Bossardet v. Centurion Healthcare

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedOctober 13, 2021
Docket4:21-cv-00179
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Bossardet v. Centurion Healthcare, (D. Ariz. 2021).

Opinion

1 WO 2

8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 10

11 Arron Shawn Bossardet, No. CV-21-00179-TUC-RM 12 Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. 14 Unknown Riley, et al., 15 Defendants. 16

17 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint. 18 (Doc. 7.)1 Plaintiff, who is confined in the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson (“ASPC- 19 Tucson”) in Tucson, Arizona filed a pro se civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 20 1983. (Doc. 1.) On May 13, 2021, the Court issued a Screening Order finding that Plaintiff 21 had stated an Eighth Amendment claim of deliberate indifference to his serious medical 22 needs against Defendants Riley and Hodge, directing Defendants Riley and Hodge to 23 answer Count One of the Complaint, and dismissing the remaining Defendants. (Doc. 6.) 24 Plaintiff filed his Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint and proposed First Amended 25 Complaint (“FAC”) (Doc. 8) on July 9, 2021. Defendant Riley was served with the original 26 Complaint on August 11, 2021. (Doc. 9.) The Court finds that Plaintiff has the right to 27 28 1 Other pending motions will be resolved separately. 1 amend his Complaint as a matter of course at this stage in the litigation and screens the 2 claims raised in the proposed FAC as follows. 3 I. Leave to Amend 4 A plaintiff may amend his complaint once as a matter of course within 21 days of 5 serving it or within 21 days of service of a responsive pleading or a motion under Rule 6 12(b), (e), or (f). See Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1)(a). The Court finds that Plaintiff is permitted 7 to amend his complaint at this stage, prior to the filing of a responsive pleading, as a matter 8 of course. See Nolen v. Fitzharris, 450 F.2d 958, 958–59 (9th Cir. 1971) (reversing 9 dismissal to permit plaintiff to amend as a matter of course where no answer or responsive 10 pleading had been filed).2 The FAC will supersede the original Complaint. Rhodes v. 11 Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1005 (9th Cir. 2010) (“As a general rule, when a plaintiff files 12 an amended complaint, the amended complaint supersedes the original, the latter being 13 treated thereafter as non-existent.”) Furthermore, the Court will grant Plaintiff’s request to 14 exceed the page limitation for his FAC. 15 II. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 16 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 17 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 18 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff has 19 raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which 20 relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 21 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). 22 A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 23 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (emphasis added). While Rule 8 does 24 not demand detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the- 25 defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. “Threadbare recitals 26 of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not 27 suffice.” Id.

28 2 Although Defendants Riley and Hodge have since filed an Answer (Doc. 11), no responsive pleading had been filed at the time that Plaintiff moved to amend. 1 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a 2 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 3 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content 4 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 5 misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 6 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 7 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual 8 allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there 9 are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 681. But as the United 10 States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has instructed, courts must “continue to 11 construe pro se filings liberally.” Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010). A 12 “complaint [filed by a pro se prisoner] ‘must be held to less stringent standards than formal 13 pleadings drafted by lawyers.’” Id. (quoting Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) 14 (per curiam)). 15 III. First Amended Complaint 16 Plaintiff’s proposed FAC adds additional Defendants and Counts to those raised in 17 the original Complaint. Plaintiff specifies that paragraphs 1 through 137 of the proposed 18 FAC are identical to those in the original Complaint apart from minor typographical 19 corrections, while paragraphs 137 onward add new allegations. (Doc. 7.) 20 In his four-count FAC, Plaintiff names as Defendants Centurion Healthcare 21 (“Centurion”); Nurse Practitioner Jillian Riley (“Riley”), Registered Nurse Carah Hodge 22 (“Hodge”), Registered Nurse Lisa Graybill (“Graybill”), Nurse Practitioner Lara Alanso 23 (“Alanso”), Facility Health Administrator at ASPC-Tucson A. Ferguson (“Ferguson”), 24 Doctor Dorothy Hines (“Hines”), Registered Nurse Angelica Salgado (“Salgado”), 25 Arizona Department of Corrections (“ADOC”) Program Evaluation Administrator 26 Vanessa Headstream (“Headstream”), Nurse Practitioner Laura Elliott (“Elliott”), and 27 ADOC Director David Shinn (“Shinn”). (Doc. 8 at 2-5.) Plaintiff seeks monetary damages, 28 his costs and attorney’s fees, and an injunction requiring Defendants to (1) provide him 1 with “needed constitutionally mandated health care,” (2) audio and video record all health 2 service encounters, (3) “pay their bills” and (4) allow Plaintiff to pay for health care. (Id. 3 at 51.) 4 A. Count One: Eighth Amendment 5 In Count One, Plaintiff claims Defendants Centurion, Shinn, Riley, Hodge, 6 Graybill, Alanso, Ferguson, Hines, Salgado, Headstream, and Elliott were deliberately 7 indifferent to his serious medical needs and alleges as follows:3 8 In December 2019, Plaintiff explained to Defendant Riley that he could not plant 9 his right foot flat on the floor and that standing on the foot caused him severe pain. 10 Defendant Riley examined Plaintiff’s right foot, determined it was deformed, and requested 11 a surgical consultation with an orthopedic surgeon. After meeting with Plaintiff on January 12 6, 2020, the surgeon prescribed a heel wedge and recommended Plaintiff finish physical 13 therapy and then follow up with the surgeon. Defendant Riley ordered the heel wedge. At 14 a February 17, 2020 follow-up appointment, the surgeon reported that Plaintiff was not 15 “doing well” with non-operative treatment and requested a computerized tomography 16 (“CT”) scan of Plaintiff’s foot and ankle. Defendant Riley ordered the CT scan; the scan 17 was done on March 12, 2020.

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Bossardet v. Centurion Healthcare, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bossardet-v-centurion-healthcare-azd-2021.