Jackson v. Covello et.al.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedNovember 8, 2022
Docket3:19-cv-02444-JAH-MMP
StatusUnknown

This text of Jackson v. Covello et.al. (Jackson v. Covello et.al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jackson v. Covello et.al., (S.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 RICARDO JACKSON, Case No.: 3:19-cv-2444 JAH MDD CDCR #AK-4312, 11 ORDER: (1) DISMISSING CLAIMS Plaintiff, 12 AND DEFENDANTS PURSUANT TO vs. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) & § 1915A; AND 13 (2) DIRECTING USMS OF FIRST P. COVELLO; J. JUAREZ; SERGEANT 14 AMENDED COMPLAINT ON ANDERSON; CORRECTIONAL REMAINING DEFENDANTS 15 OFFICER MARTINEZ; A. CANEDO; A.

TAYLOR-GARCIA; R. FLORES, 16 [ECF No. 45] Defendants. 17 18 19 20 21 I. Procedural History 22 Plaintiff Ricardo Jackson, a prisoner currently incarcerated at the California Health 23 Care Facility (“CHCF”), proceeding pro se in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 24 U.S.C. § 1983 initially filed this action in the Northern District of California on 25 September 13, 2019. (See ECF No. 1.) This matter was transferred to this Court on 26 December 18, 2019 as the claims giving rise to the action occurred at the Richard J. 27 Donovan Correctional Facility (“RJD”). (See ECF No. 17.) 28 / / / 1 On February 26, 2020, this Court granted Plaintiff leave to proceed in forma 2 pauperis, denied his request for appointment of counsel, denied his motion for 3 preliminary injunction, and dismissed some of his claims in his original Complaint 4 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and § 1915A. (See ECF No. 23.) However, the Court 5 found that Plaintiff had pleaded First Amendment retaliation claims sufficient to 6 withstand the sua sponte screening required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and § 1915A as to 7 Defendant Flores. (See id. at 11.) 8 Plaintiff was given the option to either notify the Court of his intention to proceed 9 with his First Amendment retaliation claims against Flores only or file an amended 10 pleading correcting all the deficiencies of pleading identified by the Court in the February 11 26, 2020 Order. (Id. at 12.) Instead, Plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal to the Ninth 12 Circuit Court of Appeals of the Court’s Order. (See ECF No. 24.) However, on 13 September 2, 2020, Plaintiff’s appeal was dismissed for failure to prosecute. (See ECF 14 No. 35.) 15 Plaintiff also requested that this Court reconsider the February 26, 2020 ruling in 16 its entirety, including the rulings on Plaintiff’s IFP motion and motion to appoint counsel. 17 (See ECF No. 30.) Because Plaintiff failed to identify any intervening change in 18 controlling law or show that the Court committed clear error in the February 26, 2020 19 Order, his Motion for Reconsideration [ECF No. 30] was denied. (See ECF No. 39.) 20 However, the Court did give Plaintiff sixty (60) days from November 10, 2020 to file an 21 amended pleading. (See id.) 22 After remand, on January 27, 2022, the Court issued an Order to Show Cause 23 (“OSC”) why this entire action should not be dismissed for failing to prosecute. (See 24 ECF No. 43.) Plaintiff filed a response to the Court’s OSC, the Court vacated the OSC 25 and allowed Plaintiff to file a First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) on April 7, 2022. (See 26 ECF Nos. 44, 45, 46.) 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 II. Screening Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b) 2 A. Standard of Review 3 As the Court previously informed Plaintiff, because he is a prisoner and is 4 proceeding IFP, his FAC requires a pre-answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 5 § 1915(e)(2) and § 1915A(b). Under these statutes, the Court must sua sponte dismiss a 6 prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which is frivolous, malicious, fails to state 7 a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 8 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)); 9 Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 10 1915A(b)). “The purpose of [screening] is ‘to ensure that the targets of frivolous or 11 malicious suits need not bear the expense of responding.’” Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 12 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (quoting Wheeler v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc., 689 F.3d 13 680, 681 (7th Cir. 2012)). 14 “The standard for determining whether a plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon 15 which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of 16 Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 17 F.3d 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th 18 Cir. 2012) (noting that screening pursuant to § 1915A “incorporates the familiar standard 19 applied in the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20 12(b)(6)”). Rule 12(b)(6) requires a complaint “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted 21 as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 22 662, 678 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted); Wilhelm, 680 F.3d at 1121. 23 Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the 24 elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” 25 Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 26 relief [is] ... a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its 27 judicial experience and common sense.” Id. The “mere possibility of misconduct” or 28 “unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed me accusation[s]” fall short of meeting 1 this plausibility standard. Id. 2 B. Plaintiff’s Allegations 3 On December 22, 2015, Plaintiff alleges that an inmate “was forced” into a cell 4 with him. (See FAC at 5.) Plaintiff complained to an unnamed correctional officer who 5 purportedly told Plaintiff he “must not ask him any questions.” (Id.) Plaintiff told this 6 unnamed correctional officer that he was going to “write him up for retaliation” and in 7 response, this officer searched Plaintiff’s cell and “illegally took property items from the 8 cell.” (Id.) 9 On April 4, 2016, Plaintiff appeared before Defendant Flores (“Flores”) at a 10 Classification Committee hearing at which time Plaintiff claims he told Flores about the 11 December 2015 cell incident. (See id.) Plaintiff alleges Flores told the committee that 12 Plaintiff is “one who likes to file grievances against staff and officials.” (Id.) Flores told 13 the committee that Plaintiff is “clear for double cell.” (Id.) 14 Plaintiff appeared again before the classification committee on December 27, 15 2016. (See id. at 7.) Flores again presided over the hearing and again “deem[ed] 16 [Plaintiff] double cell clear.” (Id.) Plaintiff filed a grievance against Flores on January 17 14, 2017 but “it went unanswered.” (Id.) 18 In February of 2017, Defendant Canedo (“Canedo”) called Plaintiff to the program 19 office for a “RVR/115 hearing” for which Canedo was the hearing officer.

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Bluebook (online)
Jackson v. Covello et.al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-covello-etal-casd-2022.