(PC) Garland v. Jones

District Court, E.D. California·Decided February 12, 2025·No. 2:22-cv-01494·Unknown

Opinion

SHAUN DARNELL GARLAND, No. 2:22-cv-01494-EFB (PC) Plaintiff, v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS GINA JONES, et al., Defendants. Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is defendants’ motion to dismiss and request for judicial notice, filed August 19, 2024, and plaintiff’s opposition to the motion to dismiss, filed January 17, 2025. After consideration of the parties’ arguments and the record before the court, the court recommends defendants’ motion be granted. I. Background Plaintiff initiated this action via complaint filed on August 23, 2022. ECF Nos. 1, 6. The court dismissed the complaint with leave to amend, ECF No. 6, and plaintiff filed an amended complaint on February 17, 2023 (FAC). ECF No. 11. Upon screening, the court dismissed one of the named defendants and dismissed with leave to amend plaintiff’s claims alleging violations of his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. ECF No. 12. Plaintiff did not file an amendment in response to that order. Defendants now move to dismiss the operative complaint on the grounds that plaintiff’s request for declaratory relief is barred by his membership in class action suits that concern the same relief, and that his request for monetary relief is foreclosed by his failure to allege facts that would entitle him to such relief. ECF No. 30. II. Summary of Allegations Plaintiff’s allegations are as follows. Plaintiff is housed at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facility California Health Care Facility (CHCF), where he is assigned to the Enhanced Outpatient Program (EOP). FAC at 1-2. He has been diagnosed with “PTSD, Bipolar, and deep depression.” Id. at 4-5. CHCF has what plaintiff identifies as a “big recreational yard” and, because plaintiff is assigned to EOP and because of his diagnoses, he has been prohibited from accessing this yard pursuant to CHCF’s policy or custom. Id. at 2-8. Plaintiff alleges that this deprivation violates his rights under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Id. at 11-19; see also ECF No. 12. He requests declaratory judgments, monetary damages, and punitive damages. FAC at 22-23. III. Legal Standard A complaint may be dismissed for “failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). To survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a plaintiff must allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). A claim has “facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). The plausibility standard is not akin to a “probability requirement,” but it requires more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. Dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) may be based on either: (1) lack of a cognizable legal theory, or (2) insufficient facts under a cognizable legal theory. Chubb Custom Ins. Co. v. Space Sys./Loral, Inc., 710 F.3d 946, 956 (9th Cir. 2013). Dismissal also is appropriate if the complaint alleges a fact that necessarily defeats the claim. Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1228-1229 (9th Cir. 1984). For purposes of dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6), the court generally considers only allegations contained in the pleadings, exhibits attached to the complaint, and matters properly subject to judicial notice, and construes all well-pleaded material factual allegations, and any reasonable inference thereof, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Chubb Custom Ins. Co., 710 F.3d at 956; Akhtar v. Mesa, 698 F.3d 1202, 1212 (9th Cir. 2012); Broam v. Bogan, 320 F.3d 1023, 1028 (9th Cir. 2003). IV. Analysis A. Request for Judicial Notice Concurrent with their motion to dismiss, defendants also request the court take judicial notice of certain documents filed in other federal cases. Judicial notice may be taken of any fact that is “not subject to reasonable dispute because it: (1) is generally known within the trial court’s territorial jurisdiction; or (2) can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.” Fed. R. Evid. 201(b). A court may sua sponte take judicial notice of any fact that meets this standard, Fed. R. Evid. 201(c)(1), and “must take judicial notice if a party requests it and the court is supplied with the necessary information” to rule on the request. Fed. R. Evid. 201(c)(2). It is proper for courts to consider matters of which they take judicial notice when ruling on a motion to dismiss. Swartz v. KPMG LLP, 476 F.3d 756, 763 (9th Cir.2007) (per curiam); see Fed. R. Evid. 201(d) (“The court may take judicial notice at any stage of the proceedings.”). Here, defendants request the court take judicial notice of Second Amended Complaint and Order for Final Approval of Settlement Agreement in Hecker v. CDCR, Case No. 2:05-cv-02441 KJM-DAD. ECF No. 30 at 4-5, Exs. 1-2. Court records are generally held to satisfy Rule 201(b)’s requirement of reflecting facts not subject to reasonable dispute, such that judicial notice of them is proper. See MGIC Indem. Co. v. Weisman, 803 F.2d 500, 505 (9th Cir. 1986); United States v. Wilson, 631 F.2d 118, 119 (9th Cir. 1980); Interstate Nat. Gas Co. v. S. Cal. Gas Co., 209 F.2d 380, 385 (9th Cir. 1953). Defendants’ request, therefore, is granted. Additionally, the court sua sponte takes judicial notice of all of the filings in Hecker v. CDCR, case no. 2:05-cv- 2441-KJM-DAD (E.D. Cal.), and Coleman v. Newsom, case no. 2:90-cv-520-KJM-SCR (E.D. Cal.). See Fed. R. Evid. 201(c)(1). B. Plaintiff’s Request for Declaratory Relief In his first amended complaint, plaintiff asks the court to issue declaratory judgments that the defendants have undertaken a discriminatory practice, in violation of the ADA and Rehabilitation Act, by implementing and/or enforcing an unwritten policy or custom that prevents plaintiff from accessing the “big recreational yard,” although he is qualified to access it, and that policy or custom applies to plaintiff because of his “disability, mental illness, and his assignment to the EOP.” FAC at 20-21. Defendants argue that this request for relief

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