Garcia v. Burns

787 F. Supp. 948, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3752, 1992 WL 63075
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedFebruary 18, 1992
DocketNo. CV-N-89-350-HDM
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 787 F. Supp. 948 (Garcia v. Burns) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garcia v. Burns, 787 F. Supp. 948, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3752, 1992 WL 63075 (D. Nev. 1992).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

McKIBBEN, District Judge.

Plaintiff filed a civil rights complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that Defendants violated his constitutional rights when he was held in segregated housing for more than two weeks after being classified to general population immediately after his transfer to the Northern Nevada Correctional Center (NNCC). This court previously granted summary judgment for the Defendants on all of the claims stated in the complaint, e.g., various challenges to the conditions of confinement, except the claim that Plaintiff was confined without being afforded due process of law. See order at docket # 17. Plaintiffs attempt to appeal said ruling was dismissed as premature. See order at docket #28.

The day before a telephonic pretrial conference, Defendants filed a renewed motion for summary judgment (# 42), arguing that a recent decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Grayson v. Rison, No. 89-56188 (9th Cir. Sept. 11, 1991) is dispositive of the remaining issue. Plaintiff was directed to file an opposition to the renewed motion. See minutes of hearing at docket #44. Plaintiff has responded (#45), in which he attempts to distinguish the present action from Grayson. The court shall therefore re-evaluate whether Defendants are entitled to summary judgment on the confinement issue.

MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Summary judgment is proper “if pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56. The party moving for summary judgment has the initial burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. See Adickes v. S.H. Kress and Co., 398 U.S. 144, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970), and Zoslaw v. MCA Distrib. Corp., 693 F.2d 870, 883 (9th Cir. 1982). Once the movant presents evidence which, if uncontroverted, would entitle the movant to a directed verdict at trial, the burden then shifts to the respondent to set forth specific facts demonstrating that there is a genuine issue for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). If the factual context makes the respondent’s claim implausible, that party must come forward with more persuasive evidence than would otherwise be necessary to show that there is a genuine issue for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); California Arch. Bldg. Prod. v. Franciscan Ceramics, 818 F.2d 1466, 1468 (9th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1006, 108 S.Ct. 698, 98 L.Ed.2d 650 (1988). A material issue of fact is one that affects the outcome of the litigation and requires a trial to resolve the differing versions of the truth. See Admiralty Fund v. Hugh Johnson & Co., 677 F.2d 1301, 1305-06 (9th Cir.1982).

When faced with a motion for summary judgment, the material before the court “must be viewed in the light most favorable to the [non-moving] party,” Adickes v. S.H. Kress and Co., 398 U.S. at 157, 90 S.Ct. at 1608, and it must appear to a certainty that the plaintiff would not be entitled to relief under any set of facts that could be proven under the allegations of the complaint. Halet v. Wend Investment Co., 672 F.2d 1305 (9th Cir.1982). Furthermore, allegations of a pro se complaint are held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) (per curiam). Finally, summary judgment is not a disfavored pro[950]*950cedural shortcut, but an integral part of the federal rules as a whole. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, supra.

FACTS

On April 21, 1989, Plaintiff was transferred from the maximum security-prison to a minimum security prison, NNCC. Upon arrival he was confined to Unit 5, O-Wing, which was a cell designated for new arrivals to NNCC. On the day of his arrival, he was classified to general population housing, however there was not a general population cell available at that time. Therefore, Plaintiff remained in the cell for new arrivals until May 9, 1989, when he was moved to an available cell in general population. The Administrative Regulation (AR) in effect at the time of Plaintiff’s transfer stated that new arrivals would be temporarily separated from the general population until an appropriate housing assignment was determined by a classification committee. “Pending this classification hearing, the inmate will remain on temporary lockup (red tag) status until the committee determines that it is appropriate to release the inmate to an assigned bed and program.” See AR # 506(V)(C)(6), Exhibit A, docket # 42.

In the prior order partially denying summary judgment, the court expressed'concern over Defendants interchangeably referring to the cell in which Plaintiff was housed as an “intake cell”, “temporary lockup status,” and “red tag,” because the latter two terms connote an emergency situation.1 See p. 5, lines 7-9, docket # 17. The record before the court at that time did not show whether Plaintiff was held in segregation, and if so, what type of segregation (administrative or punitive) because of the concomitant conditions of confinement. The court now finds that, although Plaintiff had been classified to general population, he was instead held in a form of administrative segregation.

Generally, administrative segregation refers to special non-punitive housing wherein the inmate is segregated from the general population for various reasons. The seminal case dealing with administrative segregation recognized that inmates may need to be placed in a special type of housing for a multitude of reasons.

The phrase “administrative segregation,” as used by the state authorities here, appears to be something of a catchall: it may be used to protect the prisoner’s safety, to protect other inmates from a particular prisoner, to break up potentially disruptive groups of inmates, or simply to await later classification or transfer.

Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U.S. 460, 468, 108 S.Ct. 864, 869, 74 L.Ed.2d 675 (1983) (emphasis added). Because of the myriad reasons for the use of administrative segregation, the Court found that “administrative segregation is the sort of confinement that inmates should reasonably anticipate receiving at some point in their incarceration.” Helms, 459 U.S.

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Bluebook (online)
787 F. Supp. 948, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3752, 1992 WL 63075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garcia-v-burns-nvd-1992.