Lee v. Allison

District Court, N.D. California·Decided September 20, 2022·No. 5:21-cv-01633·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 In re CIM-SQ Transfer Cases Case No. 22-mc-80066-WHO ______________________________ 8 SECOND ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE 9 Re Case Nos.: 21-cv-01633-HSG, Lee v. IN PRO SE CASES; Allison et al.; 21-cv-01693-JSW, Johnson v. 10 Davis et al.; 21-cv-06503-WHO, Cole v. FINDING DEFENDANT KELSO IS Allison et al.; 22-cv-00266-EJD, Schrubb v. ENTITLED TO QUASI-JUDICIAL 11 State of California, et al.; 22-cv-00684-BLF, IMMUNITY AND THAT FAILURE TO O'Bannon v. State of California et al.; 22-cv- STATE A CLAIM ARGUMENTS 12 00905-JSC, Rhodes v. State of California et LACK MERIT al.; 22-cv-02322-JSW, Dixon v. Diaz et al. 13

14 I. INTRODUCTION 15 The pro se cases identified above have been assigned to me by the Chief Judge of the 16 Northern District of California for the following limited purpose: 17 1. Determining whether Clark Kelso has quasi-judicial immunity, and if not, some 18 other defenses that he has raised such as whether he is a state actor who can be sued under 19 section 1983; 20 2. Determining whether the defendants have immunity under the Public Readiness 21 And Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act; 22 3. Determining whether the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity as a matter 23 of law at the motion to dismiss stage; 24 4. Determining whether the complaints filed by unrepresented plaintiffs allege 25 adequate detail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. 26 See Dkt. Nos. 1 (Order of Limited Assignment), 7, 51 (“Assigned Issues”). 27 II. ASSIGNED ISSUES 2 AND 3: PREP ACT IMMUNITY AND QUALIFIED 1 IMMUNITY 2 In an Order dated July 15, 2022 (Dkt. No. 59), I resolved Assigned Issues 2 and 3 in 3 certain cases where plaintiffs were represented by counsel (“Represented Cases”), where the 4 defendants had a full opportunity to file motions to dismiss and argue grounds for immunity, and 5 where the plaintiffs had a full opportunity to respond. In that Order, I explained why – based on 6 materially consistent pleadings and judicially noticeable facts – plaintiffs had adequately pleaded 7 facts showing that neither PREP Act immunity nor qualified immunity precluded their claims at 8 the motion to dismiss stage.1 9 Defendants in the Pro Se Cases identified above are now ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE 10 why the same conclusion should not be reached in the Pro Se Cases with respect to Assigned 11 Issues 2 and 3. 12 Defendants may respond to this Order to Show Cause by filing a response on or before 13 October 4, 2022, that simply incorporates their prior arguments on Assigned Issues 2 and 3, or 14 that raises wholly new arguments on Assigned Issues 2 or 3 based on unique factual allegations 15 made by a plaintiff in one of the cases identified above. It is not necessary for defendants to 16 reassert the arguments they made in their prior motions to dismiss regarding Assigned Issues 2 and 17 3. I will consider those argument raised with respect to all Pro Se Cases. 18 If defendants file a substantive response on or before October 4, 2022, Pro Se Plaintiffs 19 may file a response on or before November 8, 2022 addressing only the issues raised by 20 defendants.2 The matter will then be taken under submission and I will issue an order that is 21 intended to resolve Assigned Issues 2 and 3 with respect to these pro se cases and to preserve the 22 parties’ ability to appeal the resolution of the Assigned Issues. 23 24 1 I explicitly noted that any other issues that were raised or could have been raised in defendants’ 25 motion to dismiss with respect to individual plaintiffs were preserved and could be reasserted once the cases were returned to each underlying judge for further proceedings. July 15, 2022 Order at 3 26 n.5.

27 2 Plaintiff Paul David Johnson’s motion to add supplemental exhibits regarding defendants’ III. ASSIGNED ISSUE 1: J. CLARK KELSO’S IMMUNITY 1 With respect to Assigned Issue 1, I find that federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso has quasi- 2 judicial immunity from suit and I intend to dismiss Kelso from the assigned cases with prejudice. 3 As background, on February 14, 2006, the Hon. Thelton E. Henderson appointed a receiver 4 for the California prison medical care system in Plata, et al. v. Schwarzenegger, et al., Case No. 5 01-1391 TEH (N.D. Cal.) (Plata). The receivership was later recognized by the Ninth Circuit as 6 the “least intrusive means” to address the “constitutional deficiencies in prisoners’ health care.” 7 Plata v. Schwarzenegger, 603 F.3d 1088, 1097 (9th Cir. 2010). In appointing the receiver, Judge 8 Henderson ordered: 9 The Receiver and his staff shall have the status of officers and agents 10 of this Court, and as such shall be vested with the same immunities as vest with this Court. 11 Additionally, Defendants shall indemnify the Receiver and members 12 of his staff to the same extent as Defendants are obligated to indemnify the Secretary of the CDCR. 13 Plata, Docket No. 473 at 5-6. 14 On January 23, 2008, Judge Henderson appointed Kelso as the new receiver, conferring 15 upon him “[a]ll powers, privileges, and responsibilities of the Receiver, as set forth in the Court’s 16 February 14, 2006 Order Appointing Receiver.” Id. Docket No. 1063 at 5. The Ninth Circuit and 17 district courts within it have consistently concluded that Kelso has quasi-judicial immunity and on 18 that basis have dismissed or affirmed dismissal of claims against him based on the medical care 19 plaintiffs received from CDCR. See Patterson v. Kelso, 698 F. App’x 393, 394 (9th Cir. 2017) 20 (“Kelso is entitled to quasi-judicial immunity” with respect to negligence claim); Casto v. 21 Newsom, No. 2:19-CV-2209-EFB, 2020 WL 3640474, at *3 (E.D. Cal. July 6, 2020) (finding 22 Kelso immune because “receivers are court officers who share the immunity awarded to judges”); 23 Mwasi v. Corcoran State Prison, No. 113CV00695DADJLTPC, 2016 WL 5210588, at *5 (E.D. 24 Cal. May 20, 2016), report and recommendation adopted sub nom. Mwasi v. Prison, No. 25 113CV00695DADJLT, 2016 WL 5109461 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 19, 2016) (finding Kelso immune 26 where no allegation that he acted outside of his “appointed judicial capacity” or “in the complete 27 absence of all jurisdiction”); Griffin v. Kelso, No. 2:10-CV-2525 MCE JFM, 2011 WL 3583457, 1 at *4 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 15, 2011), subsequently aff’d on other grounds sub nom. Griffin v. Bal, 609 2 F. App’x 493 (9th Cir. 2015) (Kelso immune from claims regarding his “failure to ensure that 3 plaintiff received adequate medical care”). Of particular relevance is a recent decision by the Hon. 4 Charles R. Breyer in this District, where Kelso was dismissed from a case raising materially 5 similar allegations as those made in these Pro Se Cases: there, plaintiff’s estate brought federal 6 and state claims based on the plaintiff’s exposure to COVID-19 due to the transfer of prisoners 7 from CIM to SQSP, and Kelso was dismissed based on quasi-judicial immunity. Harris v. Allison, 8 No. 20-CV-09393-CRB, 2022 WL 2232526, at *1 (N.D. Cal. June 7, 2022). 9 This immunity is well-established. The specific decisions concerning Kelso’s immunity 10 follow others, arising in different contexts, that hold that judicially-appointed receivers are 11 protected by quasi-judicial immunity. See, e.g., Mullis v. U.S. Bankr. Ct. for Dist. of Nevada, 828 12 F.2d 1385, 1390 (9th Cir. 1987) (Mullis) (bankruptcy “trustee or receiver derives his immunity 13 from the judge who appointed him” with respect to constitutional claims); New Alaska Dev. Corp. 14 v. Guetschow, 869 F.2d 1298, 1303 (9th Cir. 1989) (state court-appointed receivers entitled to 15 absolute immunity). 16 There is no reason to depart from that authority with respect to the Pro Se Cases that name 17 Kelso as a defendant to COVID-19 exposure claims due to the transfer of prisoners from CIM to 18 SQSP.

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