Brendan Ngehsi Newanforbi v. K. Barocio, et al.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided May 18, 2026·No. 2:26-cv-00191·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 BRENDAN NGEHSI NEWANFORBI, No. 2:26-cv-0191 DJC CSK P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 K. BAROCIO, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a former state prisoner proceeding pro se. Plaintiff seeks relief pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. 19 This proceeding was referred to this Court by Local Rule 302 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). 20 Plaintiff submitted a declaration that makes the showing required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 21 Accordingly, the request to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. 22 As discussed below, plaintiff’s complaint is dismissed, and plaintiff is granted leave to file 23 an amended complaint. 24 I. SCREENING STANDARDS 25 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 26 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 27 court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner raised claims that are legally 28 “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek 1 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), (2). 2 A claim is legally frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. 3 Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th 4 Cir. 1984). The court may, therefore, dismiss a claim as frivolous when it is based on an 5 indisputably meritless legal theory or where the factual contentions are clearly baseless. Neitzke, 6 490 U.S. at 327. The critical inquiry is whether a constitutional claim, however inartfully 7 pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. See Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 640 (9th 8 Cir. 1989), superseded by statute as stated in Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1130-31 (9th Cir. 9 2000) (“[A] judge may dismiss [in forma pauperis] claims which are based on indisputably 10 meritless legal theories or whose factual contentions are clearly baseless.”); Franklin, 745 F.2d at 11 1227. 12 Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “requires only ‘a short and plain 13 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the 14 defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atlantic 15 Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 16 In order to survive dismissal for failure to state a claim, a complaint must contain more than “a 17 formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action;” it must contain factual allegations 18 sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atlantic, 550 U.S. at 555. 19 However, “[s]pecific facts are not necessary; the statement [of facts] need only ‘give the 20 defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Erickson v. 21 Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93 (2007) (quoting Bell Atlantic, 550 U.S. at 555, citations and internal 22 quotations marks omitted). In reviewing a complaint under this standard, the court must accept as 23 true the allegations of the complaint in question, Erickson, 551 U.S. at 93, and construe the 24 pleading in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 25 (1974), overruled on other grounds, Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183 (1984). 26 II. THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 27 To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must demonstrate: (1) the violation of a federal 28 constitutional or statutory right; and (2) that the violation was committed by a person acting under 1 the color of state law. See West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988); Jones v. Williams, 297 F.3d 2 930, 934 (9th Cir. 2002). An individual defendant is not liable on a civil rights claim unless the 3 facts establish the defendant’s personal involvement in the constitutional deprivation or a causal 4 connection between the defendant’s wrongful conduct and the alleged constitutional deprivation. 5 See Hansen v. Black, 885 F.2d 642, 646 (9th Cir. 1989); Johnson v. Duffy, 588 F.2d 740, 743-44 6 (9th Cir. 1978). That is, plaintiff may not sue any official on the theory that the official is liable 7 for the unconstitutional conduct of his or her subordinates. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679 8 (2009). The requisite causal connection between a supervisor’s wrongful conduct and the 9 violation of the prisoner’s constitutional rights can be established in a number of ways, including 10 by demonstrating that a supervisor’s own culpable action or inaction in the training, supervision, 11 or control of his subordinates was a cause of plaintiff’s injury. Starr v. Baca, 652 F.3d 1202, 12 1208 (9th Cir. 2011). 13 III. PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT 14 In his verified complaint, plaintiff claims he does not challenge the fact or duration of his 15 underlying conviction, and alleges the following. (ECF No. 1 at 1.) In early 2020, plaintiff filed 16 a grievance seeking merit credits based on a heroic act plaintiff performed while incarcerated at 17 San Quentin. (Id. at 3.) The grievance advanced to the third level of review, involving the Board 18 of Parole Hearings (“BPH”). Before the hearing, in the BPH conference room, plaintiff’s 19 counselor defendant Barocio “struggled with the required technology setup, causing visible 20 irritation from BPH personnel.” (Id.) This incident humiliated K. Barocio in front of her 21 superiors and peers and created personal animus toward plaintiff. (Id.) The temporal proximity 22 between such humiliation and subsequent adverse actions raises an inference of retaliatory 23 motive. (Id.) 24 On July 9, 2020, CDCR granted a “One-Time Positive Programming Credit” (“PPC”) of 25 12 weeks (84 days) to all eligible inmates who did not incur a serious rules violation between 26 March 1 and July 5, 2020, and required case records services staff to enter the credit into SOMS 27 and the credit “shall be applied by August 1, 2020.” (ECF No. 1 at 4.) Plaintiff sustained no 28 rules violations during that period and should have been provided the credit.

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Brendan Ngehsi Newanforbi v. K. Barocio, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2026).

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Related

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Davis v. Scherer
468 U.S. 183 (Supreme Court, 1984)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Neitzke v. Williams
490 U.S. 319 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
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