(PC) Kindred v. Allenby

District Court, E.D. California·Decided October 26, 2021·No. 1:18-cv-00554·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RICHARD SCOTT KINDRED, No. 1:18-cv-00554-DAD-EPG (PC) 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER ADOPTING FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AND GRANTING 14 BRANDON PRICE, et al., DEFEDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN PART 15 Defendants. (Doc. Nos. 65, 80) 16

17 18 Plaintiff Richard Scott Kindred is a civil detainee proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis 19 in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The matter was referred to a United States 20 Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302. This case proceeds 21 against defendants Brandon Price, J. Corona, Jose Lopez, and John/Jane Does 1–5 for violation of plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment 22 right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure; against defendants J. Corona and Jose Lopez for violation of plaintiff’s 23 First Amendment right to freely exercise his religion; and against John/Jane Does 6–10 for violation of plaintiff’s First Amendment 24 right of access to the courts. 25 (Doc. No. 23 at 2.) 26 On June 15, 2021, the assigned magistrate judge issued findings and recommendations 27 recommending that the motion for summary judgment filed on behalf of defendants Price, 28 Corona, and Lopez (Doc. No. 65) be granted in part and denied in part. (Doc. No. 80.) In 1 particular, the magistrate judge recommended that summary judgment be granted in favor of 2 defendants as to plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claims against defendant Price for the January 3 2018 search and in favor of defendants Corona and Lopez as to the June 2018 search and seizure 4 of plaintiff’s ribbon shirt and deer skin trousers. (Id. at 34–35.) The magistrate judge also 5 recommended that summary judgment be granted in favor of defendants as to plaintiff’s First 6 Amendment free exercise claims brought against defendants Corona and Lopez for the alleged 7 seizure of plaintiff’s spiritual blanket and for damages arising from the seizure of the ribbon shirt 8 and deer skin trousers. (Id.) In addition, the magistrate judge recommended that defendants’ 9 motion for summary judgment be denied as to: (i) plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claims against 10 defendants Corona and Lopez for the June 2018 search and seizure of plaintiff’s black duffel bag, 11 khaki duffel bag, spiritual blanket, television, and batteries; (ii) plaintiff’s First Amendment free 12 exercise claim against defendants Corona and Lopez for seizure of the black duffel bag; and (iii) 13 plaintiff’s First Amendment claim for injunctive relief arising out of the seizure of the ribbon shirt 14 and deer skin trousers. (Id. at 35.) The findings and recommendations contained notice that any 15 objections thereto were to be filed within twenty-one (21) days after service. (Id. at 35.) After 16 receiving an extension of time in which to do so, on July 20, 2021, defendants Corona and Lopez 17 (collectively, “defendants”) filed objections to the pending findings and recommendations. (Doc. 18 No. 86.) Defendant Price did not file any objections. Plaintiff also did not file any objections. 19 On August 20, 2021, after receiving an extension of time in which to do so, plaintiff filed a reply 20 to defendants’ objections. (Doc. No. 90.) 21 In accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C), the court has conducted a 22 de novo review of this case. Having carefully reviewed the entire file, including defendants’ 23 objections and plaintiff’s response, the undersigned adopts the pending findings and 24 recommendations, in part. For the reasons discussed below, the undersigned declines to adopt the 25 recommendation that defendants’ summary judgment be denied as to plaintiff’s Fourth 26 Amendment claim brought against defendant Lopez and will instead grant summary judgment in 27 favor of defendant Lopez as to that claim. In addition, because the undersigned concludes that 28 defendant Lopez cannot be held liable for failure to intercede to stop the search and seizure by 1 officers, defendant Lopez is also entitled to summary judgment in his favor as to plaintiff’s First 2 Amendment claim arising out of the June 2018 search and seizure. 3 As to plaintiff’s other claims, the undersigned concludes that the pending findings and 4 recommendations are supported by the record and by proper analysis. 5 DISCUSSION 6 Defendants object to the pending findings and recommendations recommending partial 7 denial of their motion for summary judgment and maintain that summary judgment should be 8 granted in their favor as to plaintiff’s Fourth and First Amendment claims because the June 2018 9 search was proper and resulted in seizure of contraband items, including the black duffel bag 10 which is not a religious item. (Doc. No. 86 at 2–9.) Plaintiff’s reply to defendants’ objections 11 primarily restates the determinations made in the findings and recommendations and asserts that 12 those determinations are correct. (Doc. No. 90.) For the most part, plaintiff does not directly 13 address or respond to defendants’ arguments as set forth in their objections. The undersigned will 14 address each of defendants’ objections in turn. 15 A. Fourth Amendment Claim Arising from the June 2018 Search and Seizure 16 Plaintiff is a civil detainee at the Department of State Hospitals–Coalinga (“DSH- 17 Coalinga”). (Doc. No. 80 at 2.) Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claims against defendants Corona 18 and Lopez arise from a search of his living area at DSH-Coalinga on June 29, 2018 and seizure of 19 various items, including a Samsung television with a thumb drive attached, a khaki duffel bag 20 containing a ribbon shirt and deer skin trousers, and a black duffel bag containing a spiritual 21 blanket and batteries. (Id. at 11–12.) 22 First, as to the search itself, defendants do not object to the magistrate judge’s 23 determination that defendants failed to show as a matter of law that plaintiff did not have a 24 reasonable expectation of privacy in his living area. (Id. at 20.) Rather, defendants object to what 25 they perceive, mistakenly, to be the magistrate judge’s conclusion that the search was, in fact, 26 arbitrary. (Doc. No. 86 at 6–7.) This objection is not well-taken because the magistrate judge 27 found only that “there is a dispute of fact as to whether the June 2018 search was arbitrary,” and 28 this disputed fact—as to whether the search was or was not arbitrary—precluded the granting of 1 summary judgment. (Doc. No. 80 at 19, 20) (emphasis added). 2 Second, defendant Lopez objects to the magistrate judge’s conclusion that because an 3 officer has a duty to intercede when a fellow officer is violating plaintiff’s constitutional rights, 4 defendant Lopez could be held liable for watching defendant Corona conduct the search in 5 question and not intervening to stop that search. (Doc. No. 80 at 16–18) (emphasis added). 6 According to defendants, the magistrate judge erred in holding defendant Lopez to the legal 7 standard that applies to police officers in that “[defendant] Lopez was not a police officer,” and 8 “[a]t the time of the search, [he] was a psychiatric technician assistant.” (Doc. No. 86 at 7–8.) 9 The undersigned notes first that the duty to intercede applies to correctional officers as well, not 10 just “police officers.” See Robins v. Meecham, 60 F.3d 1436, 1442 (9th Cir. 1995) (“[A] prison 11 official can violate a prisoner’s Eighth Amendment rights by failing to intervene.”); Est. of Silva 12 v. City of San Diego, No.

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