(PC) Marti v. Manning

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedNovember 13, 2024
Docket2:21-cv-01829
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Marti v. Manning ((PC) Marti v. Manning) 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) Marti v. Manning, (E.D. Cal. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ALEX LAMOTA MARTI, No. 2:21-cv-01829 SCR P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 TODD MANNING, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action pursuant to 42 18 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff has filed multiple discovery motions, all fully briefed, and all addressed 19 below. For the reasons set forth below, the court will: 20 1. Grant in part and deny in part plaintiff’s motion to compel on plaintiff’s requests for 21 production (RFP) Sets 1 and 2 (ECF No. 37); 22 2. Grant plaintiff’s motion to compel on plaintiff’s RFPs Set 1, number 8 (ECF No. 41); 23 3. Deny plaintiff’s motion to compel on RFPs Set 5 (ECF No. 59); 24 4. Deny plaintiff’s motion to compel on RFPs Sets 3 and 4 (ECF No. 60); 25 5. Deny plaintiff’s a motion to compel concerning requests for admission (ECF No. 45); 26 6. Grant plaintiff’s motion to compel interrogatories (ECF No. 65); and 27 7. Grant in part the motion to modify the discovery order (ECF No. 50). 28 //// 1 8. Deny plaintiff’s motions for an extension of time (ECF No. 74) and to correct the docket 2 (ECF No. 75). 3 9. Deny plaintiff’s motion to supplement the record (ECF No. 84). 4 I. Background 5 A. Procedural History 6 After screening the complaint (ECF No. 1), the Court determined that plaintiff stated a 7 First Amendment retaliation claim (ECF No. 6 at 6-7), and a claim under the Eight Amendment 8 for the deprivation of outdoor exercise (id. at 10). Plaintiff then filed many discovery motions, all 9 of which are addressed in this order. Those include motions to compel further production under 10 multiple sets of RFPs, a motion to compel responses to interrogatories, and a motion to compel 11 further responses to requests for admission. 12 B. Allegations in the Complaint 13 At all relevant times, plaintiff was an inmate at Mule Creek State Prison (“MCSP”). (ECF 14 No. 1 at 1.) The complaint names as defendants employed by the California Department of 15 Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”): (1) Correctional Sergeant Todd Manning; (2) 16 Correctional Lieutenant D. Pasioles; (3) Correctional Sergeant J. Canela; (4) Correctional 17 Lieutenant T. Cooper; (5) Correctional Captain A. Avalos; (6) Associate Warden R. Roy; (7) 18 Chief Deputy Warden B. Holmes; and (8) Correctional Officer S. La Rosa. (Id. at 2.) 19 In his complaint, plaintiff alleges the following: Plaintiff filed three grievances against 20 defendant La Rosa in late 2020. (ECF No. 1 at 19-20.) Each of these grievances concerned 21 defendant La Rosa failing to wear a mask over his nose and mouth. (Id.) The grievances were 22 approved on review. (Id.) In response, defendant La Rosa retaliated against plaintiff by waking 23 plaintiff up “every night that [defendant La Rosa] worked during the 21:30 count.” (Id. at 20.) 24 Defendant La Rosa also conducted a “retaliatory cell search” on January 31, 2021. (Id. at 21.) 25 Plaintiff filed a grievance, but it was denied and defendant Manning “threatened plaintiff with 26 disciplinary action” for falsifying documents. (Id.) This grievance denial was approved by 27 defendant Holmes. (Id.) 28 //// 1 At 9:30 p.m. on April 27, 2021, plaintiff was awakened by banging loud noises. (Id. at 2 10.) Plaintiff was later told by other inmates that defendant La Rosa had entered “the shower 3 used by plaintiff” and removed plastic hooks from the walls using his baton. (Id.) Inmates also 4 told plaintiff that defendant La Rosa was not wearing a mask at this time. (Id.) On April 29, 5 2021, plaintiff submitted an inmate grievance against defendant La Rosa complaining that 6 defendant had damaged plastic hooks purchased by plaintiff and that defendant had violated 7 COVID-19 protocol by not wearing a mask. (Id. at 12.) Plaintiff was served a Rules Violation 8 Report (“RVR”) issued by defendant Manning on May 14, 2021. (Id. at 13.) In the RVR, 9 defendant Manning stated he reviewed plaintiff’s inmate grievance but determined that plaintiff 10 had falsified the document. (Id.) Specifically, defendant Manning claimed that he had reviewed 11 a portion of surveillance video and determined that plaintiff’s allegations were “dishonest and/or 12 false.” (Id. at 14.) 13 Defendants Canela and Cooper “read, reviewed, and approved” the May 14, 2021 RVR. 14 (Id. at 14-15.) On May 17, 2021, plaintiff sent a “Form GA-22” to defendant Roy requesting that 15 defendant review the RVR, but did not receive a response. (Id. at 15.) Defendant Pasioles 16 conducted the disciplinary hearing on the RVR. (Id. at 16.) During the hearing, defendant 17 Pasioles denied plaintiff’s request for dismissal on First Amendment grounds and found plaintiff 18 guilty. (Id. at 16-17.) As a penalty, defendant Pasioles “imposed a complete denial of all access 19 to outdoor exercise (yard) for 60 days, a credit loss of 60 days, and 30 days loss of package 20 privileges.” (Id. at 17.) Defendant Avalos reviewed the hearing results and, after revisions, 21 approved the findings. (Id.) Defendant Roy also reviewed the hearing results and approved 22 them. (Id. at 18.) 23 Plaintiff claims that defendants Manning, Pasioles, Canela, Cooper, Avalos, and Roy 24 violated his First Amendment rights by the issuance of the May 14, 2021 RVR. (Id. at 9.) 25 Plaintiff also alleges that defendant La Rosa retaliated against him by searching his cell in 26 violation of his First Amendment rights. (Id.) Plaintiff further alleges that defendant Manning 27 violated First Amendment rights by threatening disciplinary action in response to plaintiff’s 28 grievances. (Id.) Finally, plaintiff claims that defendants Manning, Pasioles, Canela, Cooper, 1 Avalos, and Roy violated the Eighth Amendment by denying plaintiff access to outdoor exercise 2 for sixty days. (Id.) 3 MOTIONS TO COMPEL 4 I. Legal Standards 5 A. Discovery 6 Under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “[p]arties may obtain discovery 7 regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and 8 proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the 9 action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ 10 resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or 11 expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. Information within this scope of 12 discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). 13 “Relevance for purposes of discovery is defined very broadly.” Garneau v. City of Seattle, 147 14 F.3d 802, 812 (9th Cir. 1998). However, relevance alone is not sufficient to obtain discovery— 15 “discovery must also be proportional to the needs of the case.” In re Bard IVC Filters Prods. 16 Litig., 317 F.R.D. 562, 564 (D. Ariz. 2016). The purpose of discovery is to “remove surprise 17 from trial preparation so the parties can obtain evidence necessary to evaluate and resolve their 18 dispute.” United States v. Chapman Univ., 245 F.R.D. 646, 648 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (quotation and 19 citation omitted). 20 B. Motion to Compel 21 Under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

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Bluebook (online)
(PC) Marti v. Manning, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-marti-v-manning-caed-2024.