Morrison v. Hall

261 F.3d 896, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 8827, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7172, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 18561
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 17, 2001
Docket98-35468
StatusPublished
Cited by117 cases

This text of 261 F.3d 896 (Morrison v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morrison v. Hall, 261 F.3d 896, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 8827, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7172, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 18561 (9th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

261 F.3d 896 (9th Cir. 2001)

PATRICK HUGH MORRISON, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
FRANK HALL, DIRECTOR OF THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; MANFRED MAASS, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE OREGON STATE PENITENTIARY; TAMARA BLAIN, STAFF MEMBER AT THE OREGON STATE PENITENTIARY, DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES.

No. 98-35468

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Argued and Submitted June 5, 2001
Filed August 17, 2001

Counsel Margaret Z. Johns, Supervising Attorney, University of California, Davis, California (Brief); Peggy Gibson, Certified Law Student, and Irene Feldman, Certified Law Student, University of California, Davis, California (Argued) attorneys for the plaintiff-appellant.

Kaye E. McDonald, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, Oregon, attorney for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Michael R. Hogan, Chief District Judge, Presiding D.C. No. CV 94-06383-MRH

Before: Harry Pregerson, Warren J. Ferguson, and Michael Daly Hawkins, Circuit Judges.

This case requires us to consider the constitutionality of various mail regulations at the Oregon State Penitentiary ("OSP") where the plaintiff, Patrick Hugh Morrison ("Morrison"), is incarcerated. Morrison argues that two sections of the OSP mail regulations unconstitutionally burden his First Amendment rights: (1) Oregon Administrative Rule ("OAR") 291-131-025(6), which prohibits prisoners from receiving bulk rate, third, and fourth class mail; and (2) OAR 291-131-025(1), which states that "[i]ncoming mail will bear a return address on the front of the envelope and must be addressed to the inmate using his/her committed name and [prison identification or] SID number or as he/she can be identified as shown on the records of the Department of Corrections."

On a motion by the defendants for summary judgment, the district court found that "the mail regulations challenged by [Morrison] are constitutionally appropriate. " We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291, and we disagree in part with the district court's conclusion. Specifically, we find that OAR 291-131-025(6), which prohibits inmates from receiving bulk rate, third, and fourth class mail, is unconstitutional as applied to pre-paid, for-profit, subscription publications. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

In November 1993, Morrison filed this pro se civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983.1 Morrison named Frank Hall, the Director of the Oregon Department of Corrections, Manfred Maass, the OSP Superintendent, and Tamara Blain, an OSP staff member, as defendants in this action (collectively referred to as "defendants"). In February 1994, Morrison filed an amended complaint, which sets forth the factual basis for his §§ 1983 claim that the OSP mail regulations unconstitutionally burden his First Amendments rights. Specifically, Morrison's amended complaint alleges the following:

In February of 1993, the mailroom at O.S.P. [Oregon State Penitentiary] returned a Montana Outdoors magazine sent to Patrick Morrison (Plaintiff) to the publisher stating that the address is incorrect when [in fact] the address was correct. This action resulted in the magazine not being delivered to Patrick Morrison until the month of September 1993 after Patrick Morrison contacted the publisher.

* * * * * *

Plaintiff's claims are against the mail procedures, and the rules that have been placed in effect by the Oregon Department of Corrections governing the procedures for the processing and handling of inmate mail.

Actions of defendants stated [above] violate plaintiff's Constitutional Rights of the First . . . and Fourteenth Amendments . . . by requiring parties corresponding with inmates to disclose their [full] name and address on the front of the envelope as a return address in order for the inmate addressee to receive the correspondence. If the return address is not displayed on the front of the envelope, the mailroom refuses the letter, and the inmate addressee is not notified that the mail was rejected and no hearing is offered.

* * * * * * *

Actions of defendants stated [above] violate plaintiff's Constitutional Rights of the First . . . and Fourteenth Amendments . . . by refusing to deliver correspondence to inmate addressee and not notifying the inmate addressee of the refusal of the correspondence, thus denying the inmate addressee the knowledge of the refusal, and a hearing on the reason for the refusal of the correspondence.

Actions of defendants stated [above] violate plaintiff's Constitutional Rights of the First . . . and Fourteenth Amendments . . . by refusal of Bulk-Rate mail and Third Class mail sent to inmates. . . . by not delivering mail to inmates in a reasonable time. . .. [and] by conspiring to isolate inmates from family and friends, as well as, [acquaintances], media, courts, attorneys, government officials and agencies by use of stringent procedures and rules for the processing of mail.

The amended complaint prays for monetary, declaratory, and injunctive relief.2

In April 1995, the district court granted a motion by the defendants for summary judgment, holding that Morrison lacked standing to pursue his claims and that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. Morrison appealed pro se, and in an unpublished decision, we affirmed in part and reversed in part. See Morrison v. Hall, 105 F.3d 665 (9th Cir. 1996) (unpublished). Specifically, we affirmed the district court's decision granting summary judgment to the defendants on qualified immunity grounds.3 However, we reversed the district court's ruling that Morrison did not have standing to pursue his claims for declaratory and injunctive relief.

Following remand to the district court, the defendants once again moved for summary judgment on Morrison's claims for declaratory and injunctive relief. The district court granted the defendants' motion and dismissed the action with prejudice on April 3, 1998. Once again, Morrison timely appealed pro se.

Upon reviewing Morrison's appeal, we deemed this case appropriate for the appointment of pro bono counsel. Accordingly, pursuant to an order of this court, Morrison was represented on appeal by certified law students through a clinical program run by the University of California, Davis, School of Law. Following the appointment of counsel, additional briefs from both parties were filed with the court.4

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a district court's decision to grant summary judgment. Botosan v. Paul McNally Realty , 216 F.3d 827, 830 (9th Cir. 2000). Our review is governed by the same standard used by the trial court under

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Bluebook (online)
261 F.3d 896, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 8827, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7172, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 18561, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrison-v-hall-ca9-2001.