Garcia v. Allison

District Court, S.D. California·Decided April 19, 2022·No. 3:21-cv-01991·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 FELIPE GARCIA, Case No.: 21-cv-1991-MMA (MSB) CDCR# H-74821, 11 ORDER DISMISSING CLAIMS AND Plaintiff, 12 DEFENDANTS PURSUANT TO 28 vs. U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) AND 13 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) KATHLEEN ALLISON, Secretary of 14 CDCR; MARCUS POLLARD, Warden; 15 N, CASTRO; D. LEWIS; J. GOMEZ; J. GARCIA; A. DeLaVEGA, 16 Defendants. 17 18 19 20 Felipe Garcia (“Plaintiff”), currently incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan 21 Correctional Facility (“RJD”), and proceeding pro se, filed this civil action pursuant to 42 22 U.S.C. § 1983 on November 29, 2021. See Doc. No. 1 (“Compl.”). Plaintiff also filed a 23 Motion to Proceed in Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See Doc. 24 No. 2. On February 3, 2022, the Court granted Plaintiff’s IFP motion and dismissed the 25 action with leave to amend pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) and 28 U.S.C. 26 § 1915A(b). Doc. No. 5. Plaintiff was given 45 days from the date of the Order within 27 which to file an amended complaint. Id. On February 16, 2022, Plaintiff filed a First 28 Amended Complaint pursuant to this Court’s Order. Doc. No. 6 (“FAC”). 1 I. SCREENING PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(E)(2)(B) & 1915A 2 A. Standard of Review 3 As with this original Complaint, because Plaintiff is a prisoner and is proceeding 4 IFP, his Complaint requires a preliminary screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) 5 and § 1915A(b). Under these statutes, the Court must review and sua sponte dismiss an 6 IFP complaint, and any complaint filed by a prisoner seeking redress from a 7 governmental entity, or officer or employee of a governmental entity, which is frivolous, 8 malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See 9 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126–27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 28 U.S.C. 10 § 1915(e)(2)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing 28 11 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)). “The purpose of [screening] is ‘to ensure that the targets of 12 frivolous or malicious suits need not bear the expense of responding.’” Nordstrom v. 13 Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (quoting Wheeler v. Wexford Health 14 Sources, Inc., 689 F.3d 680, 681 (7th Cir. 2012)). 15 “The standard for determining whether a plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon 16 which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of 17 Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 18 F.3d 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th 19 Cir. 2012) (noting that screening pursuant to § 1915A “incorporates the familiar standard 20 applied in the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 12(b)(6)”). Rule 12(b)(6) requires a complaint “contain sufficient factual matter, 22 accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 23 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted); Wilhelm, 680 F.3d at 1121. 24 Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the 25 elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” 26 Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 27 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its 28 judicial experience and common sense.” Id. The “mere possibility of misconduct” or 1 “unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed me accusation[s]” fall short of meeting 2 this plausibility standard. Id.; see also Moss v. U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 3 (9th Cir. 2009). 4 B. Plaintiff’s Allegations 5 The factual allegations Plaintiff makes in his FAC are essentially identical to those 6 he made in his original Complaint. Plaintiff alleges he filed a petition for writ of habeas 7 corpus that challenged the method by which he was criminally sentenced in Kern County 8 Superior Court and the rate at which he was accumulating worktime credits. See Compl. 9 at 6; FAC at 12; Doc. No. 6-2 at 3. According to Plaintiff, the state court agreed with 10 Plaintiff that the 15% worktime credit did not apply to him, but denied the petition 11 without prejudice to permit Plaintiff to seek relief from the Kern County Superior Court. 12 Compl. at 6; FAC at 12; Doc. No. 6-2 at 3–4. 13 Plaintiff followed the appellate court’s advice and filed a petition for writ of habeas 14 corpus in Kern County Superior Court. Doc. No. 6-2 at 2. On December 20, 2019, Kern 15 County Superior Court “issued an order granting petition for writ of habeas corpus and 16 order[ed] a resentencing.” Compl. at 6; FAC at 12; ECF No. 6-2 at 4. According to the 17 documents submitted by Plaintiff, the superior court noted that “Petitioner would be 18 eligible for good conduct credits pursuant to P.C. § 2933, and not restricted by the terms 19 of P.C. § 2933.1,” but “it did not specify the exact rate of accumulation of credits 20 Petitioner should receive, only that that the 15% limitation was not applicable.” Doc. 21 No. 6-2 at 4. 22 Plaintiff alleges he was resentenced on January 30, 2020.1 Compl. at 6; FAC at 12. 23 On February 24, 2020, Plaintiff informed prison officials of the resentencing and 24 “changes to the credit vested by the Court” and “lifting the 15% restriction.” Compl. at 25

26 27 1 The Order from the Kern County Superior Court denying Plaintiff’s September 3, 2021 habeas corpus petition lists the date of Plaintiff’s resentencing as January 31, 2020. ECF 28 1 6–7; FAC at 12–13. However, “no response was received.” Compl. at 7; FAC at 13. 2 Plaintiff alleges he submitted six additional inmate requests, which he claims also went 3 unanswered. Compl. at 7; FAC at 13. 4 Plaintiff filed grievances in March of 2020 notifying prison officials that despite 5 the resentencing, his earliest possible release date (“EPRD”) of February 13, 2025 had 6 not been changed. Compl. at 7; FAC at 13. On June 8, 2020, Plaintiff says he was 7 interviewed by Defendant Nancy Castro. See Compl. at 9; FAC at 13. According to 8 Plaintiff, Castro told him “Mr. Garcia, you seem to know the law; so go ahead and I’m 9 sure you’ll figure it out, I’ll make sure you don’t go home, and if you don’t like it, well 10 sue me, it seems like you know how, you’ve filed several lawsuits against our officers.” 11 Compl. at 10; FAC at 16. On January 12, 2021, Defendant Garcia informed Plaintiff that 12 his EPRD had been changed to October 15, 2023. See id. However, Plaintiff was later 13 notified by Defendant Gomez-Godinez that his new EPRD was changed to December 25, 14 2021. See Compl. at 8; FAC at 14. On October 28, 2021, Plaintiff was notified that his 15 EPRD was actually June 5, 2024. See Compl.

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