(PC) Lake v. Diaz

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedNovember 4, 2022
Docket2:21-cv-00395
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Lake v. Diaz ((PC) Lake v. Diaz) 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) Lake v. Diaz, (E.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JOHN LAKE, No. 2:21-cv-0395 AC P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 RALPH DIAZ, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 18 1983.1 Plaintiff has requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. 19 This proceeding was referred to this court by Local Rule 302 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). 20 For the reasons stated below, plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis will be granted and 21 he will be given an opportunity to amend the complaint. 22 I. APPLICATION TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS 23 Plaintiff has submitted a declaration that makes the showing required by 28 U.S.C. § 24 1 Plaintiff indicates on the form complaint that he is proceeding pursuant to Bivens v. Six 25 Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), which permits federal prisoners to seek 26 damages against a federal officer for having violated rights protected by the United States Constitution. In this case, however, plaintiff’s mailing address and the allegations asserted in the 27 pleading concern the conditions of his confinement at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California, meaning that plaintiff is a state (not federal) prisoner. The Court thus construes the 28 complaint as having been filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 1 1915(a). Accordingly, the request to proceed in forma pauperis will be granted. 2 Plaintiff is required to pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00 for this action. 28 U.S.C. §§ 3 1914(a), 1915(b)(1). By this order, plaintiff will be assessed an initial partial filing fee in 4 accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). By separate order, the court will direct 5 the appropriate agency to collect the initial partial filing fee from plaintiff’s trust account and 6 forward it to the Clerk of the Court. Thereafter, plaintiff will be obligated for monthly payments 7 of twenty percent of the preceding month’s income credited to plaintiff’s prison trust account. 8 These payments will be forwarded by the appropriate agency to the Clerk of the Court each time 9 the amount in plaintiff’s account exceeds $10.00, until the filing fee is paid in full. 28 U.S.C. § 10 1915(b)(2). 11 II. SCREENING REQUIREMENT 12 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 13 governmental entity or an officer or employee of a governmental entity. See 28 U.S.C. § 14 1915A(a). The court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims 15 that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be 16 granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. See 28 17 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1) & (2). 18 A claim “is [legally] frivolous where it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact.” 19 Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989) (brackets added); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 20 1221, 1227-28 (9th Cir. 1984). “[A] judge may dismiss . . . claims which are ‘based on 21 indisputably meritless legal theories’ or whose ‘factual contentions are clearly baseless.’” 22 Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 640 (9th Cir. 1989) (brackets added) (quoting Neitzke, 490 23 U.S. at 327), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 24 1130 (9th Cir. 2000). The critical inquiry is whether a constitutional claim, however inartfully 25 pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. Franklin, 745 F.2d at 1227-28 (citations 26 omitted). 27 “Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only ‘a short and plain statement of the 28 claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the defendant fair notice of 1 what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 2 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (alteration in original) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 3 “Failure to state a claim under § 1915A incorporates the familiar standard applied in the context 4 of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Wilhelm v. Rotman, 5 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). In order to survive dismissal for failure 6 to state a claim, a complaint must contain more than “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a 7 cause of action;” it must contain factual allegations sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the 8 speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (citations omitted). “‘[T]he pleading must contain 9 something more . . . than . . . a statement of facts that merely creates a suspicion [of] a legally 10 cognizable right of action.’” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting 5 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur 11 R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216 (3d ed. 2004)). 12 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to 13 relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (brackets added) 14 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads 15 factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable 16 for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). In reviewing a complaint 17 under this standard, the court must accept as true the allegations of the complaint in question, see, 18 e.g., Hosp. Bldg. Co. v. Trs. of the Rex Hosp., 425 U.S. 738, 740 (1976) (citation omitted), as 19 well as construe the pleading in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and resolve all doubts in 20 the plaintiff’s favor, see Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421 (1969) (citations omitted). 21 III. THE COMPLAINT 22 As noted above, plaintiff is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Jenkins v. McKeithen
395 U.S. 411 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Hospital Building Co. v. Trustees of Rex Hospital
425 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Neitzke v. Williams
490 U.S. 319 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A.
534 U.S. 506 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Ivey v. Board of Regents of University of Alaska
673 F.2d 266 (Second Circuit, 1982)
Kathleen Hansen v. Ronald L. Black
885 F.2d 642 (Ninth Circuit, 1989)
Wilhelm v. Rotman
680 F.3d 1113 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Lopez v. Smith
203 F.3d 1122 (Ninth Circuit, 2000)
Skinner v. Switzer
179 L. Ed. 2d 233 (Supreme Court, 2011)
Starr v. Baca
652 F.3d 1202 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Huddleston v. Duckworth
97 F.R.D. 512 (N.D. Indiana, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
(PC) Lake v. Diaz, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-lake-v-diaz-caed-2022.