Khaoone v. Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility

• Court: District Court, N.D. California
• Decided: October 28, 2022
• Docket: 3:22-cv-04065
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 3 4 PRESTON P. KHAOONE, Case No. 22-cv-04065-JD

5 Plaintiff, ORDER RE DISMISSAL v. 6

7 SONOMA COUNTY MAIN ADULT DETENTION FACILITY, 8 Defendant.

9 10 Plaintiff, a state prisoner, filed a pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The 11 original complaint was dismissed with leave to amend and plaintiff filed an amended complaint. 12 DISCUSSION 13 STANDARD OF REVIEW 14 Federal courts must engage in a preliminary screening of cases in which prisoners seek 15 redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. 16 § 1915A(a). In its review, the Court must identify any cognizable claims, and dismiss any claims 17 which are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seek 18 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. Id. at 1915A(b)(1),(2). Pro se 19 pleadings must be liberally construed. Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th 20 Cir. 1990). 21 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only “a short and plain statement of the 22 claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Although a complaint “does not need detailed 23 factual allegations, . . . a plaintiff’s obligation to provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitle[ment] to 24 relief’ requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a 25 cause of action will not do. . . . Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above 26 the speculative level.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (citations 27 omitted). A complaint must proffer “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its 1 standard of Twombly: “While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they 2 must be supported by factual allegations. When there are well-pleaded factual allegations, a court 3 should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement 4 to relief.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679 (2009). 5 To state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege that: (1) a right secured by 6 the Constitution or laws of the United States was violated, and (2) the alleged deprivation was 7 committed by a person acting under the color of state law. West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988). 8 LEGAL CLAIMS 9 Plaintiff alleges that in 2009 he was improperly moved to administrative segregation at the 10 Sonoma County Main Jail for over six months. Section 1983 does not contain its own limitations 11 period. The appropriate period is that of the forum state’s statute of limitations for personal injury 12 torts. See Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 276 (1985), superseded by statute on other grounds as 13 stated in Jones v. R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 541 U.S. 369 377-78 (2004); TwoRivers v. Lewis, 14 174 F.3d 987, 991 (9th Cir. 1999). In California, the general residual statute of limitations for 15 personal injury actions is the two-year period set forth at California Civil Procedure Code § 335.1 16 and is the applicable statute in § 1983 actions. See Maldonado v. Harris, 370 F.3d 945, 954 (9th 17 Cir. 2004). In addition, California Civil Procedure Code section 352.1 recognizes imprisonment 18 as a disability that tolls the statute of limitations when a person is “imprisoned on a criminal 19 charge, or in execution under the sentence of a criminal court for a term of less than for life.” Cal. 20 Civ. Proc. Code § 352.1(a). The tolling is not indefinite, however; the disability of imprisonment 21 delays the accrual of the cause of action for a maximum of two years. See id. If the statute of 22 limitations starts to run again because the prisoner is released, tolling will not be reinstated by 23 subsequent incarceration. See Boag v. Chief of Police, 669 F.2d 587, 589 (9th Cir. 1982) (holding 24 disability of imprisonment ceases upon release on parole and subsequent reincarceration does not 25 reinstate prior disability of imprisonment for purposes of statutory tolling). 26 Interests protected by the Due Process Clause may arise from two sources – the Due 27 Process Clause itself and laws of the states. See Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 223-27 (1976). 1 implicate the Due Process Clause itself, whether or not they are authorized by state law. See 2 Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 484 (1995). Deprivations that are authorized by state law and are 3 less severe or more closely related to the expected terms of confinement may also amount to 4 || deprivations of a procedurally protected liberty interest, provided that (1) state statutes or 5 regulations narrowly restrict the power of prison officials to impose the deprivation, i.e., give the 6 || inmate a kind of right to avoid it, and (2) the liberty in question is one of “real substance.” See id. 7 at 477-87. Generally, “real substance” will be limited to freedom from (1) a restraint that imposes 8 “atypical and significant hardship on the inmate in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life,” 9 id. at 484, or (2) state action that “will inevitably affect the duration of [a] sentence,” id. at 487. 10 This incident occurred in 2009 and plaintiff filed this action in 2022. Plaintiff was 11 informed that even assuming he was entitled to four years of tolling this action was untimely by 12 || many years. The complaint was dismissed with leave to amend to provide more information 13 || regarding the statute of limitations and to address the conditions in administrative segregation and 14 || if they constituted an atypical and significant hardship or extended his stay at the jail facility. 15 Plaintiff's amended complaint addresses these issues, but he still fails to state a claim for 16 || relief. Plaintiff argues that he did not know that he only had a limited time to file an action. 3 17 However, this is insufficient to provide tolling under state law. Because no amount of amendment 18 could cure the deficiencies in this action, the case is dismissed without leave to amend. 19 CONCLUSION 20 1. This action is DISMISSED with prejudice. 21 2. The Clerk is requested to CLOSE this case. 22 IT IS SO ORDERED. 23 Dated: October 28, 2022 24 25 JAMES ATO 26 United SfAtes District Judge 27 28