Patterson v. Calderin

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedMarch 4, 2020
Docket2:19-cv-00784
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Patterson v. Calderin, (D. Nev. 2020).

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 Jaysen Alexander Patterson, Case No.: 2:19-cv-00784-JAD-VCF 4 Plaintiff v. Order Screening 5 Complaintand Denying Julio Calderin,et al., Motion for Preliminary Injunction 6 Defendants [ECF No. 3] 7 8 Plaintiff JaysenAlexander Patterson brings this civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. 9 § 1983for alleged violations oftheReligious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 10 2000(RLUIPA), and her First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and state-lawrights during 11 her incarcerationat High Desert State Prison (HDSP).1 She also moves for a preliminary 12 injunction to stop the prison from disallowing her to declareher faith as Native Americanby 13 enforcing its ethnicity and tribal-enrollment requirement. Because Pattersonapplies to proceed 14 in forma pauperis,2 I screen hercomplaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. I find that she has pled 15 colorable RLUIPA, free-exercise-of-religion, and equal-protection claims, so I permit those 16 claims toproceed. But first, I stay the case for 90 days and refer the case to the Inmate Early 17 Mediation Program. I deny Patterson’s motion for preliminary injunction3 because her admitted 18 ability to practice this chosen religion at this time prevents her from establishing irreparable 19 harm. 20 21 22 1 Because Patterson is a transgender woman who prefers female pronouns, I usethe same. ECF No. 1-1 at 3. 23 2 ECF No. 5. 3 ECF No. 3. 1 I. Screening standard 2 Federal courts must conduct a preliminary screening in any case in which a prisoner 3 seeks redress from a governmental entity or an officer or employee of a governmental entity.4 In 4 its review, the court must identify any cognizable claims and dismiss any claims that are 5 frivolous or malicious, or that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted or seek

6 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.5 All or part of the complaint 7 may be dismissed sua sponteif the prisoner’s claims lack an arguable basis in law or fact. This 8 includes claims based on legal conclusions that are untenable, like claims against defendants who 9 are immune from suit or claims of infringement of a legal interest which clearly does not exist, as 10 well as claims based on fanciful factual allegations or fantastic or delusional scenarios.6 11 Dismissal for failure to state a claim is proper only if it is clear that the plaintiff cannot 12 prove any set of facts in support of the claim that would entitle her to relief.7 In making this 13 determination, the court takes all allegations of material fact as true and construes them in the 14 light most favorable to the plaintiff.8 Allegations of a pro se complainant are held to less

15 stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers,9but a plaintiff must provide more 16 than mere labels and conclusions.10 “While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a 17 18 4 See 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). 19 5 See28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)(2). 20 6 See Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 327–28 (1989); see alsoMcKeever v. Block, 932 F.2d 795, 798 (9th Cir. 1991). 21 7 See Morley v. Walker, 175 F.3d 756, 759 (9th Cir. 1999). 22 8 See Warshaw v. Xoma Corp., 74 F.3d 955, 957 (9th Cir. 1996). 9 Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9 (1980); see also Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 23 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1990) (recognizing that pro se pleadings must be liberally construed). 10 Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). 1 complaint, they must be supported with factual allegations.”11 “Determining whether a 2 complaint states a plausible claim for relief . . . [is] a context-specific task that requires the 3 reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.”12 4 II. Screening Patterson’s complaint[ECF No. 1-1] 5 Pattersonsues Defendants Chaplain Julio Calderin, Warden Brian Williams Sr., NDOC

6 Director James Dzurenda, and Doe grievance responderfor events that took place while 7 Pattersonwas incarcerated at HDSP.13 Pattersonalleges six counts and seeks monetary, 8 declaratory, and injunctive relief.14 9 In hercomplaint, Pattersonalleges the following15: Patterson is a non-native inmate 10 without tribal enrollment.16 On September 5, 2018, Pattersonsent an inmate request form17 and 11 attached a Faith Group Affiliation Declaration Form18 to Calderin requesting to change her faith 12 from Thelema to American Indian/Native American and requested to be placed on the list for 13 Native American religious services.19 On September 8, 2018, Calderin responded on the DOC 14 3012, “you need tribal papers.”20 Calderin did not reply to the DOC 3503, which provided a

15 space for Calderin to either approve or deny Patterson’s request to change faiths.21 16 11 Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679 (2009). 17 12 Id. 18 13 ECF No. 1-1 at 1. 14 Id.at 17, 23. 19 15 Thesefacts area summary of Patterson’s allegations and theories; they are not findings of fact. 20 16 Id.at 3. 21 17 DOC 3012 18 DOC 3503 22 19 Id.at 4. 23 20 Id. 21 Id. 1 OnSeptember 12, 2018, Patterson sent another DOC 3012 and attached a DOC 3503 to 2 Calderin to change her faithto American Indian/Native American.22 On the DOC 3012, 3 Pattersonnoted that it was her second request because Calderin had neither approved nor denied 4 Patterson’s DOC 3503.23 Patterson urged Calderin to please approve or deny the form this time 5 and to put Pattersonon the Native American services list,if approved.24

6 On September 18, 2018, Calderin responded “no tribal papers” totheDOC 3012 and 7 again failed to address the DOC 3503.25 On September 21, 2018, Patterson sent a DOC 3012 to 8 Williams about Calderin’s failure to answer her DOC 3503 and requested a change to her faith 9 and to be put on the list for Native American religious services. Williams did not respond.26 10 On October 15, 2018, Pattersonfiled an informal grievance.27 On November 30, 2018, 11 Calderin responded and cited administrative regulation (AR) 810.3(9)(B)(a)-(c). The AR stated 12 that an inmate had to provide proof of Native American ethnicity and/or proof of a federally 13 recognized tribe enrollment number before the inmate could participate in the sweat lodge or 14 pipe ceremonies. Calderin denied Patterson’s grievance because she could not satisfythis AR

15 requirement. Calderin used the AR to justify his failure to approve the DOC 3503 and to deny 16 Pattersonaccess to the Native American religious grounds.28 17 18 19 22 Id. 20 23 Id.at 4. 21 24 Id.at 5. 25 Id.at 5. 22 26 Id. 23 27 Id. 28 Id. 1 On December 2, 2018, Pattersonappealed.29 On January 10, 2019, Williams denied the 2 appeal and stated that he would refer the issue to the Religious Review Team.30 That day, 3 Pattersonappealed to the final grievance level.

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Patterson v. Calderin, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-calderin-nvd-2020.