Moore v. Palmer

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedMarch 20, 2023
Docket3:22-cv-00539
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Moore v. Palmer, (S.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JOSEPH C. MOORE, Case No.: 22-CV-539 JLS (LR)

12 Plaintiff,

13 v. ORDER (1) DENYING PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST FOR JUDICIAL 14 M. PALMER, Deputy Warden; NOTICE; (2) DENYING D. LEWIS, Associate Warden; 15 PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST FOR A. TAYLOR; A MEZA; R. CENTENO; EVIDENTIARY HEARING; AND 16 and CHRISTOPHER DAUB, (3) DENYING WITHOUT 17 Defendants. PREJUDICE PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY 18 INJUNCTION 19 (ECF No. 29) 20

22 Presently before the Court is Plaintiff Joseph C. Moore’s (“Plaintiff” or “Moore”) 23 “Request for Evidentiary Hearing & Preliminary Injunction” (“Mot.,” ECF No. 29). The 24 Court requested briefing on the Motion. See ECF No. 30. Defendants M. Palmer, D. 25 / / / 26 / / / 27 / / / 1 Lewis, A. Taylor-Garcia, C. Meza, R. Centeno, and C. Daub (collectively, “Defendants”)1 2 filed an Opposition to the Motion (“Opp’n,” ECF No. 32), and Plaintiff filed a Reply in 3 support of the Motion (“Reply,” ECF No. 35). Having carefully considered the Parties’ 4 briefing, the evidence, and the law, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s supporting Request for 5 Judicial Notice, DENIES her2 request for an evidentiary hearing, and DENIES 6 WITHOUT PREJUDICE Plaintiff’s Motion. 7 BACKGROUND 8 Plaintiff, a transgender woman, was transferred to R.J. Donovan Correctional 9 Facility (“RJD”) in San Diego, California, a “designated hub” for housing transgender 10 inmates, in February 2018. Compl. at 11. In her Complaint, Moore alleges that, upon her 11 arrival at RJD, she informed her correctional counselor that she wanted a single cell to 12 “avoid any future harassment or assault attempts by other inmates.” Id. at 12. At the 13 classification hearing, however, Moore was assigned a double cell. Id. 14 Inmate M. was assigned as Moore’s cellmate. Id. at 12–13. On March 8, 2018, 15 Moore alleges “Inmate M. forced her to perform a sexual act on [him] in the middle of the 16 night.” Id. at 13. Moore reported the incident to correctional staff under the Prison Rape 17 Elimination Act (“PREA”) and was interviewed by the Investigative Services Unit about 18 the incident. Id. Prison officials ultimately found Moore’s PREA claim “unsubstantiated.” 19 Id. 20 Moore again sought single-cell housing “to protect her from any further abuse or 21 harassment.” Id. at 13. During the next two years, Moore alleges she was “forced . . . to 22 live with numerous . . . inmates who were mentally challenged and had histories of 23

24 1 It appears several of Defendants’ names as set forth in the caption may contain typographical or spelling 25 errors; accordingly, the Court uses the names set forth in Defendants’ Opposition. See generally ECF No. 32. 26 2 Plaintiff is a transgender woman and refers to herself using she/her pronouns in her Complaint and other 27 filings; the Court, therefore, will do the same in this Order. 1 violence.” Id. She alleges that “some of those inmates tried to have sex with [her] or 2 harassed her by making comments when she undressed or used the restroom.” Id. at 13. 3 Moore alleges this happened “from 2018 through 2020 and once in 2021.” Id. 4 In August 2020, Moore again requested a single cell. Id. at 14. Defendant Centeno 5 interviewed Moore; reviewed her file, which included the 2018 PREA allegations; but 6 ultimately declined to recommend Moore for a single cell. Id. Defendant Taylor 7 “endorsed” Centeno’s decision. Id. On September 3, 2020, Defendant Daub, a mental 8 health supervisor, interviewed Moore, who told Daub that she needed a single cell to 9 protect her mental health, physical safety, and “serious medical needs.” Id. Daub 10 nonetheless denied her “health care grievance.” Id at 14–15. Subsequent administrative 11 grievances filed by Moore were also denied. Id. at 15. 12 On March 21, 2022, Defendants Palmer and Lewis, RJD Chief Deputy Warden and 13 Associate Warden, respectively, interviewed Moore. Id. at 16. They discussed Moore’s 14 history and medical needs. Moore told Palmer and Lewis that she needed to be housed in 15 a single cell due to her serious medical needs and for her safety. Id. Palmer ultimately 16 declined to approve Moore for a single cell. Id. at 16–17. 17 On April 15, 2022, Moore commenced the instant civil action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 18 § 1983 and also filed motions to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) and for a preliminary 19 injunction (“PI”). See ECF Nos. 1–3. In her Complaint, Moore raised Eighth Amendment, 20 Due Process, and Equal Protection claims. She alleged she has been improperly denied 21 single-cell housing and, as a result, she has been unable receive adequate medical care for 22 her gender dysphoria. See generally Compl. She further alleged that she is unable to 23 pursue hormone replacement therapy because hormones will cause “her breasts [to] get 24 bigger,” which will, in turn, “entice cellmates to harass or assault her.” Id. at 5. She stated 25 that the “mental stress of being forced to live with others and undress and bathe in front of 26 them while they watch her” deprives her of “safe living arrangements” and, in turn, 27 “denie[s] her medical treatment.” Id. Moore filed another motion for a PI on August 2, 1 2022, as well as subsequent supporting documents and exhibits. See ECF Nos. 6–10. 2 Plaintiff’s PI motions primarily sought an injunction requiring prison officials at RJD to 3 assign her to single-cell housing. See generally ECF Nos. 3, 6. However, Plaintiff also 4 sought additional injunctive relief, including an order requiring prison officials to refrain 5 from “retaliatory punishment against her,” see ECF No. 3 at 4–7; an order requiring that 6 any interviews of her by prison officials be conducted in the presence of an assistant warden 7 and recorded, see id. at 8–9; and a “gag order” preventing prison officials from discussing 8 this case, see id. at 11. 9 On September 22, 2022, the Court granted Plaintiff’s IFP motion and screened 10 Moore’s Complaint. See ECF No. 12. In its Order, the Court dismissed three Defendants, 11 dismissed Moore’s Equal Protection and Due Process claims as to all Defendants for failure 12 to state a claim, and ordered service by the U.S. Marshal of the remaining six Defendants 13 as to Moore’s Eighth Amendment claims. See id. In the same Order, the Court denied the 14 PI motions for multiple reasons, including that the Court lacked personal jurisdiction over 15 the Defendants, who had not yet been served; that the Court could not enjoin claims not 16 pleaded in the Complaint or individuals who are not parties to the action; and that Plaintiff’s 17 feared harms were speculative and unsupported by evidence. See id. at 17–18. 18 On October 11, 2022, Plaintiff renewed her request for an injunction directing RJD 19 to assign her to single-cell housing. See generally ECF No. 15. On October 26, 2022, the 20 Court denied the renewed motion, finding that, “because Defendants ha[d] not yet been 21 served, Plaintiff has alleged only speculative fears of potential future harm, and Plaintiff 22 has not yet shown a likelihood of success on the merits.” ECF No. 16 at 6 (citation 23 omitted). 24 On November 15, 2022, Waivers of Service were returned executed for the six 25 named Defendants remaining in this action. See ECF Nos. 17–22. On November 28, 2022, 26 Plaintiff filed a Renewed Motion for Preliminary Injunction, again renewing her request 27 for single-cell housing. See generally ECF No. 23.

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

Related

Griswold v. Connecticut
381 U.S. 479 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Gonzalez Abreau v. Banco Central
27 F.3d 751 (First Circuit, 1994)
Angelynn York v. Ron Story and Louis Moreno
324 F.2d 450 (Ninth Circuit, 1963)
Lisa Martin v. International Olympic Committee
740 F.2d 670 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
Dr. Leo F. Kenneally v. Dan Lungren
967 F.2d 329 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
Trigueros v. Adams
658 F.3d 983 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Donald Benton v. Timothy Cory
474 F. App'x 622 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Marrs v. City of Oxford
24 F.2d 541 (D. Kansas, 1928)
Cindy Garcia v. Google, Inc.
786 F.3d 733 (Ninth Circuit, 2015)
Scott Gibson v. Bryan Collier
920 F.3d 212 (Fifth Circuit, 2019)
Adree Edmo v. Corizon, Inc.
935 F.3d 757 (Ninth Circuit, 2019)
Adree Edmo v. Corizon, Inc.
949 F.3d 489 (Ninth Circuit, 2020)
Stanley v. University of Southern California
13 F.3d 1313 (Ninth Circuit, 1994)
Norsworthy v. Beard
87 F. Supp. 3d 1164 (N.D. California, 2015)
Derum v. Saks & Co.
95 F. Supp. 3d 1221 (S.D. California, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Moore v. Palmer, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-palmer-casd-2023.