Jones 190298 v. Harris

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedSeptember 25, 2020
Docket2:19-cv-05682
StatusUnknown

This text of Jones 190298 v. Harris (Jones 190298 v. Harris) 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
Jones 190298 v. Harris, (D. Ariz. 2020).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Edward Lee Jones, Sr., No. CV-19-05682-PHX-MTL (JZB)

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 N. Harris, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion Seeking Leave to Amend His 16 Original Complaint Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15 of and Request to 17 Exceed Page Limit. (Doc. 26.) The Court will grant the motion. 18 I. Background. 19 On November 25, 2019, Edward Lee Jones, Sr. filed a pro se civil rights Complaint 20 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, (doc. 1), and an Application for Leave to Proceed In Forma 21 Pauperis (IFP), (doc. 2). On December 27, 2019, the court granted Plaintiff’s Application 22 to Proceed IFP, dismissed Count Two of Plaintiff’s Complaint along with Defendant Cool 23 Bear, and required Defendant Harris to answer Count One in his official capacity as to the 24 RLUIPA claim and in his individual and official capacities as to the First Amendment 25 claim. 26 II. Plaintiff’s Motion Seeking Leave to Amend and to File Excess Pages. 27 On August 6, 2020, Plaintiff filed a Motion Seeking Leave to Amend His Original 28 Complaint and Request to Exceed Page Limit. (Doc. 26.) Plaintiff concurrently lodged his 1 Proposed First Amended Complaint. (Doc. 27.) The Court will grant Plaintiff’s Motion for 2 Leave to Amend His Original Complaint and File Excess Pages, (doc. 26), and will screen 3 Plaintiff’s Proposed First Amended Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). 4 III. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints. 5 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 6 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 7 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff 8 has raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which 9 relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 10 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). 11 A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 12 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). While Rule 8 does not demand detailed 13 factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully- 14 harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). “Threadbare recitals 15 of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not 16 suffice.” Id. 17 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a 18 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 19 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content 20 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 21 misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 22 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 23 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual 24 allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there 25 are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 681. 26 IV. First Amended Complaint. 27 In the First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges eight total “Counts” against the 28 following Defendants in their individual and official capacities: Harris, Jordan, Riker, 1 Dison, and Shinn. (Doc. 27 at 1–3.) In relief, Plaintiff seeks monetary damages, the return 2 of his property, and Court Orders directed at changing various ADCRR policies. (Id. at 45– 3 46.) 4 A. Count One. 5 In Count One, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Harris violated Plaintiff’s rights 6 under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (“RLUIPA”), 42 7 U.S.C. §§2000cc et. seq., by denying Plaintiff access to his religious property for an 8 unreasonable amount of time. (Doc. 27 at 4–7.) Plaintiff states that the customary 9 timeframe for property return in ADCRR is three to seven business days, but that 10 Defendant Harris took advantage of the “ambiguity” in ADCRR policies by holding 11 Plaintiff’s religious property for a month on two separate occasions. (Id. at 5–7.) Plaintiff 12 states that Defendant’s holding of his property caused him to be unable to practice his 13 religion, specifically, that he was unable to read the Quran or conduct halal prayer. 14 (Id. at 7.) 15 B. Counts Two and Eight. 16 In Count Two, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Harris violated the Eighth 17 Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment when he held Plaintiff’s 18 personal hygiene products for more than seven days. (Doc. 27 at 8.) Plaintiff also alleges 19 that he was denied indigent hygiene supplies and, consequently, “he was unable to take a 20 shower, brush his teeth, or properly wash his hands and face.” (Id. at 8–11.) Plaintiff further 21 asserts that he suffered financial hardship from being forced to purchase replacement 22 hygiene products. (Id. at 8.) Plaintiff notes that his hygiene supplies were eventually 23 returned. (Id. at 11.) 24 In Count Eight, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Shinn also denied Plaintiff personal 25 hygiene products. (Id. at 44.) Moreover, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Shinn is 26 responsible for failing to provide inmates sanitary conditions. (Id.) Plaintiff claims that 27 “prisoners are forced to use personal soap or shampoo to clean black mold” and that “the 28 prison is overrun with mice and roaches.” (Id.) 1 C. Count Three. 2 In Count Three, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Harris denied Plaintiff “access to 3 the courts [and] his property in violation of the First, Fourteenth, and Eighth Amendments 4 by unreasonably limiting Plaintiff’s access to his legal files. (Doc. 27 at 12). Plaintiff 5 claims that being unable to access his legal documents “forc[ed] him to scramble to catch 6 up on missed timeframes/deadlines, prevented him from properly drafting a pleading, and 7 subjected him to unfavorable rulings. Id. 8 D. Counts Four, Five, and Seven. 9 In Counts Five and Seven, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Jordan and Dison 10 respectively conspired with Defendant Harris to destroy Plaintiff’s property and cover up 11 the destruction. (Doc. 27 at 41). Plaintiff contends that Defendants’ actions were done in 12 retaliation to Plaintiff’s use of the grievance process. (See id.) 13 E. Count Six. 14 In Count Six, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Riker threatened Plaintiff with a 15 disciplinary infraction in retaliation to Plaintiff’s continued use of the ADCRR grievance 16 process. (Doc 27 at 35.) Plaintiff also alleges that Defendant Riker tampered with 17 Plaintiff’s existing grievances to prevent Plaintiff’s successful use of the grievance process. 18 (Id. at 38.) 19 V. Discussion of Plaintiff’s Claims. 20 Although pro se pleadings are liberally construed, Haines v.

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Jones 190298 v. Harris, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-190298-v-harris-azd-2020.