(PC) Alem v. Barton

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJuly 2, 2021
Docket2:21-cv-00751
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
(PC) Alem v. Barton, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DANIEL ALEM, No. 2: 21-cv-0751 TLN KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 ROBERT BURTON, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding pro se. Plaintiff seeks relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 18 § 1983, and requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. This 19 proceeding was referred to this court by Local Rule 302 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). 20 Plaintiff submitted a declaration that makes the showing required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 21 Accordingly, the request to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. 22 Plaintiff is required to pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00 for this action. 28 U.S.C. 23 §§ 1914(a), 1915(b)(1). By this order, plaintiff is assessed an initial partial filing fee in 24 accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). By separate order, the court will direct 25 the appropriate agency to collect the initial partial filing fee from plaintiff’s trust account and 26 forward it to the Clerk of the Court. Thereafter, plaintiff is obligated to make monthly payments 27 of twenty percent of the preceding month’s income credited to plaintiff’s trust account. These 28 payments will be forwarded by the appropriate agency to the Clerk of the Court each time the 1 amount in plaintiff’s account exceeds $10.00, until the filing fee is paid in full. 28 U.S.C. 2 § 1915(b)(2). 3 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 4 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 5 court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner raised claims that are legally 6 “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek 7 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), (2). 8 A claim is legally frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. 9 Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th 10 Cir. 1984). The court may, therefore, dismiss a claim as frivolous when it is based on an 11 indisputably meritless legal theory or where the factual contentions are clearly baseless. Neitzke, 12 490 U.S. at 327. The critical inquiry is whether a constitutional claim, however inartfully 13 pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. See Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 640 (9th 14 Cir. 1989), superseded by statute as stated in Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1130-31 (9th Cir. 15 2000) (“[A] judge may dismiss [in forma pauperis] claims which are based on indisputably 16 meritless legal theories or whose factual contentions are clearly baseless.”); Franklin, 745 F.2d at 17 1227. 18 Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “requires only ‘a short and plain 19 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the 20 defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atlantic 21 Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 22 In order to survive dismissal for failure to state a claim, a complaint must contain more than “a 23 formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action;” it must contain factual allegations 24 sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atlantic, 550 U.S. at 555. 25 However, “[s]pecific facts are not necessary; the statement [of facts] need only ‘give the 26 defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Erickson v. 27 Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93 (2007) (quoting Bell Atlantic, 550 U.S. at 555, citations and internal 28 quotations marks omitted). In reviewing a complaint under this standard, the court must accept as 1 true the allegations of the complaint in question, Erickson, 551 U.S. at 93, and construe the 2 pleading in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 3 (1974), overruled on other grounds, Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183 (1984). 4 Named as defendants are Warden Burton, Officer Bender, Officer Hernandez, Lieutenant 5 Turner, Associate Warden Nowling, Appeals Coordinator Cantu and Sergeant Camarillo. 6 Plaintiff alleges that on May 20, 2019, defendant Hernandez asked plaintiff to remove his 7 boots before he went through the metal detector. Plaintiff removed his boots and walked through 8 the metal detector. The metal detector went off. Defendant Hernandez asked plaintiff to walk 9 through the metal detector three more times. Defendant Hernandez then asked plaintiff to put his 10 boots on and step over to defendant Bender to be patted down. 11 After plaintiff put on his boots, defendant Bender conducted a pat down search. During 12 this search, defendant Bender “groped plaintiff’s genitals firmly.” Plaintiff asked defendant 13 Bender to stop and looked over to defendant Camarillo and asked him if this is how officers are 14 trained, i.e., to harass inmates in this manner. Defendant Camarillo said nothing and looked 15 away. Defendant Bender told plaintiff, “If you don’t like it, then 602 Warden Johnson.” Plaintiff 16 alleges that it was clear that defendants were trying to “manipulate” plaintiff to file a grievance 17 against Warden Johnson, who had created new rules that “interrupted these officers’ natural way 18 of doing things.” 19 Plaintiff alleges that on May 21, 2019, defendant Bender retaliated against plaintiff by 20 issuing a 128-G disciplinary chrono describing a fictitious series of events occurring on May 20, 21 2019. Plaintiff alleges that in the chrono, defendant Bender attempted to contradict plaintiff’s 22 “sequence of events” and made no mention of him sexually assaulting plaintiff by groping 23 plaintiff’s genitals. 24 Plaintiff alleges that on June 3, 2019, plaintiff filed a grievance regarding the May 20, 25 2019 incident. On June 7, 2019, plaintiff was notified that a Prison Rape Elimination Act 26 (“PREA”) investigation would be launched. On July 19, 2019, plaintiff’s grievance was denied at 27 the second level by defendants Burton and Cantu. The PREA investigation also found plaintiff’s 28 claims to be unsubstantiated.

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Related

Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Scheuer v. Rhodes
416 U.S. 232 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Rizzo v. Goode
423 U.S. 362 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Davis v. Scherer
468 U.S. 183 (Supreme Court, 1984)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Neitzke v. Williams
490 U.S. 319 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Hudson v. McMillian
503 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Heck v. Humphrey
512 U.S. 477 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Blessing v. Freestone
520 U.S. 329 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Edwards v. Balisok
520 U.S. 641 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ivey v. Board of Regents of University of Alaska
673 F.2d 266 (Second Circuit, 1982)
Harry Franklin v. Ms. Murphy and Hoyt Cupp
745 F.2d 1221 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
Rhodes v. Robinson
408 F.3d 559 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)
George v. Smith
507 F.3d 605 (Seventh Circuit, 2007)
Sergio Ramirez v. County of San Bernardino
806 F.3d 1002 (Ninth Circuit, 2015)
Pinching v. Wurdeman
12 F.2d 164 (D.C. Circuit, 1926)

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(PC) Alem v. Barton, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-alem-v-barton-caed-2021.