Jones v. Baldonado

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedJune 14, 2021
Docket2:20-cv-01371
StatusUnknown

This text of Jones v. Baldonado (Jones v. Baldonado) 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 v. Baldonado, (D. Ariz. 2021).

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-20-01371-PHX-MTL (JZB)

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 Unknown Baldinado, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 16 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Amended Motion to Amend Complaint. 17 (Doc. 41.) The Court will grant the Motion and screen Plaintiff’s proposed First Amended 18 Complaint (lodged at doc. 42-1). 19 I. Background. 20 On July 9, 2020, Plaintiff initiated this action by filing a prisoner civil rights 21 complaint (Complaint). (Doc. 1.) On September 16, 2020, the Court screened Plaintiff’s 22 Complaint and directed Defendants Baldinado, Ridnour, and Leifson to answer the claims 23 against them therein. (Doc. 6.) On December 15, 2020, Defendants answered the 24 Complaint. (Docs. 11, 13.) 25 On January 12, 2021, the Court issued a scheduling order setting the following 26 deadlines: deadline to amend pleadings or complaint – April 12, 2021; fact discovery 27 deadline – June 11, 2021; and dispositive motion deadline – September 9, 2021. (Doc. 14.) 28 The Court warned the parties that “the deadlines are firm” and “the Court will enforce the 1 deadlines set forth in this Order; the parties should plan their litigation activities 2 accordingly.” (Id. at 3.) 3 II. Motion and Amended Motion to Amend Complaint. 4 On April 15, 2021, Plaintiff filed his Motion to Amend his Complaint. (Doc. 32.) 5 Therein, Plaintiff acknowledges that his Motion is untimely. (Id. at 2 (“On January 12, 6 2021, the Court issued a Scheduling Order, therein setting the deadline for joining parties 7 and amending pleadings out until April 12, 2021, which has recently passed 24 hours 8 ago.”).) Plaintiff informs the Court that he “did not complete his draft of his First Amended 9 Complaint until April 10, 2021, and was unable to file it on April 12, 2021, because the 10 librarian only arrives on Wednesdays, which is April 14, 2021” and “[t]his is the only day 11 Plaintiff has access to the Unit Library/E-Filing system.” (Id. at 2-3.) Plaintiff also asks the 12 Court to “allow him to exceed the page limit by 9 pages.” (Id. at 3.) 13 On April 21, 2021, Defendants filed a Response to Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend. 14 (Docs. 36, 37.) Therein, Defendants contend that Plaintiff’s Motion should be denied as 15 untimely and for failure to comply with LRCiv 15.1. (Doc. 36.) 16 On May 13, 2021, Plaintiff filed an Amended Motion to Amend. (Doc. 41.) Plaintiff 17 concurrently filed a new proposed First Amended Complaint (lodged at doc. 42), that he 18 asserts is compliant with LRCiv 15.1. (Doc. 41 at 1.) Additionally, Plaintiff asserts that he 19 did intend to seek both an extension of time and leave to exceed the page limit in his first 20 Motion to Amend (doc. 32). (Doc. 41 at 3.) 21 The Court will construe Plaintiff’s explanation of his delay as a request for the Court 22 to accept his untimely filing, and the Court will grant Plaintiff’s request. Plaintiff missed 23 the deadline by mere days, and to review his filing would result in no prejudice to 24 Defendants. The Court will also grant Plaintiff’s Motion to Exceed the Page limit (doc. 41) 25 and will screen Plaintiff’s proposed First Amended Complaint (FAC) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 26 § 1915A(a). 27 III. Screening of Prisoner Complaint. 28 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 1 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 2 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff has 3 raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which 4 relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 5 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)-(2). 6 A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 7 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (emphasis added). While Rule 8 does 8 not demand detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the 9 defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). 10 “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory 11 statements, do not suffice.” Id. 12 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a 13 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 14 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content 15 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 16 misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 17 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 18 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual 19 allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there 20 are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 681. 21 IV. First Amended Complaint. 22 In his proposed FAC, Plaintiff alleges eight total “Counts” against the following 23 Defendants in their individual and official capacities: Jacey Baldonado, Correctional 24 Officer (CO) II; Sergent Kaleb Ridenour, CO; G. De La Torre #10863, COII; Lieutenant 25 William Ames, CO; Barbara Gallant, RN; Brett Leifson, Medical Provider; J. Olgoin, 26 COII. (Doc. 42-1.)1 Plaintiff seeks monetary damages, payment of his filing fees and

27 1 The Court notes that Plaintiff’s first proposed FAC (lodged at doc. 42), was poorly scanned and largely illegible. (See Doc. 42.) On May 17, 2021, the Clerk’s office secured 28 and attached a corrected proposed FAC, which is legible. (See Doc. 42-1.) The Court will cite to this attachment throughout this Order, and ultimately direct the Clerk to file the 1 attorney’s fees, and injunctive relief in the form of having “cameras placed in clusters of 2 the SMU-1 Unit.” (Id. at 30.) 3 Although pro se pleadings are liberally construed, Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 4 520-21 (1972), conclusory and vague allegations will not support a cause of action. Ivey v. 5 Bd. of Regents, 673 F.2d 266, 268 (9th Cir. 1982). Further, a liberal interpretation of a civil 6 rights complaint may not supply essential elements of the claim that were not initially pled. 7 Id. 8 A. Counts One, Two, Three, and Seven. 9 Plaintiff’s allegations in Counts One, Two, Three, and Seven of his proposed FAC 10 are virtually identical to those counts in his original Complaint. (Compare Doc. 1 at 5-10, 11 11-12, 13-15, and 24-26 with Doc. 42-1 at 5-11, 12-13, 14-16, and 26-27.) Accordingly, 12 the Court will adopt its relevant summaries and analysis from its September 16, 2020 13 Screening Order, and direct Defendants Baldinado, Ridnour, and Leifson to answer the 14 relevant claims against them therein. (See Doc. 6 at 3-5, 11, 16-17.) 15 B. Count Four. 16 In Count Four (doc.

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Jones v. Baldonado, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-baldonado-azd-2021.