King v. Macay

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedApril 28, 2022
Docket3:21-cv-08309
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
King v. Macay, (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 RASHAD LAMAR KING, 7 Case No. 21-cv-08309-DMR (PR) Plaintiff, 8 ORDER OF SERVICE v. 9 E. MACAY, et al., 10 Defendants. 11

12 I. INTRODUCTION 13 Plaintiff, a state prisoner currently incarcerated at Centinela State Prison, has filed a pro se 14 civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleges a violation of his constitutional rights by 15 prison officials at Salinas Valley State Prison (“SVSP”), where he was previously incarcerated. In 16 his complaint, Plaintiff names the following SVSP prison officials in both their individual and 17 official capacities: Correctional Sergeants C. Tange and E. Macay; Chief Deputy Warden E. 18 Borla; Warden M. Atchley; and Associate Warden John Doe #1. Dkt. 1 at 2, 9.1 Plaintiff seeks 19 injunctive relief as well as monetary and punitive damages. Id. at 13-14. 20 Plaintiff has consented to magistrate judge jurisdiction. Dkt. 6. Therefore, this matter has 21 been assigned to the undersigned Magistrate Judge. Dkt. 3. He has been granted leave to proceed 22 in forma pauperis. Dkt. 8. 23 Venue is proper because the events giving rise to the claims are alleged to have occurred at 24 SVSP, which is located in this judicial district. See 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b). 25 II. BACKGROUND 26 Plaintiff alleges that during a two-month period from February 13, 2020 through April 17, 27 1 2020, he was in a cell that was prone to flooding and lacked working plumbing for several days 2 throughout the two-month period, which caused his cell to be covered in “feces, urine and 3 sewage.” Dkt. 1 at 6-8, 18. From the beginning, on February 13, 2020, Plaintiff noticed a “tag on 4 the door, leaking water . . . and sewage water covering the cell floor.” Id. at 6. Plaintiff informed 5 the officer, who told him that a “work order had already been placed to fix the problem.” Id. 6 However, from February 13 through 29, Plaintiff’s cell conditions did not change and he 7 “constantly asked [Defendants Macay and Tange] and several officers to address the unsanitary 8 conditions in his cell.” Id. Plaintiff also wrote to Defendant Tange about this matter. Id. 9 On February 29, 2020, Plaintiff had a “sports injury to the ankle” and he was placed “on 10 crutches with a splint.” Id. Plaintiff received a “medical order” stating “no walking, no standing 11 nor lifting of more than 10 pounds and no work.” Id. 12 On March 1, 2020, Plaintiff showed his “medical order” to Defendants Macay and Tange 13 and “requested a new cell,” but his request was denied. Id. Plaintiff then asked “for maintenance 14 due to [his] sink [being] clogged and cell flooded from [the] rain and leaking sewage and [he] 15 needed [his] toilet flushed [but] they told [him] they didn’t care.” Id. Around 11:00 am, 16 Plaintiff’s toilet was not flushing, and he “had to use a 3-5 gallon bucket of water to pour water 17 rapidly into the toilet . . . .” Id. at 6-7. As Plaintiff was “going to lift the bucket, [he] slipped in 18 the flooded water hitting [his] head, landing on [his] hip, and hitting [his] foot on the toilet 19 damaging his foot more.” Id. at 7. Plaintiff yelled for help, to no avail. Id. He looked out his cell 20 and saw Defendant Tange, but she ignored his pleas for help. Id. Plaintiff claims that he “suffered 21 excruciating pain when [he] fell,” and, as of the time he drafted the complaint, he has “been 22 suffering from a possible permanent injury that is irreparable [and from] constant chronic pain, 23 that affects [his] daily activities.” Id. Specifically, he claims the “right side of [his] lower body 24 locks on [him] to where [he] can’t move or walk sending throbbing pain up [his] lower right foot 25 up [his] leg to [his] lower right back.” Id. 26 After picking himself up after the fall and “walk[ing] to medical on his own,” Plaintiff then 27 managed to walk over to Defendants Macay and Tange to ask for maintenance, but they “told 1 a[] Rules Violation Report (RVR).” Id. They also told Plaintiff “they didn’t care about [his] 2 problems or injury.” Id. 3 For the next two weeks, Plaintiff submitted requests for “plumbing and maintenance to no 4 avail.” Id. at 8. 5 On March 1, 2002, maintenance finally came to fix the plumbing, but “it wasn’t fixed fully 6 and [he] moved back to the same cell . . . with the same plumbing issues on March 2, 2020.” Id. 7 The flooding and plumbing problems continued, and he “informed Defendants and other prison 8 officials” about his cell conditions “from February 13, 2002 to April 5, 2020 and on.” Id. at 18. 9 Plaintiff claims that during a majority of the two-month period he was “on crutches and 10 had to constantly walk through raw swage without any use of sanitation materials.” Id. at 19. He 11 also “had no power for almost 6 days where he couldn’t brush his teeth, wash his face and [he 12 was] exposed to human waste [and] having to breathe in the human waste, causing severe 13 headaches.” Id. 14 Plaintiff submitted inmate appeals about his conditions, including “deliberate indifference 15 to a human’s basic needs and substantial risk to [his] health,” but Defendants Borla and “John Doe 16 #1” reviewed “[his] grievance Log #SVSP-20-01210 and failed to ensure a safe cell for [him] to 17 live in.” Id. at 20. 18 Plaintiff claims that the “plumbing issues have been ongoing since 2017” and “[t]here have 19 been several civil suits pertaining to ongoing plumbing issues,” and as SVSP’s warden, Defendant 20 Atchley, “had prior knowledge of the unconstitutional conditions and culpable actions of [his] 21 subordinates but failed to act and rectify the matter of having cells properly fixed of leaking 22 sewage and rain leakage flooding cells.” Id. at 21. 23 III. DISCUSSION 24 A. Standard of Review 25 A federal court must conduct a preliminary screening in any case in which a prisoner seeks 26 redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. 27 § 1915A(a). In its review, the court must identify any cognizable claims and dismiss any claims 1 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. Id. § 1915A(b)(1), (2). Pro se 2 pleadings must be liberally construed. Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th 3 Cir. 1988). 4 To state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege two essential elements: 5 (1) that a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States was violated, and (2) that 6 the alleged violation was committed by a person acting under the color of state law. West v. 7 Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988). 8 Liability may be imposed on an individual defendant under section 1983 if the plaintiff can 9 show that the defendant proximately caused the deprivation of a federally protected right. Leer v. 10 Murphy, 844 F.2d 628, 634 (9th Cir. 1988); Harris v. City of Roseburg, 664 F.2d 1121, 1125 (9th 11 Cir. 1981).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Estelle v. Gamble
429 U.S. 97 (Supreme Court, 1976)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Helling v. McKinney
509 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1993)
John C. McGuckin v. Dr. Smith John C. Medlen, Dr.
974 F.2d 1050 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
Dennis Hamilton v. Roger v. Endell
981 F.2d 1062 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
Earnest Woods, II v. Tom Carey
684 F.3d 934 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Farmer v. Brennan
511 U.S. 825 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Velasquez v. Senko
643 F. Supp. 1172 (N.D. California, 1986)
Juan Albino v. Lee Baca
747 F.3d 1162 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
WMX Technologies, Inc. v. Miller
104 F.3d 1133 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
Johnson v. Lewis
217 F.3d 726 (Ninth Circuit, 2000)
Alfrey v. United States
276 F.3d 557 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Wiltsie v. California Department of Corrections
406 F.2d 515 (Ninth Circuit, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
King v. Macay, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-macay-cand-2022.