Doe v. Beard

63 F. Supp. 3d 1159, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161667, 2014 WL 6473423
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedNovember 18, 2014
DocketCase No. EDCV 13-02262 DDP (Spx)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 63 F. Supp. 3d 1159 (Doe v. Beard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe v. Beard, 63 F. Supp. 3d 1159, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161667, 2014 WL 6473423 (C.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART THE MOTION TO DISMISS

DEAN D. PREGERSON, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”). Having considered the parties’ submissions, the Court adopts the following order and denies the motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff was a prisoner at California Institute for Men (“CIM”), which is administered by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”). He was and is HIV-positive. In 2012, Defendant Young (a medical technician at the prison) misplaced his medical file, which resulted in the file being delivered to another prisoner. (TAC ¶¶ 37-42.) The other prisoner kept the file and shared its contents, including Plaintiffs status as seropositive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (“HIV”) with other prisoners. (Id. at ¶41.) The following day Plaintiff was made aware that his file had been delivered to another prisoner when other prisoners began taunting him about it. (Id. at ¶ 44.) One said to him, “I wouldn’t want to be you now that people know what you’ve got,” which Plaintiff alleges was a “thinly veiled threat.” (Id.) Plaintiff also alleges that other inmates “taunted and threatened” him. (Id. at ¶ 45.) Plaintiff alleges that he immediately sought assistance from corrections officers (Defendants Valenzuela and Nash) in retrieving the file, but the officers declined to intervene; Defendant Valenzuela allegedly told him, “I want nothing to do with that.” (Id. at ¶¶47, 51.) Plaintiff also alleges he sought assistance from the prison psychiatrist, who contacted a corrections officer, Defendant Botello, and explained that Plaintiffs file was in the hands of another prisoner and that Plaintiff was being taunted and threatened by other prisoners. (Id. at ¶ 53.) Defendant Botello allegedly declined to find and collect Plaintiffs records unless Plaintiff could tell him which prisoner had the records. (Id. at ¶ 54.) Plaintiff also alleges he returned to Defendant Young for assistance, but that she refused to speak with him. (Id. at ¶ 56.) Nineteen days after Plaintiff alleges he initially contacted Defendant Valenzuela for help, the records were returned, apparently by the “officer of the day.” (Id. at ¶¶ 60-61.) Several months later, Plaintiff was able to obtain a meeting with Defendant Logan, who was Defendant Young’s supervisor. Defendant Logan allegedly apologized for the disclosure of Plaintiffs records and stated that “it should never have happened.” (Id. at ¶ 59.)

[1163]*1163Plaintiffs claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in his First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) argued that releasing and then failing to retrieve the medical file was a cognizable constitutional harm under the Fourteenth Amendment. (FAC ¶ 1-2.) Ruling on Defendants’ first motion to dismiss, the Court found that disclosure of medical records was a cognizable constitutional harm, but not if the Defendants were simply negligent. (Dkt. No. 31 at 11.) Plaintiff argued in his opposition that the Defendants had acted with “deliberate indifference,” a mental state normally associated with Eighth Amendment violations.1 But the Court found that Plaintiff had not pled facts showing that the Defendants knew of and disregarded a substantial risk of serious harm, as required to meet the “deliberate indifference” standard. (Id. at 14.)

Because Plaintiff had not sufficiently pled a constitutional violation, the Court dismissed his First Amended Complaint without addressing whether the right in play was “clearly established,” so as to defeat qualified immunity. The Court also did not reach his state claim under the California Constitution’s right to privacy. Plaintiff has now filed a Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”) alleging causes of action against Defendants Young, Logan, Valenzuela, Nash, and Botello under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and against CDCR, Cate, Beard, Young, Logan, Valenzuela, Nash, and Botello under the California Constitution. (Dkt. No. 35.)

II. LEGAL STANDARD

In order to survive a motion to dismiss for failure' to state a claim, a complaint need only include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). A complaint must include “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, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). When considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court must “accept as true all allegations of material fact and must construe those facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Resnick v. Hayes, 213 F.3d 443, 447 (9th Cir.2000).

III. DISCUSSION

A. Section 1983 Claim

“To establish [42 U.S.C.] § 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.” Chudacoff v. Univ. Med. Ctr. of S. Nevada, 649 F.3d 1143, 1149 (9th Cir.2011). It is not in dispute here that Defendants, as prison officials, acted “under color of state law.” Rather, Defendants dispute that Plaintiff has alleged facts showing he was deprived of a “right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” (Mot. Dismiss at 5-12.) In the alternative, if there was a constitutional violation, Defendants argue that they are entitled to qualified immunity from suit because the right was not clearly established. (Id. at 14.)

1. Constitutional Violations

Plaintiffs TAC makes a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that his constitutional right to privacy has been violated. [1164]*1164The Court has already found that such a right exists, but that some mental state greater than mere negligence is required to make a constitutional violation cognizable under § 1983. (Dkt. No. 31 at 11.) Plaintiff does not allege that the Defendants acted or failed to act with the intent of violating his medical privacy. But in the previous order, the Court found that there was case law supporting the idea that a mental state of “deliberate indifference” to “a substantial risk of serious harm” was enough to state a claim for a Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause violation. (Id. at 13 (citing Wood v. Ostrander,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 F. Supp. 3d 1159, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161667, 2014 WL 6473423, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-beard-cacd-2014.