(PC) Christopher G. Valencia v. Clark

District Court, E.D. California·Decided January 3, 2022·No. 1:21-cv-00137·Unknown

Opinion

CHRISTOPHER G. VALENCIA, ) Case No.: 1:21-cv-00137-SAB (PC) ) Plaintiff, ) ) ORDER DIRECTING CLERK OF COURT TO v. ) RANDOMLY ASSIGN A DISTRICT JUDGE TO THIS ACTION AND FINDINGS AND KEN CLARK, et al., ) RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDING ) DISMISSAL Defendants. ) ) (ECF Nos. 28, 29) )

Plaintiff Christopher G. Valencia is proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This matter was referred to a United States Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302. The action was filed on February 3, 2021. On March 8, 2021, the Court screened Plaintiff’s complaint, found no claims to be cognizable, and granted Plaintiff thirty days to file a first amended complaint. (ECF No. 14.) On March 25, 2021, Plaintiff filed a first amended complaint. (ECF No. 15.) On May 17, 2021, the Court screened Plaintiff’s first amended complaint, again found no claims to be cognizable, and granted Plaintiff thirty days to file a second amended complaint. (ECF No. 17.) On October 7, 2021, Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint. (ECF No. 27.) On October 14, 2021, the Court screened Plaintiff’s second amended complaint, found no cognizable claims, and granted Plaintiff one final opportunity to amend the complaint, but he failed to do so. (ECF No. 28.) Therefore, on November 29, 2021, the Court ordered Plaintiff to show cause within fourteen days. (ECF No. 29.) Plaintiff has failed to respond to the Court’s November 29, 2021 order and the time to do so has passed. Accordingly, dismissal of the action is warranted. I. The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that “fail[] to state a claim on which relief may be granted,” or that “seek[] monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief. . . .” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). Moreover, Plaintiff must demonstrate that each defendant personally participated in the deprivation of Plaintiff’s rights. Jones v. Williams, 297 F.3d 930, 934 (9th Cir. 2002). Prisoners proceeding pro se in civil rights actions are entitled to have their pleadings liberally construed and to have any doubt resolved in their favor. Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). To survive screening, Plaintiff’s claims must be facially plausible, which requires sufficient factual detail to allow the Court to reasonably infer that each named defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678-79; Moss v. U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). The “sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully” is not sufficient, and “facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s liability” falls short of satisfying the plausibility standard. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; Moss, 572 F.3d at 969. II. On November 6, 2020, under Warden Clark’s supervision an inmate who was on quarantine due to being infected with COVID-19 was transported to Plaintiff’s prison building and placed in his cell. Prison policy prohibits the movement of inmate’s during the 14 day quarantine phase to ensure the safety of other inmates and staff. Plaintiff was required to live with the infected prisoner for three days. On the third day after Plaintiff’s complaints, prison custody staff went to Plaintiff’s cell and removed the infected inmate and transferred him to the quarantine unit. Warden Clark allowed his custody staff to move an infected inmate into Plaintiff’s cell against his will which subjected Plaintiff to serious harm as he got sick from contacting COVID-19. Plaintiff’s request for medical care was ignored. Warden Clark is responsible for custody staff and Chief Executive Officer Celia Bell is responsible for the medical personnel at Corcoran State Prison. A. Supervisory Liability-Exposure to COVID-19 Prison officials must protect inmates from, and not be deliberately indifferent to, conditions of confinement that are “very likely to cause serious illness and needless suffering.” Helling v. McKinney, 509 U.S. 25, 33 (1993) (impermissible for prison officials to be “deliberately indifferent to the exposure of inmates to a serious, communicable disease on the ground that the complaining inmate shows no serious current symptoms”). In determining whether a prison official's failure to protect prisoners from harm rises to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation, the Court must consider two factors. The first factor is objective: the conditions of confinement must have put prisoners at “substantial risk of serious harm.” Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834 (1970). The second is subjective: the prison official must have acted with “deliberate indifference” to inmate health or safety. Id. Under a deliberate indifference analysis, courts inquire whether “the [prison official] knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate health and safety.” Toguchi v. Chung, 391 F.3d 1051, 1058 (9th Cir. 2004) (citing Gibson v. County of Washoe, Nevada, 290 F.3d 1175, 1187 (9th Cir. 2002)). Exposure to disease has been determined to present a serious harm. See, e.g., Helling, 509 U.S. at 33 (explaining that the reach of the Eighth Amendment includes “exposure of inmates to a serious, communicable disease”); Jeffries v. Block, 940 F. Supp. 1509, 1514 (C.D. Cal. 1996) (agreeing that “tuberculosis is a serious contagious disease, which presents a serious risk to inmate health”); Jolly v. Coughlin, 76 F.3d 468, 477 (2d Cir. 1996) (“[C]orrectional officials have an affirmative obligation to protect inmates from infectious disease.”). “[I]t is not enough to show [RJD] inmates are at risk of contracting COVID-19 or that [Defendants] were aware of that risk.” See Torres v. Milusnic, 472 F. Supp. 3d 713, 728 (C.D. Cal. 2020). “A prison official may be held liable under the Eighth Amendment for acting with ‘deliberate indifference’ to inmate health or safety only if he knows that inmates face a substantial risk of serious harm and disregards that risk by failing to take reasonable measures to abate it.” Farmer, 511 U.S. at 847. Under this standard, “prison officials who actually kn[o]w of a substantial risk to inmate health or safety may be found free from liability if they respond[ ] reasonably to the risk, even if the harm ultimately [i]s not averted.” Id. at 844. To allege deliberate indifference, therefore, Plaintiff must include “factual content” from which the court might reasonably infer that each Defe

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