Buckelew v. Lovelace

District Court, S.D. California·Decided April 21, 2023·No. 3:23-cv-00083·Unknown

Opinion

DION SCOTT BUCKELEW, Case No.: 23-cv-83-MMA (JLB) CDCR #BS-1324,

Plaintiff, ORDER DISMISSING FIRST vs. AMENDED COMPLAINT WITH LEAVE TO AMEND PURSUANT TO

28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) CAPTAIN DARNELL, et al., Defendants. On January 13, 2023, Plaintiff Dion Scott Buckelew, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed a civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, along with a motion to proceed in forma pauperis. Doc. Nos. 1–2. Plaintiff alleged that while in the custody of the San Diego County Sheriff from February 2020 until March 2022, he was subjected to the excessive use of force, deliberate indifference to his medical needs, unconstitutional conditions of confinement, denial of due process, loss of personal and legal property, and denial of access to the courts. Doc. No. 1 at 2–10. After the Court denied his in forma pauperis motion, Plaintiff paid the filing fee. Doc. Nos. 3–4. On February 27, 2023, the Court dismissed the Complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). Doc. No. 5. Plaintiff was notified of the deficiencies of his pleading and granted leave to amend. Id at 3–19. He was notified that any Defendants not renamed and any claims not realleged would be considered waived. Id. at 19. On April 3, 2023, Plaintiff timely filed a First Amended Complaint (“FAC”). Doc. No. 6. The FAC renames nine of the twelve Defendants from the original Complaint, adds a retaliation claim, and realleges all claims presented in the original Complaint except the loss of property and access to courts claims. Id. I. SCREENING PURSUANT TO § 1915A(b) A. Standard of Review Because Plaintiff is a prisoner, the Court must conduct an initial review of the FAC under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, which “mandates early review - ‘before docketing . . . or . . . as soon as practicable after docketing’ - for all complaints ‘in which a prisoner seeks redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.’” Chavez v. Robinson, 817 F.3d 1162, 1168 (9th Cir. 2016) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a)). Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b), the Court must sua sponte dismiss a prisoner’s complaint, or any portion of it, which is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010). Section 1915A screening “incorporates the familiar standard applied in the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012). Rule 12(b)(6) requires a complaint to “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. The “mere possibility of misconduct” or “unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed me accusation[s]” fall short of meeting that standard. Id. Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 “creates a private right of action against individuals who, acting under color of state law, violate federal constitutional or statutory rights.” Devereaux v. Abbey, 263 F.3d 1070, 1074 (9th Cir. 2001). “To establish § 1983 liability, a plaintiff must show both (1) deprivation of a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and (2) that the deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law.” Tsao v. Desert Palace, Inc., 698 F.3d 1128, 1138 (9th Cir. 2012). B. Analysis Plaintiff alleges that while a pretrial detainee in the custody of the San Diego County Sheriff from February 2020 until March 2022, he was subjected to the excessive use of force, deliberate indifference to his medical needs, retaliation, unconstitutional conditions of confinement, and denial of due process. Doc. No. 6 at 5–9. 1. Count One In count one of the FAC Plaintiff alleges that on or about February 13, 2020, after he had fallen out of his wheelchair in medical distress, Defendant San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputy Banks picked him up “by his shirt collar and shoved plaintiff back into his wheelchair calling plaintiff a ‘fucking piece of shit’ several times.” Doc. No. 6 at 5. “Banks then put waist chains and shackles on plaintiff as tight as he could, cutting off circulation and causing extreme pain, suffering, anxiety, panic and mental distress.” Id. He “continues to experience severe panic and anxiety when being chained and shackled by guards as a result of this unlawful and unconstitutional attack by Defendant Banks.” Id. “Plaintiff told Banks that the chains were too tight and digging into his flesh, which Banks ignored.” Id. “Plaintiff also told the female deputy corporal that rode in the ambulance with plaintiff that the chains and shackles were too tight [and that] approximately an hour passed at the hospital before she finally loosened the restraints and removed the shackles. The restraints were not put on plaintiff by Banks to keep him in his wheelchair, but to cause plaintiff harm and for the transport to hospital.” Id. Plaintiff states he was hospitalized for two weeks as a result of a serious infection which had caused him to fall out of his wheelchair. Id. Because Plaintiff alleges he was a pre-trial detainee at the time of the events in the FAC, the Court will apply an objective test under the Fourteenth Amendment. See Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535 n.16 (1979) (noting that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is applicable to claims of pre-trial detainees rather than the Eighth Amendment); Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389, 398 (2015) (“[A] pretrial detainee can prevail [on an excessive use of force claim] by providing only objective evidence that the challenged governmental action is not rationally related to a legitimate governmental objective or that it is excessive in relation to that purpose.”). “[T]he Supreme Court has instructed that mere lack of due care by a state official does not” violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Castro v. City of Los Angeles, 833 F.3d 1060, 1071 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc) (internal quote marks omitted). A pretrial detainee must allege “more than negligence but less than subjective intent - something akin to reckless disregard.” Id. To state a claim for unconstitutional conditions of confinement, a pre- trial detainee must plausibly allege: “(i) the defendant made an intentional decision with respect to the conditions unde

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