(PC) Howell v. Burns

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 17, 2020·No. 1:19-cv-00715·Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 KAREEM J. HOWELL, Case No. 1:19-cv-00715-NONE-SAB (PC)

12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION REGARDING DEFENDANTS’ 13 v. EXHAUSTION-RELATED MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 14 MR. J. BURNS, et al., (ECF No. 25) 15 Defendants.

16 17 Kareem J. Howell (“Plaintiff”), a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, 18 filed this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 19 Currently before the Court is Defendants’ exhaustion-related motion for summary 20 judgment, filed July 1, 2020. (ECF No. 25.) 21 I. 22 RELEVANT BACKGROUND 23 This action is proceeding against Defendants Burnes, Babb, Tumacder, and Sexton for 24 deliberate indifference in violation of the Eighth Amendment, retaliation in violation of the First 25 Amendment, and conspiracy; against Defendant Sanchez for deliberate indifference in violation of 26 the Eighth Amendment; and against Defendant Padrnos for retaliation in violation of the First 27 Amendment. /// 1 On March 9, 2020, Defendants filed an answer to the complaint. (ECF No. 20.) On 2 March 10, 2020, the Court issued the discovery and scheduling order. (ECF No. 21.) 3 As previously stated, on July 1, 2020, Defendants filed the instant exhaustion-related 4 motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff has not filed an opposition and the time to do so has 5 expired. Local Rule 230(l). 6 II. 7 LEGAL STANDARD 8 A. Statutory Exhaustion Requirement 9 Section 1997e(a) of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PLRA”) provides that 10 “[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under [42 U.S.C. § 1983], or any 11 other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until 12 such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Exhaustion 13 is mandatory unless unavailable. Exhaustion is required regardless of the relief sought by the 14 prisoner and regardless of the relief offered by the process, Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 741 15 (2001), and the exhaustion requirement applies to all prisoner suits relating to prison life, Porter 16 v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 532 (2002). 17 Section 1997e(a) also requires “proper exhaustion of administrative remedies, which 18 ‘means using all steps that the agency holds out, and doing so properly (so that the agency 19 addresses the issues on the merits).’” Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 90 (2006) (citation 20 omitted). “Proper exhaustion demands compliance with an agency’s deadlines and other critical 21 procedural rules because no adjudicative system can function effective without imposing some 22 orderly structure on the course of its proceedings.” Id. at 90-91. “[I]t is the prison’s 23 requirements, and not the PLRA, that define the boundaries of proper exhaustion.” Jones v. 24 Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 218 (2007). “The obligation to exhaust ‘available’ remedies persists as long 25 as some remedy remains ‘available.’ Once that is no longer the case, then there are no ‘remedies 26 … available,’ and the prisoner need not further pursue the grievance.” Brown v. Valoff, 422 27 F.3d 926, 935 (9th Cir. 2005) (emphasis in original) (citing Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 739 1 The failure to exhaust is an affirmative defense, and the defendant or defendants bear the 2 burden of raising and proving the absence of exhaustion. Id. at 216; Albino, 747 F.3d at 1166. 3 “In the rare event that a failure to exhaust is clear on the face of the complaint, a defendant may 4 move for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6).” Albino, 747 F.3d at 1166. Otherwise, the defendant or 5 defendants must produce evidence proving the failure to exhaust, and they are entitled to 6 summary judgment under Rule 56 only if the undisputed evidence, viewed in the light most 7 favorable to the plaintiff, shows the plaintiff failed to exhaust. Id. 8 B. Summary Judgment Standard 9 Any party may move for summary judgment, and the Court shall grant summary 10 judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the 11 movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) (quotation marks 12 omitted); Albino, 747 F.3d at c1166; Wash. Mut. Inc. v. United States, 636 F.3d 1207, 1216 (9th 13 Cir. 2011). Each party’s position, whether it be that a fact is disputed or undisputed, must be 14 supported by (1) citing to particular parts of materials in the record, including but not limited to 15 depositions, documents, declarations, or discovery; or (2) showing that the materials cited do not 16 establish the presence or absence of a genuine dispute or that the opposing party cannot produce 17 admissible evidence to support the fact. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1) (quotation marks omitted). The 18 Court may consider other materials in the record not cited to by the parties, although it is not 19 required to do so. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3); Carmen v. S.F. Unified Sch. Dist., 237 F.3d 1026, 20 1031 (9th Cir. 2001); accord Simmons v. Navajo Cnty., Ariz., 609 F.3d 1011, 1017 (9th Cir. 21 2010). “The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” 22 Williams v. Paramo, 775 F.3d 1182, 1191 (9th Cir. 2014). 23 Initially, “the defendant’s burden is to prove that there was an available administrative 24 remedy, and that the prisoner did not exhaust that available remedy.” Albino, 747 F.3d at 1172. 25 If the defendant meets that burden, the burden of production then shifts to the plaintiff to “come 26 forward with evidence showing that there is something in his particular case that made the 27 existing and generally available administrative remedies effectively unavailable to him.” Id. 1 defendant. Id. “If undisputed evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the prisoner shows 2 a failure to exhaust, a defendant is entitled to summary judgment under Rule 56.” Id. at 1166. 3 However, “[i]f material facts are disputed, summary judgment should be denied, and the district 4 judge rather than a jury should determine the facts.” Id. 5 III. 6 DISCUSSION 7 A. Summary of CDCR’s Administrative Appeal Process 8 A prisoner in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 9 (“CDCR”) satisfies the administrative exhaustion requirement for a non-medical appeal or 10 grievance by following the procedures set forth in California Code of Regulations, title 15, §§ 11 3084-3084.9.

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