(PC) Castaneda v. Barton

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedSeptember 3, 2021
Docket1:20-cv-01088
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Castaneda v. Barton ((PC) Castaneda 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) Castaneda v. Barton, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MATTHEW CASTANEDA, Case No. 1:20-cv-01088-BAM (PC) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DIRECTING CLERK OF COURT TO RANDOMLY ASSIGN DISTRICT JUDGE 13 v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 BARTON, et al., REGARDING DISMISSAL OF CERTAIN CLAIMS AND DEFENDANTS 15 Defendants. (ECF No. 10) 16 FOURTEEN (14) DAY DEADLINE 17

18 Plaintiff Matthew Castaneda (“Plaintiff”) is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in 19 forma pauperis in this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court screened Plaintiff’s 20 complaint and granted leave to amend. Plaintiff’s first amended complaint, filed on August 23, 21 2021, is currently before the Court for screening. (ECF No. 10.) 22 I. Screening Requirement and Standard 23 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 24 governmental entity and/or against an officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. 25 § 1915A(a). Plaintiff’s complaint, or any portion thereof, is subject to dismissal if it is frivolous 26 or malicious, if it fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or if it seeks monetary 27 relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915A(b). 28 A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 1 pleader is entitled to relief . . . .” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Detailed factual allegations are not 2 required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 3 conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell 4 Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). While a plaintiff’s allegations are taken as 5 true, courts “are not required to indulge unwarranted inferences.” Doe I v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 6 572 F.3d 677, 681 (9th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 7 To survive screening, Plaintiff’s claims must be facially plausible, which requires 8 sufficient factual detail to allow the Court to reasonably infer that each named defendant is liable 9 for the misconduct alleged. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (quotation marks omitted); Moss v. U.S. Secret 10 Serv., 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). The sheer possibility that a defendant acted unlawfully 11 is not sufficient, and mere consistency with liability falls short of satisfying the plausibility 12 standard. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (quotation marks omitted); Moss, 572 F.3d at 969. 13 II. Plaintiff’s Allegations Plaintiff is currently housed at California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (“SATF”), 14 in Corcoran, California where the events in the complaint are alleged to have occurred. Plaintiff 15 names the following defendants: (1) Stu Sherman, Warden of SATF; (2) Jason Collins, Warden 16 of CDW; (3) R. Goulart, Correctional Sergeant of SATF; (4) M. Denning, Associate Warden of 17 SATF; (5) Owens, Lieutenant Correctional Officer of SATF; (6) Lepe, Sergeant of SATF; (7) V. 18 Medina, Correctional Officer of SATF; (8) Boyd, Assistant Food Manager at SATF; (9) M. Rea, 19 Supervisory Cook II at SATF. 20 Plaintiff alleges on December 28, 2017, Plaintiff arrived at SATF. On December 29, 21 2017, Plaintiff saw how extremely hazardous the conditions were in Facility A dining hall. 22 Plaintiff saw mice fall from the ceiling onto the floor and tables and Plaintiff could smell the odor 23 of “wet dog hair.” When it rained, Plaintiff saw water flowing along the sides of the walls where 24 crates lined with trash bags would catch water and spill out onto the floor. During Plaintiff’s work 25 hours, he would experience dizziness, nausea, coughing, the feeling of hair on his tongue, and 26 irregular heartbeat. These symptoms continued after work hours. 27 After a year and a half of the remedial measures taken by CDCR staff and officials, the 28 1 dining hall remained open and under these conditions until the Superior Court of Kings County 2 ordered the defendants to cease use of the dining hall. 3 Each individual named violated Plaintiff’s rights and knew of the conditions in Facility A 4 dining hall. Warden Sherman bears responsibility or the custody, treatment, training, and 5 discipline of all inmates under his charge. M. Denning should have taken necessary actions to fix 6 the conditions of the dining hall before the Superior Court intervened. Owens admitted that he 7 saw inmates eating in the dining hall under these conditions and as an employee, he is also 8 responsible for the safe custody of inmates, as are R. Goulart and V. Medina. Plaintiff should 9 have been allowed to get a job change to remove him from the situation, and he was forced to 10 continue working in a hazardous environment. Plaintiff contacted C. Boyd and M. Rea and they 11 did not act reasonably to ensure compliance with health and safety. 12 Plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. 13 III. Discussion A. Eighth Amendment – Conditions of Confinement 14 The Eighth Amendment protects prisoners from inhumane methods of punishment and 15 from inhumane conditions of confinement. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994); Morgan v. 16 Morgensen, 465 F.3d 1041, 1045 (9th Cir. 2006). Thus, no matter where they are housed, prison 17 officials have a duty to ensure that prisoners are provided adequate shelter, food, clothing, 18 sanitation, medical care, and personal safety. Johnson v. Lewis, 217 F.3d 726, 731 (9th Cir. 19 2000) (quotation marks and citations omitted). To establish a violation of the Eighth 20 Amendment, the prisoner must “show that the officials acted with deliberate indifference . . .” 21 Labatad v. Corrs. Corp. of Amer., 714 F.3d 1155, 1160 (9th Cir. 2013) (citing Gibson v. Cty. of 22 Washoe, 290 F.3d 1175, 1187 (9th Cir. 2002)). 23 The deliberate indifference standard involves both an objective and a subjective 24 prong. First, the alleged deprivation must be, in objective terms, “sufficiently serious.” 25 Farmer at 834. Second, subjectively, the prison official must “know of and disregard an 26 excessive risk to inmate health or safety.” Id. at 837; Anderson v. Cty. of Kern, 45 F.3d 27 1310, 1313 (9th Cir. 1995). 28 1 Objectively, extreme deprivations are required to make out a conditions-of-confinement 2 claim and only those deprivations denying the minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities are 3 sufficiently grave to form the basis of an Eighth Amendment violation. Hudson v. McMillian, 4 503 U.S. 1, 9 (1992). Although the Constitution “‘does not mandate comfortable prisons,’” 5 Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 298 (1991), “inmates are entitled to reasonably adequate 6 sanitation, personal hygiene, and laundry privileges, particularly over a lengthy course of time,” 7 Howard v.

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Related

Wilson v. Seiter
501 U.S. 294 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Hudson v. McMillian
503 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Krainski v. Nevada Ex Rel. Board of Regents
616 F.3d 963 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Ivey v. Board of Regents of University of Alaska
673 F.2d 266 (Second Circuit, 1982)
Frank Howard v. George Adkison and Henry Jackson
887 F.2d 134 (Eighth Circuit, 1989)
Anderson v. County of Kern
45 F.3d 1310 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)
Gibson v. County of Washoe, Nevada
290 F.3d 1175 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Hallett v. Morgan
296 F.3d 732 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Toguchi v. Soon Hwang Chung
391 F.3d 1051 (Ninth Circuit, 2004)
Labatad v. Corrections Corp. of America
714 F.3d 1155 (Ninth Circuit, 2013)
Farmer v. Brennan
511 U.S. 825 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Doe I v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
572 F.3d 677 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
Moss v. U.S. Secret Service
572 F.3d 962 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
(PC) Castaneda v. Barton, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-castaneda-v-barton-caed-2021.