or curtail the fight after it started. Accordingly, 10 summary judgment will be denied to prison guards Pola, Gonzalez, and Gutierrez for 11 failing to intervene. Summary judgment will be granted in favor of psychiatric technicians 12 Mayder and Camacho, who had no duty or training to intervene in fights between 13 prisoners. 14 Defendants have presented undisputed evidence that Belton received all the process 15 he was due when his rule violation guilty finding was reversed on appeal and he was 16 exonerated of the charge. Summary judgment will be entered in favor of Martinez, the 17 hearing officer whose guilty finding was overturned through the grievance process. 18 Defendants also have presented undisputed evidence that Dr. Lam provided 19 constitutionally adequate medical care for Belton. Summary judgment will be entered in 20 favor of Lam. 21 The Eighth Amendment failure to intervene claims remain and will be referred for 22 settlement. 23 24 25

26 2 After the first summary judgment motion was granted, Belton asked to “withdraw his [remaining] federal civil rights claims on grounds that COVID restrictions prevent him 27 from preparing a defense or response to defendants’ second motion for summary 1 BACKGROUND 2 Belton alleges that defendants (i) failed to protect him from an attack from another 3 inmate in violation of the Eighth Amendment; (ii) issued an unjustified Rules Violation 4 Report (RVR) in violation of due process; and (iii) failed to provide him with 5 constitutionally adequate medical care for the injuries he received as a result of the attack. 6 The following factual allegations are undisputed unless specifically noted 7 otherwise. 8 i. Fight with Prisoner Moore 9 On June 2, 2018, J. Moore, a prisoner in Building A-4 of Salinas Valley State 10 Prison, informed defendant Gutierrez that he was having trouble breathing. (Compl., Dkt. 11 No. 1 at 6; MSJ, Dkt. No. 75 at 12.) Two psychiatric technicians, defendants Mayder and 12 Camacho, came to medically evaluate Moore. (Compl., Dkt. No. 1 at 6; MSJ, Dkt. No. 75 13 at 12.) Defendants Pola and Gonzalez, both correctional officers, came to A-4 soon after 14 Mayder and Camacho in order to perform their duties in the building. (Compl., Dkt. No. 1 15 at 6; MSJ, Dkt. No. 75 at 12.) Gonzalez stayed to help Gutierrez in arranging for medical 16 care for Moore. (MSJ, Dkt. No. 75 at 12.) 17 Belton was standing 35-40 feet from Moore’s cell at the time, at a water fountain in 18 the dayroom in the C side of A-4 under the control booth. (MSJ, Belton Depo., Dkt. No. 19 75-8 at 10-11, 14.) Belton alleges that Moore earlier had been yelling threats from his cell, 20 but they were not directed at him. (Id. at 15.) 21 As he approached Moore’s cell, Gutierrez, at Camacho’s request, instructed the 22 control booth officer to open Moore’s cell so that the technicians could examine him. 23 (MSJ, Gutierrez Decl., Dkt. No. 75-2 at 3.) When the cell door opened, Moore “rushed” 24 by an officer and toward Belton and swung a weapon at him. (MSJ, Belton Depo., Dkt. 25 No. 75-8 at 26.) The fight lasted from one to three minutes, and ended when Belton 26 knocked Moore to the ground. (Id. at 26, 32.) He then got on the ground in response to 27 Gutierrez’s and Gonzalez’s orders. (Id. at 32, 34.) 1 Belton alleges that “Gutierrez, Gonzalez, Pola, Camacho, and Mayder seemed to 2 simply watch these events unfold, failing to take any action to prevent plaintiff from being 3 attacked.” (Compl., Dkt. No. 1 at 6.) According to defendants, during the fight Pola was 4 in A side handing out RVRs to other prisoners, and the fight ended when Gonzalez and 5 Gutierrez ordered Belton to get on the ground. (MSJ, Dkt. No. 75 at 13.) Mayder and 6 Camacho stayed near a table by Moore’s cell during the attack. (Id.) Belton admits that 7 Mayder and Camacho were not trained to intervene in prisoner altercations. (MSJ, Belton 8 Depo., Dkt. No. 75-8 at 42-43.) 9 Belton testified at his deposition that he did not know Moore prior to the attack. 10 “We had no interactions . . . we never had any differences with each other, and we were 11 not friends,” (MSJ, Belton Depo., Dkt. No. 75-8 at 15), “[s]o I didn’t have any concerns 12 with him assaulting me,” (id. at 24). Nothing in Belton’s record indicated that he should 13 not be housed with Moore, and Belton was unaware of any potential threat from him prior 14 to the fight. (MSJ, Dkt. No. 75 at 13.) 15 ii. Rules Violation Report and Hearing 16 Belton was given an RVR charging him with battery causing serious injury. (MSJ, 17 Dkt. No. 75 at 13.) In preparation for the hearing on the RVR, he was assigned a staff 18 assistant and an investigative employee (IE). (Id.) The IE interviewed Belton and 19 Gutierrez. (Id. at 14.) Belton asked that the IE also interview prisoners Sabala, Sutton, 20 and Hammond, but the IE deemed as irrelevant the questions Belton had for them. (Id.) 21 At the hearing, Belton was found guilty of the lesser-included violation of fighting 22 because Martinez, the hearing officer, concluded that Belton was fighting to protect 23 himself. (Id.) Martinez assessed Belton a 90-day credit forfeiture and informed him that 24 he could seek restoration of these credits if he was not found guilty of any administrative 25 or serious RVRs for the next six months. (Id.) 26 Belton’s appeal of the guilty finding was granted. (Id.) The RVR was re-issued, a 27 new hearing was held in which Belton was exonerated, and his good-time credits were 1 iii. Medical Treatment 2 Belton sustained a laceration on his left index finger and swelling on his right fifth 3 finger as a result of the fight. (Id.) After the fight, he was taken to the Triage and 4 Treatment Area (TTA) for emergency medical care, where three steristrips were applied to 5 his left hand and a splint was applied to his right fifth finger. (Id.) An x-ray and a follow- 6 up appointment were scheduled, and Belton was prescribed Motrin for pain relief. (Id.) 7 Defendant Dr. Lam saw Belton on June 6 after he received an x-ray and a laceration 8 repair.

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Bluebook (online)
Belton v. Gutierrez, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/belton-v-gutierrez-cand-2022.