Boyce v. Dorame

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMarch 9, 2022
Docket2:20-cv-01395
StatusUnknown

This text of Boyce v. Dorame (Boyce v. Dorame) 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
Boyce v. Dorame, (D. Ariz. 2022).

Opinion

1 KAB 2 WO 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Brandon Alexander Boyce, No. CV 20-01395-PHX-SPL (MHB) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 Emilio Dorame, et al., 13 Defendants.

14 15 Plaintiff Brandon Alexander Boyce, who is currently confined in the Red Rock 16 Correctional Center, brought this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Doc. 17 1.) Defendant moves for summary judgment, and Plaintiff opposes.1 (Docs. 24, 28.) 18 I. Background 19 On screening under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a), the Court determined that Plaintiff stated 20 an Eighth Amendment sexual assault claim against Defendant Dorame, and dismissed the 21 remaining claims and Defendants. (Doc. 8.) 22 Defendant now moves for summary judgment on the ground that Plaintiff failed to 23 exhaust his available administrative remedies. (Doc. 24.) 24 /// 25 /// 26 /// 27 28 1 The Court provided notice to Plaintiff pursuant to Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952, 962 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc) regarding the requirements of a response. (Doc. 27.) 1 II. Legal Standards 2 A. Summary Judgment 3 A court must grant summary judgment “if the movant shows that there is no genuine 4 dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” 5 Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986). The 6 movant bears the initial responsibility of presenting the basis for its motion and identifying 7 those portions of the record, together with affidavits, if any, that it believes demonstrate 8 the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323. 9 If the movant fails to carry its initial burden of production, the nonmovant need not 10 produce anything. Nissan Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Ltd. v. Fritz Co., Inc., 210 F.3d 1099, 11 1102-03 (9th Cir. 2000). But if the movant meets its initial responsibility, the burden shifts 12 to the nonmovant to demonstrate the existence of a factual dispute and that the fact in 13 contention is material, i.e., a fact that might affect the outcome of the suit under the 14 governing law, and that the dispute is genuine, i.e., the evidence is such that a reasonable 15 jury could return a verdict for the nonmovant. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 16 242, 248, 250 (1986); see Triton Energy Corp. v. Square D. Co., 68 F.3d 1216, 1221 (9th 17 Cir. 1995). The nonmovant need not establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its 18 favor, First Nat’l Bank of Ariz. v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288-89 (1968); however, 19 it must “come forward with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” 20 Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986) (internal 21 citation omitted); see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). 22 At summary judgment, the judge’s function is not to weigh the evidence and 23 determine the truth but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial. Anderson, 24 477 U.S. at 249. In its analysis, the court must believe the nonmovant’s evidence and draw 25 all inferences in the nonmovant’s favor. Id. at 255. The court need consider only the cited 26 materials, but it may consider any other materials in the record. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3). 27 /// 28 /// 1 B. Exhaustion 2 Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, a prisoner must exhaust “available” 3 administrative remedies before filing an action in federal court. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); 4 Vaden v. Summerhill, 449 F.3d 1047, 1050 (9th Cir. 2006); Brown v. Valoff, 422 F.3d 926, 5 934-35 (9th Cir. 2005). The prisoner must complete the administrative review process in 6 accordance with the applicable rules. See Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 92 (2006). 7 Exhaustion is required for all suits about prison life, Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 523 8 (2002), regardless of the type of relief offered through the administrative process, Booth v. 9 Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 741 (2001). 10 The defendant bears the initial burden to show that there was an available 11 administrative remedy and that the prisoner did not exhaust it. Albino v. Baca, 747 F.3d 12 1162, 1169, 1172 (9th Cir. 2014); see Brown, 422 F.3d at 936-37 (a defendant must 13 demonstrate that applicable relief remained available in the grievance process). Once that 14 showing is made, the burden shifts to the prisoner, who must either demonstrate that he, in 15 fact, exhausted administrative remedies or “come forward with evidence showing that there 16 is something in his particular case that made the existing and generally available 17 administrative remedies effectively unavailable to him.” Albino, 747 F.3d at 1172. The 18 ultimate burden, however, rests with the defendant. Id. Summary judgment is appropriate 19 if the undisputed evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prisoner, shows a 20 failure to exhaust. Id. at 1166, 1168; see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). 21 If summary judgment is denied, disputed factual questions relevant to exhaustion 22 should be decided by the judge; a plaintiff is not entitled to a jury trial on the issue of 23 exhaustion. Albino, 747 F.3d at 1170-71. But if a court finds that the prisoner exhausted 24 administrative remedies, that administrative remedies were not available, or that the failure 25 to exhaust administrative remedies should be excused, the case proceeds to the merits. Id. 26 at 1171. 27 /// 28 /// 1 III. Facts2 2 A. The ADC’s Grievance Process 3 Department Order 802 (DO 802), Inmate Grievance Procedure, (effective Oct. 16, 4 2016), governs the inmate grievance procedure, which “is designed to address inmate 5 complaints related to any aspect of institutional life or condition of confinement which 6 directly and personally affects the inmate grievant, including written instructions, 7 procedures, and the actions of the staff.” (Doc. 25 ¶¶ 8-9.) Inmates may utilize the Inmate 8 Grievance Procedure regardless of their disciplinary status, housing or classification. (Id. 9 ¶ 11.) Unless notified of an extension of time frames, expiration of any time limit for a 10 response at any stage in the process shall entitle the inmate grievant to move to the next 11 step in the process. (Id.

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Related

First Nat. Bank of Ariz. v. Cities Service Co.
391 U.S. 253 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Booth v. Churner
532 U.S. 731 (Supreme Court, 2001)
Porter v. Nussle
534 U.S. 516 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Woodford v. Ngo
548 U.S. 81 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Oscar W. Jones v. Lou Blanas County of Sacramento
393 F.3d 918 (Ninth Circuit, 2004)
Nilsson v. City of Mesa
503 F.3d 947 (Ninth Circuit, 2007)
Brown v. Valoff
422 F.3d 926 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)
Triton Energy Corp. v. Square D Co.
68 F.3d 1216 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)
In re Plaza-Martínez
747 F.3d 10 (First Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
Boyce v. Dorame, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyce-v-dorame-azd-2022.