Evelyn v. Hart

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMay 26, 2023
Docket3:22-cv-08172
StatusUnknown

This text of Evelyn v. Hart (Evelyn v. Hart) 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
Evelyn v. Hart, (D. Ariz. 2023).

Opinion

1 KM 2 WO 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Clifford B. Evelyn, Jr., No. CV-22-08172-PHX-JAT (JFM) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 Unknown Hart, et al., 13 Defendants.

15 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 13). The 16 Court will order Defendants Robinson and Hart to answer a portion of Count One of the 17 Second Amended Complaint and will dismiss the remaining claims and Defendants 18 without prejudice. 19 I. Background 20 On September 23, 2022, pro se Plaintiff Clifford B. Evelyn, Jr., who is confined in 21 the Arizona State Prison-Kingman and proceeding in forma pauperis, filed a civil rights 22 Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In a December 19, 2022 Order, the Court 23 dismissed the Complaint with leave to amend. On January 31, 2023, Plaintiff filed a First 24 Amended Complaint, which the Court dismiss with leave to amend in a March 31, 2023 25 Order. Plaintiff filed the Second Amended Complaint on April 21, 2023. 26 II. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 27 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 28 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 1 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff 2 has raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which 3 relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 4 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). 5 A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 6 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (emphasis added). While Rule 8 does 7 not demand detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the- 8 defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 9 (2009). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 10 conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. 11 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a 12 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 13 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content 14 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 15 misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 16 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 17 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual 18 allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there 19 are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 681. 20 But as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has instructed, courts 21 must “continue to construe pro se filings liberally.” Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 22 (9th Cir. 2010). A “complaint [filed by a pro se prisoner] ‘must be held to less stringent 23 standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.’” Id. (quoting Erickson v. Pardus, 551 24 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per curiam)). 25 III. Second Amended Complaint 26 Plaintiff names the following Defendants in his three-count Second Amended 27 Complaint: GEO Deputy Warden Hart, Mailroom Sergeant Marschke, Correctional 28 Officer IV Martin, Appeals Administrator D. Miller, GEO Mail Room Sergeant Phillips, 1 Senior Chaplain Robinson, Central Office Chaplain Dr. Kenneth Herman, GEO Deputy 2 Warden Rydgren, Disciplinary Hearing Officer McCain, and Central Office Appeals 3 employee Julie Bowers. Plaintiff seeks money damages. 4 In Count One, Plaintiff alleges violations of his First Amendment right to the free 5 exercise of religion. Plaintiff claims that in January 2022, Defendants Marschke, 6 Robinson, Hart, and Miller prohibited him from receiving his approved subscription of the 7 Nation of Islam News. Plaintiff claims this is a violation of the Religious Land Use and 8 Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) because it is a “substantial burden, compelling 9 interest.” On May 3, 2022, Defendants Robinson and Hart denied Plaintiff and other 10 Muslim inmates’ request “to come together and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, one of Islam’s major 11 religious observations at the closing of Ramadan.” Plaintiff claims this violated his free 12 exercise rights and substantially burdened his religious practice, without a rational 13 penological justification. Plaintiff contends Defendant Herman “condoned the actions of 14 GEO Chaplain Robinson’s denial of the celebration of the Muslim major holy day Eid al- 15 Fitr.” 16 In Count Two, Plaintiff alleges violations of his First Amendment rights with regard 17 to mail. Plaintiff asserts that on February 9, 2022, Defendant Phillips withheld Internal 18 Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms. On September 19, 2022, a certified mail receipt was 19 “given to a random inmate.” Plaintiff further claims religious books were returned to the 20 sender and the mailroom “never informed [him] they arrived and were sent back to 21 publishing/sender.” On March 6, 2023, a certified mail receipt belonging to Plaintiff was 22 found in the garbage. Plaintiff contends that on January 18, and February 3, 10, and 27, 23 2023, Defendant Bowers interfered with notices. On February 3, 2023, Defendant Phillips 24 discarded Plaintiff’s mail to the Social Security Administration, discarded his certified mail 25 receipt, and charged Plaintiff for the outgoing discarded mail. Plaintiff contends Defendant 26 Phillips has tampered with multiple items of outgoing certified mail. On January 25, 2023, 27 mailroom staff opened and tampered with Plaintiff’s “last amended civil paperwork [that 28 Plaintiff] sent to the court, switching mail sent to risk management or the attorney general 1 with paperwork sent to the Clerk of the Court of amended above case [number], preventing 2 the court from receiving correct documents.” 3 In Count Three, Plaintiff claims Defendant Martin retaliated against him, in 4 violation of the First Amendment. Plaintiff claims that on July 8, 2022, Defendant Martin 5 issued a disciplinary violation against Plaintiff for “utilizing the informal grievance 6 process, citing ‘obstruction of staff.’” On November 1, 2022, Defendant Martin issued a 7 disciplinary report against Plaintiff for “utilizing the informal grievance process citing 8 [Plaintiff] was ‘abusing the grievance system,’ for using the process to hold her colleagues 9 accountable.” Plaintiff sent a notice to Defendant McCain on December 22, 2022, and on 10 January 10, 2023, Defendant McCain retaliated against Plaintiff “by having [Assistant] 11 GEO DW Rydgren send [Plaintiff] to the hole without a disciplinary report citing ‘staff 12 conflict’ without justification of any conflict.” Plaintiff claims he was in the “hole” for 13 eight days without a disciplinary write-up. 14 IV. Claim for Which an Answer Will be Required 15 Liberally construed, Plaintiff has adequately stated a First Amendment and RLUIPA 16 claim in Count One regarding the denial of an Eid al-Fitr celebration. The Court will 17 require Defendants Robinson and Hart to answer this claim. 18 V.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brooks v. Marbury
24 U.S. 78 (Supreme Court, 1826)
Drummond v. Executors of Prestman
25 U.S. 515 (Supreme Court, 1827)
Turner v. Safley
482 U.S. 78 (Supreme Court, 1987)
County of Sacramento v. Lewis
523 U.S. 833 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Hebbe v. Pliler
627 F.3d 338 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Ivey v. Board of Regents of University of Alaska
673 F.2d 266 (Second Circuit, 1982)
Michael Henry Ferdik v. Joe Bonzelet, Sheriff
963 F.2d 1258 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
John Witherow v. Marvin Paff
52 F.3d 264 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)
Hines v. Gomez
108 F.3d 265 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Evelyn v. Hart, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evelyn-v-hart-azd-2023.