Daniel C. Ramsey v. N. Thompson

District Court, S.D. California·Decided May 6, 2026·No. 3:23-cv-01920·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 Case No.: 23-cv-1920-JAH-DDL

12 Plaintiff, REPORT AND 13 v. RECOMMENDATION FOR ORDER (1) DENYING 14 PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR 15 N. THOMPSON, SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND (2) GRANTING 16 Defendants. DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR

18 [Dkt. Nos. 67, 76] 19 20 Plaintiff Daniel C. Ramsey, proceeding pro se in this civil rights action, 21 alleges his Eighth Amendment rights were violated when he was transferred to 22 High Desert State Prison. Dkt. No. 47. Before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for 23 Summary Judgment [see Dkt. No. 67 (“P. MSJ”)] and Defendant’s Motion for 24 Summary Judgment and Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment 25 [see Dkt. No. 76-2 (“D. MSJ”)]. This Report and Recommendation is submitted to 26 United States District Judge John A. Houston pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and 27 Civil Local Rules 72.1(c) and 72.3(f) of the United States District Court for the 28 Southern District of California. For the following reasons, the Court 1 RECOMMENDS that Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment be DENIED and 2 that Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgement be GRANTED. 3 I. 5 On October 16, 2023, Plaintiff Daniel C. Ramsey, a state prisoner proceeding 6 pro se and in forma pauperis, filed a complaint under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 7 § 1983 against N. Thompson and H. Moseley.1 Dkt. No. 1. 8 On December 16, 2024, Plaintiff filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. 9 Dkt. No. 18. 10 On December 27, 2024, N. Thompson answered the complaint. Dkt. No. 22. 11 On February 12, 2025, Judge Houston held a hearing on Plaintiff’s motion 12 for a preliminary injunction, denied the motion, and granted Plaintiff leave to amend 13 his complaint. Dkt. No. 33. 14 On February 24, 2025, Plaintiff filed the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) 15 alleging that John Doe #1, Warden (RJD) 2 violated his right to Due Process and 16 failed to protect him, and that Defendant N. Thompson was deliberately indifferent 17 to his medical needs and failed to protect him from harm, in violation of his Eighth 18 Amendment rights. Dkt. No. 36 at 2-7. 19 On February 28, 2025, Defendant N. Thompson moved for partial dismissal 20 of the FAC. Dkt. No. 37. 21 22 23

24 25 1 Defendant H. Moseley was terminated from the case on January 22, 2024. See Docket; see also Dkt. No. 5. 26

27 2 Warden Doe has not been identified and thus has never been served nor 28 appeared in the action. 1 On March 25, 2025, the Court issued an Order Granting Plaintiff’s Motion for 2 Leave to File a Second Amended Complaint and Report and Recommendation for 3 Order Denying Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss as Moot. Dkt. No. 41. 4 On April 28, 2025, Plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) under 5 § 1983, against Defendant N. Thompson. Dkt. No. 47 at 1. Plaintiff alleges claims 6 under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments for deliberate indifference, failure 7 to protect, and procedural due process violations. Id. at 2. 8 On May 5, 2025, Defendant N. Thompson filed a Motion for Partial Dismissal 9 of Plaintiff’s SAC for failure to state a Fourteenth Amendment procedural due 10 process claim. Dkt. No. 48-1. On May 21, 2025, Plaintiff filed an opposition to the 11 motion and Defendant replied on June 19, 2025. Dkt. Nos. 50-1, 56. 12 On July 22, 2025, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. Dkt. No. 13 67. 14 On October 24, 2025, Defendant filed a Motion for Summary Judgment and 15 Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Dkt. No. 76. 16 On October 30, 2025, the Court issued a Report and Recommendation for 17 order (1) Granting Defendant's Motion for Partial Dismissal and (2) Order Denying 18 in Part and Granting in Part Plaintiff's Motion for the Court to Take Judicial Notice 19 of Adjudicative Facts. Dkt. No. 80. 20 On November 21, 2025, Plaintiff filed a declaration in support of his MSJ and 21 an opposition to Defendant’s MSJ. Dkt. No. 87. That same day, Plaintiff filed 22 another opposition to Defendant’s MSJ. Dkt. No. 88. 23 On December 15, 2025, Defendant filed a reply in support of her MSJ. Dkt. 24 No. 89. 25 On December 31, 2025, Plaintiff filed a reply in support of his MSJ. Dkt. No. 26 93. 27 28 1 On March 27, 2026, Judge Houston adopted the Report and 2 Recommendation and dismissed Plaintiff’s Fourteenth Amendment claim without 3 leave to amend. Dkt. No. 94. 4 II. 5 COMPLAINT ALLEGATIONS3 6 This action arises out of Plaintiff’s transfer to High Desert State Prison 7 (“HDSP”). SAC at 4. Plaintiff alleges he is a wheelchair-bound, disabled inmate 8 who suffers from paraplegia and other unspecified medical conditions, and as a 9 result has a “high risk” medical designation. Id. at 5, 8-9. In early 2023, Plaintiff, 10 who was housed at Richard J. Donovan (“RJD”), was informed by his counselor 11 that he was up for an annual review for good behavior and that, due to his medical 12 status, the options for housing were the California Health Care Facility and the 13 California Medical Facility. Id. at 4-5. Plaintiff preferred the California Health Care 14 Facility, and that information was forwarded to the Inmate Classification Committee 15 (“ICC”). Id. at 5. 16 On March 3, 2023, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant filed an Auditor Action 17 removing Plaintiff‘s medical conditions, overriding Plaintiff’s high risk medical 18 designation without any stated reason, and recommending Plaintiff’s transfer to 19 HDSP, a non-high risk medical facility. Id. at 6-7. Plaintiff alleges this was done 20 without approval by the California Correctional Health Care Service (“CCHCS”) or 21 his primary care provider. Id. at 6. After learning of the proposed transfer to HDSP, 22 Plaintiff filed a 602 grievance requesting the transfer be placed on hold as he did 23 not belong in a facility unable to house individuals with high-risk medical needs 24 and an inability to defend themselves. Id. at 7-8. In his grievance, Plaintiff also 25 noted that he was scheduled for another surgery and a follow-up appointment with 26 27 3 This section is taken from the Court’s October 30, 2025 Report and 28 1 his neurosurgeon. Id. at 8. Plaintiff’s grievance was denied and he was 2 transferred to HDSP in March 2023. Id. at 7-8. 3 Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s decision to override his high risk 4 designation and authorize the transfer to HDSP violated his Eighth Amendment 5 rights as it was deliberately indifferent to his medical needs, failed to protect him, 6 and recklessly ignored the excessive risk the transfer posed to Plaintiff’s health. 7 Id. at 13. Plaintiff further alleges that his Fourteenth Amendment due process 8 rights were violated because he was not asked about the decision to remove his 9 high-risk medical designation and Defendant failed to receive approval from 10 CCHCS, ICC, or Plaintiff before making her decisions related to the Audit. Id. at 11 14. In addition, Plaintiff was not informed of his transfer until the day it took place 12 and had no opportunity to research, investigate, or be heard on the issue. Id. 15 A. Plaintiff’s Motion 16 Plaintiff argues that summary judgment should be entered in his favor 17 because Defendant violated his constitutional rights by endorsing his transfer to a 18 non-high risk medical facility. P. MSJ at 3-4. Specifically, Plaintiff argues that his 19 Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated and that Defendant was 20 deliberately indifferent to his medical needs, interfered with his medical diagnosis, 21 and failed to protect him. Id. 22 Defendant contends that Plaintiff did not suffer an Article III injury and that 23 the Court lacks jurisdiction to grant his request for injunctive relief. D. MSJ at 20- 24 23.

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