(PC) Hunt v. Lewis

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMarch 29, 2021
Docket2:18-cv-02130
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Hunt v. Lewis ((PC) Hunt v. Lewis) 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) Hunt v. Lewis, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 TYRONE HUNT, No. 2:18-cv-2130 MCE AC P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 C.J. LEWIS, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 18 § 1983, has filed a first amended complaint, ECF No. 22, and motion for a ninety-day stay, ECF 19 No. 26. 20 I. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 21 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 22 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 23 court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are 24 “frivolous, malicious, or fail[] to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,” or that “seek[] 25 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). 26 A claim “is [legally] frivolous where it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact.” 27 Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th 28 Cir. 1984). “[A] judge may dismiss . . . claims which are ‘based on indisputably meritless legal 1 theories’ or whose ‘factual contentions are clearly baseless.’” Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 2 640 (9th Cir. 1989) (quoting Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 327), superseded by statute on other grounds as 3 stated in Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1130 (9th Cir. 2000). The critical inquiry is whether a 4 constitutional claim, however inartfully pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. 5 Franklin, 745 F.2d at 1227-28 (citations omitted). 6 “Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only ‘a short and plain statement of the 7 claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the defendant fair notice of 8 what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 9 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (alteration in original) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 10 “Failure to state a claim under § 1915A incorporates the familiar standard applied in the context 11 of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Wilhelm v. Rotman, 12 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). In order to survive dismissal for failure 13 to state a claim, a complaint must contain more than “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a 14 cause of action;” it must contain factual allegations sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the 15 speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (citations omitted). “‘[T]he pleading must contain 16 something more . . . than . . . a statement of facts that merely creates a suspicion [of] a legally 17 cognizable right of action.’” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting 5 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur 18 R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216 (3d ed. 2004)). 19 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to 20 relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting 21 Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual 22 content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 23 misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). In reviewing a complaint under this 24 standard, the court must accept as true the allegations of the complaint in question, Hosp. Bldg. 25 Co. v. Trs. of the Rex Hosp., 425 U.S. 738, 740 (1976), as well as construe the pleading in the 26 light most favorable to the plaintiff and resolve all doubts in the plaintiff’s favor, Jenkins v. 27 McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421 (1969) (citations omitted). 28 //// 1 II. Complaint 2 The first amended complaint alleges that defendants Lewis, Clain,1 Cimino, Ramsey, 3 Sharp, and Mossman violated plaintiff’s rights under the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth 4 Amendments.2 ECF No. 22. Specifically, plaintiff alleges that on August 3, 2017, he spoke with 5 Clain about a 2013 rules violation report (RVR) that had resulted in plaintiff having six points 6 taken from him. Id. at 10-11, ¶¶ 11-12. Plaintiff explained that he wanted the points restored 7 because the RVR was supposed to have been re-issued and re-heard, but after nearly five years it 8 had been neither re-issued nor re-heard, and he did not believe there was any reason he should not 9 get his points back. Id. at 11, ¶ 13. He then gave Clain a CDCR 22 form that quoted the 10 applicable part of the Department Operations Manual. Id. After reading the form, Clain 11 threatened plaintiff and said that she and her supervisor, Cimino, were “going to pull some 12 strings” so that the RVR would be reissued, and that plaintiff would be found guilty, so she did 13 not have to fix his points. Id., ¶ 14. Plaintiff was then kicked out of Clain’s office and over the 14 following days the shock of being threatened by Clain caused him to suffer anxiety, depression, 15 and nightmares where he relived being shot by officers. Id. at 11-13, ¶¶ 15-19. 16 About a week after plaintiff’s meeting with Clain, she came by his cell and asked him if 17 he had received the re-issued RVR. Id. at 13, ¶ 20. When plaintiff responded in the negative, she 18 said that she had gotten the associate warden involved and that Mossman would write up the 19 RVR and give it to plaintiff. Id., ¶¶ 20, 21. Plaintiff then submitted a CDCR 22 form to 20 Mossman asking why Mossman was being told to re-issue an RVR from another institution. Id. 21 at 14, ¶ 23. Mossman responded that it was not his idea to “bring it into the back door,” which 22 plaintiff took to mean the RVR was issued illegally. Id. Plaintiff further alleges that Clain and 23 Cimino contacted Lewis by phone, email, or through another official to have Lewis assist them in 24 issuing the RVR. Id., ¶ 25. 25 On September 25, 2017, Lewis gave plaintiff the re-issued RVR, written up by Mossman, 26 1 Plaintiff alleges that defendant Clain was formerly named Smith. ECF No. 22 at 8, ¶ 5. 27 2 Plaintiff also cites the Fourth Amendment, but this appears to have been a typographical error since he has identified it as an equal protection claim, ECF No. 22 at 21, which falls under the 28 Fourteenth Amendment. 1 for an incident that occurred on April 2, 2013. Id. at 16, ¶ 35. A month later, defendants Sharp 2 and Ramsey found him guilty of the charges. Id., ¶ 37. When plaintiff attempted to get a final 3 copy of the RVR, he was told it was not in the system, which plaintiff believes confirms the RVR 4 was illegal. Id. at 17, ¶ 40. He eventually received a copy of the RVR after submitting a 5 grievance. Id. at 20, ¶ 52. 6 III.

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Related

Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Jenkins v. McKeithen
395 U.S. 411 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Rizzo v. Goode
423 U.S. 362 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Hospital Building Co. v. Trustees of Rex Hospital
425 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1976)
City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc.
473 U.S. 432 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Neitzke v. Williams
490 U.S. 319 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Richard E. Loux v. B. J. Rhay, Warden
375 F.2d 55 (Ninth Circuit, 1967)
Ivey v. Board of Regents of University of Alaska
673 F.2d 266 (Second Circuit, 1982)
Harry Franklin v. Ms. Murphy and Hoyt Cupp
745 F.2d 1221 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
Onofre T. Serrano v. S.W. Francis
345 F.3d 1071 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
Rhodes v. Robinson
408 F.3d 559 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)
Wilhelm v. Rotman
680 F.3d 1113 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Michael Lacey v. Joseph Arpaio
693 F.3d 896 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
(PC) Hunt v. Lewis, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-hunt-v-lewis-caed-2021.