Hash v. Giacomazzi

District Court, N.D. California·Decided April 10, 2023·No. 5:22-cv-07162·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 LAWRENCE G. HASH, 11 Case No. 22-cv-07162 EJD (PR) Plaintiff, 12 ORDER OF SERVICE; DIRECTING PLAINTIFF TO FILE v. 13 SUPPLEMENTAL PLEADING

REGARDING STATE LAW CLAIMS; 14 DIRECTING DEFENDANTS TO FILE M. GIACOMAZZI, et al., DISPOSITIVE MOTION OR NOTICE 15 REGARDING SUCH MOTION; Defendants. INSTRUCTIONS TO CLERK 16

18 Plaintiff, a state prisoner, filed the instant pro se civil rights action pursuant to 42 19 U.S.C. § 1983 against numerous prison staff at San Quentin State Prison (“SQSP”) and 20 other individuals. The original action was filed under Hash v. Giacomazzi, et al., Case No. 21 20-cv-01116 EJD (PR) (hereinafter “Case No. 20-01116”). In accordance with Plaintiff’s 22 notice of election, the instant action was opened with Plaintiff’s “second amended 23 complaint” to pursue claim 4 from the amended complaint, which attacked the sufficiency 24 of evidence to support an RVR issued by Defendant Giacomazzi on March 5, 2016. See 25 Dkt. No. 4 at 5. In accordance with the screening order and elections filed by Plaintiff, this 26 action shall proceed on that claim if the complaint states sufficient facts in support. Dkt. 27 No. 3 at 10-11. 1 DISCUSSION 2 I. Standard of Review 3 A federal court must conduct a preliminary screening in any case in which a 4 prisoner seeks redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a 5 governmental entity. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). In its review, the court must identify any 6 cognizable claims and dismiss any claims that are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim 7 upon which relief may be granted or seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune 8 from such relief. See id. § 1915A(b)(1),(2). Pro se pleadings must, however, be liberally 9 construed. See Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1988). 10 To state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege two essential 11 elements: (1) that a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States was 12 violated, and (2) that the alleged violation was committed by a person acting under the 13 color of state law. See West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988). 14 II. Plaintiff’s Claims 15 In re-screening of the amended complaint in Case No. 20-cv-01116, the Court 16 stated the following regarding claim 4:

17 Under claim 4, Plaintiff challenges a separate RVR for “possession of a 18 deadly weapon” issued by Defendant Giacomazzi on March 5, 2016, based on procedural due process violations. [Dkt.] No. 15 at 54, 56, 58. Plaintiff 19 claims the written notice was “defective” because it was not consistent with the charged offense and there was no evidence that Plaintiff possessed a 20 deadly weapon because the razor blade that was found did not satisfy the 21 statutory definition for a “deadly weapon.” Id. Plaintiff claims Defendant Giacomazzi is liable as the reporting employee, and various other 22 Defendants who were involved in reviewing, classifying, and investigating 23 the matter, as well as those involved in Plaintiff’s appeal of it. Dkt. No. 15- 1 at 58-64. Plaintiff claims Defendants knew or should have known that 24 the RVR did not meet the definition of a “deadly weapon.” Id. at 64.

25 Liberally construed, Plaintiff appears to be attempting to state a procedural 26 due process claim under Hill, 472 U.S. at 454, based on insufficient evidence. However, the allegations are insufficient because the amended 27 complaint does not indicate whether Plaintiff lost any good-time credits due Accordingly, this claim shall be dismissed with leave to amend. In 1 amending, Plaintiff is advised that he must allege sufficient facts to 2 establish individual liability against each named Defendant. See supra at 6. Furthermore, for the reasons discussed below, this claim may be subject to 3 severance from this action if the amendment violates Rule 18(a) or Rule 20(a). 4

5 Id., Dkt. No. 28 at 11-12. Plaintiff’s filing of a second amended complaint1 indicated that 6 he believed this matter should be severed. Id. at 16. Plaintiff presents the following 7 statement of facts. 8 A. Background 9 Plaintiff arrived at SQSP on February 10, 2014, and housed in general population in 10 West-Block until June 14, 2014. Dkt. No. 1 at 8. Plaintiff was then moved to 11 administrative segregation (“ad-seg”) until January 9, 2015, for a Rules Violation Report 12 (“RVR”) which is not relevant to this action. Id. Plaintiff was then housed in general 13 population in North-Block. Id. Then from February 9, 2015, to February 4, 2016, Plaintiff 14 was moved back to West-Block. Id. 15 Plaintiff claims that SQSP’s Investigative Services Unit (“ISU”) was systematically 16 harassing and retaliating against inmates for making inmate requests (CDCR Form 22), 17 filing grievances (CDCR-602) and lawsuits that adversely involved staff members. Id. 18 Plaintiff claims the harassment included cell searches, confiscation of papers, and 19 placement in ad-seg pending transfer to another prison. Id. at 9. Plaintiff claims that staff 20 members were also using “unknown anonymous notes” that contained threats to staff 21 members as a “pretext” to place inmates in ad-seg and eventually transfer them to another 22 prison. Id. Plaintiff claims that during the times he was housed in West-Block, he assisted 23 numerous inmates in filing grievances and lawsuits. Id. He describes various inmates 24 whom he helped file grievances which lead to retaliatory actions by staff members. Id. at 25 10-13. 26

27 1 On February 4, 2016, Plaintiff claims ISU officers came to his cell and accused him 2 of harassing staff members with Form 22s (Inmate/Parolee Request for Interview, Item or 3 Service) and CDCR-602s (Inmate/Parolee Appeal). Id. at 13. Plaintiff was ordered out of 4 his cell and searched. Id. Defendants Giacomazzi, C. Bass, C. Fry, and P.G. Hannah then 5 ransacked his cell and confiscated evidence “to confirm their accusations that [Plaintiff] 6 was harassing… staff members.” Id. at 13-14. Plaintiff then describes staff members 7 accusing him of authoring several anonymous notes containing threats to staff. Id. at 14- 8 18. At some point, Plaintiff was rehoused in the Adjustment Center. Id. at 19. In late 9 February 2016, Plaintiff sought access to his legal documents to prepare a petition for writ 10 of habeas corpus in the state high court; however, most of his requests were ignored. Id. at 11 19. Plaintiff went on a hunger strike on February 23, 2016, until his legal documents were 12 returned. Id. at 20. He was informed that Defendant Giacomazzi was still searching 13 through his legal property. Id. Plaintiff learned from other inmates that they had also been 14 accused of writing the same anonymous notes containing threats to staff. Id. at 21-22. 15 Plaintiff describes being issued several RVRs for the notes, and that other inmates were 16 also charged with authoring the same threatening notes. Id. at 22-23. Those RVRs are the 17 subject of Plaintiff’s claims which are proceeding under the initial action, Case No. 20- 18 01116; the retaliatory cell search on February 4, 2016, is the subject of a separate action 19 under Case No. 22-07014. 20 B. RVR Log #4690 21 The subject of this action is an RVR which was issued later in March 2016.

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