(PC) Holston v. Viera Rosa

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 11, 2022·No. 2:20-cv-01076·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 THERON KENNETH HOLSTON, No. 2:20-cv-01076-KJM-CKD P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER AND 14 G. VIERA ROSA, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 Defendant. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state parolee proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights 18 action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This action is proceeding on plaintiff’s first amended 19 complaint challenging 36 special conditions of his parole imposed on December 19, 2019 by 20 defendant Rosa. Currently pending before the court are cross-motions for summary judgment 21 which have been fully briefed by the parties. ECF Nos. 67, 83, 86, 101, 103, 108. For the 22 reasons explained in further detail below, the undersigned recommends granting defendant’s 23 motion for summary judgment and denying plaintiff’s cross motion for summary judgment as 24 moot. 25 I. Ancillary Motions 26 Before the court can address the pending dispositive motions, the court must first resolve 27 the myriad of ancillary motions filed by plaintiff. First, plaintiff filed a motion to withdraw all 28 pending motions except his summary judgment motion. ECF No. 96. However, at the time that 1 this pleading was filed, plaintiff did not have any other pending motions. Therefore, the motion is 2 denied as moot. 3 Plaintiff’s motion to shorten time to respond to defendant’s summary judgment motion, 4 ECF No. 97, is also denied as moot as the motion has now been fully briefed. 5 On June 13, 2022, plaintiff filed a pleading labeled as a “motion to accept plaintiff’s 6 reasonable notice to add conditions of parole.” ECF No. 99. In the motion, plaintiff seeks to 7 amend his complaint to challenge the conditions of parole that were signed on July 12, 2021. 8 Implicitly acknowledging that the deadline to file any amended complaint expired on November 9 8, 2021, plaintiff relies upon Rule 15(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to assert that he 10 should be allowed to supplement his amended complaint by adding these new claims. See ECF 11 No. 68 (setting deadline for the filing of an amended complaint). 12 Defendant opposed this motion as part of his reply to plaintiff’s opposition to defendant’s 13 summary judgment. ECF No. 101. Defendant points out that “ the proper procedure for Holston 14 to assert new claims is to request leave to amend his first amended complaint pursuant to Rule 15 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.” ECF No. 101 at 2 (citation omitted). However, plaintiff 16 failed to follow this procedure to challenge the July 12, 2021 special conditions even though this 17 court allowed him to file a formal motion to amend along with a proposed amended complaint 18 within 30 days from October 8, 2021. ECF No. 101. Plaintiff ignored the court’s deadline and 19 his untimely motion for leave to amend at this late juncture should be denied according to the 20 defendant. ECF No. 101. 21 Plaintiff’s motion to add new conditions of parole is construed as a motion for leave to 22 amend his complaint. So construed, the motion is denied as untimely filed and for lack of good 23 cause shown. Plaintiff offers no explanation, much less good cause, for his failure to seek leave 24 to amend well beyond the court imposed deadline to amend. Plaintiff’s reliance on Rule 15(d) of 25 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to justify his untimeliness is not sufficient to support an end- 26 run around the court’s deadline. 27 ///// 28 1 II. Allegations in Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint1 2 Plaintiff filed this civil rights action against his state parole officer alleging a Fourteenth 3 Amendment substantive due process and a First Amendment free speech violation based on the 4 unreasonable imposition of 36 separate special conditions of parole on December 19, 2019. ECF 5 No. 7 at 3. The broad categories of special conditions that plaintiff challenges relate to: 1) 6 plaintiff’s contact with minors;2 2) his relationships;3 3) his association with other known sex 7 offenders;4 3) his travel;5 4) his employment;6 5) his residence;7 6) plaintiff’s possessions;8 7) a 8 state transient requirement;9 8) plaintiff’s use of computers and electronic media;10 and, 9) other 9 general restrictions.11 Plaintiff alleges that these special conditions constitute arbitrary and 10 oppressive state action that do not have a nexus to his twenty year old sex crimes or his other 11 criminal history. ECF No. 7 at 7-10. In the amended complaint, plaintiff acknowledges that he 12 has been convicted of three criminal offenses for which he is required to register as a sex offender 13 based on California Penal Code § 290. ECF No. 7 at 4. Plaintiff submits that none of the special 14 conditions of parole being challenged are narrowly tailored to deter his specific criminal conduct 15 and that they are unconnected to his prior crimes. ECF No. 7 at 10-11. By way of relief, plaintiff 16 seeks injunctive relief to prevent defendant from enforcing these special conditions.12 17 III. Motions for Summary Judgment 18 The first summary judgment motion in this case was filed by plaintiff on October 2, 2021. 19 ECF No. 67. In this motion, plaintiff moves for summary judgment in his favor on the basis of 20 1 Plaintiff’s original complaint was returned to him pursuant to order dated June 4, 2020. ECF 21 No. 2. 2 See Special Condition of Parole Number 19. ECF No. 7 at 19. 22 3 See Special Condition of Parole Number 22. ECF No. 7 at 19-20. 23 4 See Special Conditions of Parole Number 28. ECF No. 7 at 20. 5 See Special Conditions of Parole Numbers 32-34. ECF No. 7 at 20. 24 6 See Special Conditions of Parole Numbers 35-37. ECF No. 7 at 20. 7 See Special Conditions of Parole Numbers 43-44. ECF No. 7 at 20. 25 8 See Special Conditions of Parole Numbers 46-49, 52-55. ECF No. 7 at 20-21. 9 See Special Conditions of Parole Number 77. ECF No. 7 at 21. 26 10 See Special Conditions of Parole Numbers 83-92. ECF No. 7 at 21-22. 27 11 See Special Conditions of Parole Numbers 93-95, 101, 103-104. ECF No. 7 at 22. 12 This court’s screening order dated September 21, 2020 found plaintiff’s claims for monetary 28 damages against plaintiff barred by absolute immunity. ECF No. 15 at 4-5. 1 entirely new special conditions of parole that were imposed on July 12, 2021. See ECF No. 67 at 2 4-9. In light of this court’s ruling denying plaintiff leave to amend his complaint to challenge the 3 2021 special conditions of parole, it is recommended that plaintiff’s motion for summary 4 judgment be denied as moot.13 5 On April 1, 2022, defendant filed a motion for summary judgment. ECF No. 83. 6 Defendant first argues that many of the challenged special parole conditions are no longer in 7 effect and, as a result, there is no justiciable issue for the court to adjudicate. ECF No. 83 at 14. 8 For a similar reason, defendant submits that relief is not available for the special conditions of 9 parole numbers 19,14 28,15 and 7716 that are required as a matter of state law. ECF No. 83 at 15. 10 As to the remaining special conditions, defendant contends that there is no genuine issue of 11 material dispute that these have a nexus to plaintiff’s criminal history and are necessary to deter 12 his future criminality. ECF No. 83 at 15-23. Accordingly, summary judgment is warranted in 13 favor of defendant. 14 In his consolidated opposition to defendant’s summary judgment motion17, plaintiff 15

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