(PC) Eiland v. Sacramento County Main Jail Medical Facility

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJune 3, 2020
Docket2:18-cv-01042
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Eiland v. Sacramento County Main Jail Medical Facility ((PC) Eiland v. Sacramento County Main Jail Medical Facility) 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) Eiland v. Sacramento County Main Jail Medical Facility, (E.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RODNEY CHARLES EILAND, No. 2:18-cv-1042 MCE KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT, et al., 15 Defendants. 16

17 18 I. Introduction 19 Plaintiff is a former jail inmate, proceeding pro se. Plaintiff seeks relief pursuant to 42 20 U.S.C. § 1983, and is proceeding in forma pauperis. The motion for summary judgment filed by 21 defendants Walton, erroneously sued as “Walden,” and Tam is before the court. As discussed 22 below, defendants’ motion should be granted. 23 II. Plaintiff’s Allegations 24 In his amended complaint, plaintiff alleges that while housed at the Sacramento County 25 Main Jail as a pretrial detainee, various defendants were deliberately indifferent to his serious 26 medical needs by failing to ensure he received timely surgery to repair the near 100% Achilles 27 tear plaintiff sustained to his left ankle and calf area, as well as to ensure adequate medical 28 treatment for his severe pain thereafter. 1 The court ordered service of process on defendants Walden and Tam, and advised plaintiff 2 that he must seek the identity of any Doe defendant through discovery. (ECF No. 16 at 2; see 3 also ECF No. 8 at 5.) 4 III. Undisputed Facts1 (“UDF”) 5 1. Plaintiff is a former jail inmate and pretrial detainee, housed in the Sacramento County 6 Jail from about February 19, 2016, through late July 2017. At all times relevant to this lawsuit, 7 defendants Tam and Walton were Deputies employed at the Sacramento County Jail. (ECF No. 8 12 at 1-3.) 9 2. On or about May 5, 2016, plaintiff suffered an injury to his left leg that included a torn 10 Achilles tendon. (ECF No. 12 at 2-5.) 11 3. Plaintiff’s torn Achilles tendon caused him chronic, continuous pain. (Pl.’s Dep. at 12 61.) 13 4. In October of 2016,2 plaintiff was moved from the Sacramento County Jail Medical 14 Facility back to the 3 East Housing unit in the 200 pod, cell 205. (Pl.’s Dep. at 27; ECF No. 12 at 15 4.) Plaintiff was provided a cane, and a lower bunk and lower tier accommodation chrono. (ECF 16 No. 12 at 4.) 17 5. During a cell check on October 23, 2016, while plaintiff was housed in 3 East cell 205, 18 plaintiff complained to defendant Walton that plaintiff was suffering “severe pain and 19 inflammation in [plaintiff’s] left foot area.” (Pl.’s Dep. at 39.) 20 6. The logbook notes that during a cell check on October 23, 2016, plaintiff complained 21 to defendant Walton that plaintiff was suffering increased pain in his ankle/leg. (ECF No. 42-3 at 22 39.) 23 7. The logbook also notes that on October 23, 2016, about 1430, defendant Walton called 24 the medical unit located on the second floor and relayed plaintiff’s complaint: “pain in ankle.” 25 (ECF No. 42-3 at 39.) 26 1 For purposes of summary judgment, the undersigned finds these facts are undisputed. 27 2 In his deposition, it was suggested plaintiff may have been moved on October 14, 2016. In his 28 amended complaint, plaintiff declares he was moved on or about October 16, 2016. 1 8. On October 23, 2016, defendants Walton and Tam were the two housing deputies on 2 duty on 3 East. (ECF No. 42-3 at 29, 33.) 3 9. At his deposition, plaintiff testified that he spoke to defendant Walton again through 4 the cell intercom, which allows him to speak directly to the custody officer. (Pl.’s Dep. at 41, 5 42.) Plaintiff testified that he told defendant Walton that plaintiff was “in severe pain” and 6 “need[ed] medical assistance.” (Pl.’s Dep. at 42.) Plaintiff could not recall what Walton said in 7 response. 8 10. Plaintiff testified that he also spoke to defendant Tam later that day and complained 9 that he was in pain and wanted medical attention. (Pl.’s Dep. at 44-45.) 10 11. Plaintiff testified that defendant Tam told plaintiff Tam would “check on the call,” 11 which plaintiff assumed meant Tam would check with medical to see the status of their call for 12 plaintiff. (Pl.’s Dep. at 45.) 13 12. On October 23, 2016, around 1555 hours, medical staff advised that they would see 14 plaintiff. The doors were opened for plaintiff by either defendant Walton or defendant Tam, and 15 plaintiff walked with his cane to the elevator to access the medical unit located on the second 16 floor. (Pl.’s Dep. at 65, 66; Tam Decl. ¶¶ 17-18; Walton Decl., ¶¶ 24-25; ECF No. 42-3 at 39.) 17 13. Plaintiff testified that about three hours elapsed between his first complaint to 18 defendant Walton and when plaintiff was seen by medical staff. (Pl.’s Dep. at 43.) 19 14. Logbooks for the housing unit reflect an approximate hour and a half delay from 20 when plaintiff first complained of pain and defendant Walton notified medical, to when plaintiff 21 was seen by medical staff. (ECF No. 42-3 at 39.) 22 15. Plaintiff was assessed and given pain medication by Sharon Muthinja, R.N., who 23 documented that her encounter with plaintiff took place at 1607, or 4:07 p.m. (ECF No. 42-3 at 24 46.) 25 16. RN Muthinja referred plaintiff’s medical chart to a physician to determine whether to 26 order a wheelchair for plaintiff to use to go to court. (ECF No. 42-3 at 46.) 27 17. RN Muthinja also facilitated a plan for plaintiff to have visits (attorney and social) on 28 the 2 East housing unit. (ECF No. 42-3 at 46.) 1 18. Nursing staff determines whether, when, and where inmates are seen for medical care. 2 (Tam Decl., ¶ 21; Walton Decl., ¶ 24.) 3 19. Plaintiff was not present during defendant Walton’s call to medical; plaintiff was not 4 present at medical to witness what medical staff were doing at the time requests for plaintiff’s 5 medical care took place. (Pl.’s Dep. at 52:9-12.) 6 20. At the time plaintiff filed his amended complaint, plaintiff was a prisoner at the 7 Golden State Modified Community Correctional Facility in McFarland, California. (ECF No. 22- 8 1 at 1.) 9 IV. Legal Standard for Summary Judgment 10 Summary judgment is appropriate when it is demonstrated that the standard set forth in 11 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 is met. “The court shall grant summary judgment if the 12 movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to 13 judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).3 14 Under summary judgment practice, the moving party always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis 15 for its motion, and identifying those portions of “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, 16 together with the affidavits, if any,” which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. 17 18 Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986) (quoting then-numbered Fed. R. Civ. P. 19 56(c).) “Where the nonmoving party bears the burden of proof at trial, the moving party need 20 only prove that there is an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party’s case.” Nursing 21 Home Pension Fund, Local 144 v. Oracle Corp. (In re Oracle Corp. Sec. Litig.), 627 F.3d 376, 22 387 (9th Cir. 2010) (citing Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 325); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 56

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Bluebook (online)
(PC) Eiland v. Sacramento County Main Jail Medical Facility, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-eiland-v-sacramento-county-main-jail-medical-facility-caed-2020.