(PC) Jones v. California Medical Facility

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedDecember 20, 2019
Docket2:18-cv-02145
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Jones v. California Medical Facility ((PC) Jones v. California 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) Jones v. California Medical Facility, (E.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 SCOTT JONES, No. 2:18-cv-2145 AC P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 CALIFORNIA MEDICAL FACILITY, et al., 15 Defendants. 16

17 18 I. Introduction 19 Plaintiff is a state prisoner currently incarcerated at California State Prison Solano (CSP- 20 SOL), under the authority of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 21 (CDCR). Plaintiff proceeds with a civil rights complaint filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and 22 a request for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. For the 23 reasons that follow, the court grants plaintiff’s request to proceed in forma pauperis and gives 24 plaintiff the opportunity to file a First Amended Complaint. 25 II. In Forma Pauperis Application 26 Plaintiff has submitted an affidavit and prison trust account statement that make the 27 showing required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). See ECF No. 8. Accordingly, plaintiff’s request to 28 proceed in forma pauperis will be granted. 1 Plaintiff must still pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00 for this action. 28 U.S.C. §§ 2 1914(a), 1915(b)(1). By this order, plaintiff will be assessed an initial partial filing fee in 3 accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). By separate order, the court will direct 4 the appropriate agency to collect the initial partial filing fee from plaintiff’s trust account and 5 forward it to the Clerk of the Court. Thereafter, plaintiff will be obligated to make monthly 6 payments of twenty percent of the preceding month’s income credited to plaintiff’s trust account. 7 These payments will be forwarded by the appropriate agency to the Clerk of the Court each time 8 the amount in plaintiff’s account exceeds $10.00, until the filing fee is paid in full. 28 U.S.C. § 9 1915(b)(2). 10 III. Screening of Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint 11 A. Legal Standards for Screening Prisoner Civil Rights Complaints 12 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 13 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 14 court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are legally 15 “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek 16 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1),(2). 17 A claim is legally frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. Neitzke v. 18 Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th Cir. 19 1984). 20 Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “requires only ‘a short and plain statement 21 of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the defendant fair 22 notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. 23 Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 24 “[T]he pleading standard Rule 8 announces does not require ‘detailed factual allegations,’ but it 25 demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. 26 Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Twombly at 555). To survive dismissal for failure to 27 state a claim, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to “state a 28 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Iqbal at 678 (quoting Twombly at 570). “A claim 1 has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the 2 reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. The plausibility 3 standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility 4 that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. (citing Twombly at 556). “Where a complaint pleads 5 facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s liability, it ‘stops short of the line between 6 possibility and plausibility of “entitlement to relief.”’” Id. (quoting Twombly at 557). 7 “A document filed pro se is ‘to be liberally construed,’ and ‘a pro se complaint, however 8 inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by 9 lawyers.’” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (quoting Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 10 106 (1976) (internal quotation marks omitted)). See also Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(e) (“Pleadings shall be 11 so construed as to do justice.”). Additionally, a pro se litigant is entitled to notice of the 12 deficiencies in the complaint and an opportunity to amend, unless the complaint’s deficiencies 13 cannot be cured by amendment. See Noll v. Carlson, 809 F.2d 1446, 1448 (9th Cir. 1987). 14 B. Plaintiff’s Allegations 15 When previously incarcerated at the California Medical Facility (CMF), plaintiff 16 submitted a letter to this court requesting that he be transferred to a General Population Level 3 17 yard “before me or other inmates get hurt.” See ECF No. 1 at 1. Plaintiff stated that he qualifies 18 for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because he has 4 screws 19 in his back. He explained that he was an “Active Southern” and “a G.P. inmate,” not a “program 20 inmate,” and disagreed with the July 17, 2018 decision of CMF Correctional Counselor II (CC II) 21 Davis to transfer plaintiff to a special needs program yard. Id. He complained that he had been 22 placed in CMF’s administrative segregation unit (Ad Seg) “for not wanting to be a program 23 inmate.” Id. 24 The court informed plaintiff that, to proceed with this action, he must file a complaint and 25 an application to proceed in forma pauperis. ECF No. 7. Plaintiff filed both documents. 26 When plaintiff filed his complaint on December 26, 2018, he had been transferred to, and 27 housed at, CSP-SOL for more than four months. The complaint recounts plaintiff’s difficulties 28 while housed at the Correctional Health Care Facility (CHCF) in Stockton, apparently before he 1 was incarcerated at CMF or between his incarcerations at CMF and CSP-SOL.

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(PC) Jones v. California Medical Facility, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-jones-v-california-medical-facility-caed-2019.