(PC) McCoy v. Sac County Jail

District Court, E.D. California·Decided September 15, 2023·No. 2:22-cv-01769·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JEROME ELI MCCOY, No. 2:22-cv-01769-CKD P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 SAC COUNTY JAIL, 15 Defendant. 16 17 Plaintiff is a county inmate proceeding in forma pauperis in this civil rights action filed 18 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This proceeding was referred to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 19 § 636(b)(1) and Local Rule 302. 20 On March 9, 2023, the court appointed counsel Jessica Arena for the limited purpose of 21 drafting and filing an amended complaint in this matter. Counsel filed the first amended 22 complaint on June 23, 2023, and it is now before the court for screening. 23 I. Motion for the Appointment of Counsel 24 As counsel’s appointment has ended based on the filing of the amended complaint, 25 plaintiff filed a renewed motion for the appointment of counsel. ECF No. 16. District courts lack 26 authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. 27 United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may 28 request an attorney to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell 1 v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 2 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must 3 consider plaintiff’s likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to 4 articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. 5 Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to 6 appoint counsel). The burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. 7 Having considered the factors under Palmer, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to 8 meet his burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances warranting the further appointment 9 of counsel at this time. 10 II. Screening Requirement 11 As plaintiff was previously advised, the court is required to screen complaints brought by 12 prisoners seeking relief against a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental 13 entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the 14 prisoner has raised claims that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon 15 which relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 16 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), (2). 17 III. Allegations in the Amended Complaint 18 At all times relevant to the allegations in the amended complaint, plaintiff was a mentally 19 ill inmate at the Sacramento County Jail, although it is still not clear to the court whether plaintiff 20 was a pretrial detainee or was serving a sentence.1 Named as defendants are the County of 21 Sacramento, Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper, four named sheriff’s deputies employed at 22 the Sacramento County Jail, a John Doe defendant, and the City of Sacramento. ECF No. 18 at 3. 23 The amended complaint generally alleges that plaintiff was denied his mental health 24 medication from April 26, 2022, until May 25, 2022, and was also placed in solitary confinement. 25 As a result, his mental health deteriorated and he “repeatedly cut himself and banged his head 26 against the wall until it bled.” ECF No. 18 at 4. During one particular mental health crisis on 27 1 In the prior screening order of February 2, 2023, the court identified the legal standards that 28 applied to both pretrial detainees as well as those serving a sentence. See ECF No. 11 at 5-6. 1 December 26, 2022, plaintiff was sprayed with pepper spray and then tackled by a correctional 2 officer who is not identified in the amended complaint. ECF No. 18 at 6. 3 Plaintiff also challenges numerous conditions of his confinement including the presence of 4 mold and sewage water in his cell, the lack of a blanket, and lack of time out of his cell while in 5 solitary confinement. 6 In the first cause of action, plaintiff contends that “[d]defendants failed to provide Mr. 7 McCoy with minimally adequate mental health treatment under Constitutional standards and 8 [d]efendants’ own policies and procedures” in violation of the Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth 9 Amendments. ECF No. 18 at 7. 10 In the second cause of action, plaintiff asserts that defendants used excessive force against 11 him by pepper spraying him in response to his mental health crisis on December 26, 2022 in 12 violation of the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. ECF No. 18 at 9. 13 Next, plaintiff alleges that defendants violated the Americans with Disabilities Act 14 (“ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act (“RA”) by failing to train officers on “how to respond to 15 persons with physical and mental impairments;… failing to respond reasonably in dealing with a 16 mentally ill person who was experiencing an episode of psychological distress; [and]… by 17 disciplining Plaintiff for actions found by CDCR’s own mental health staff to be related to his 18 mental illness, and… punishing Plaintiff in ways that CDCR’s own mental health staff knew was 19 detrimental to Plaintiff’s mental health.”2 ECF No. 18 at 11. 20 IV. Analysis 21 After conducting the required screening, the court finds that the amended complaint fails 22 to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under federal law.3 First and foremost, the 23 factual allegations in the complaint are not linked to any named defendant. Rather than 24 identifying the specific actions of each of the defendants that makes them liable, the causes of

25 2 Although the amended complaint references the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”), plaintiff was a county inmate and not in state custody. 26

27 3 Because the amended complaint was filed by counsel, the court has not applied the rule of liberal construction that would apply to a pro se pleading. See e.g., Thomas v. Ponder, 611 F.3d 28 1144, 1150 (9th Cir. 2010). 1 action simply list all defendants in the aggregate. The only attempt in the amended complaint to 2 link any specific defendants to particular constitutional violations is based on the December 26, 3 2022 incident involving pepper spray for which plaintiff alleges that defendants Milligan, Davis, 4 Ma, and Powder were responsible. ECF No. 18 at 3. However, the factual allegations in the 5 amended complaint merely state that plaintiff’s “cell was unnecessarily flooded with a chemical 6 agent that burned his flesh and then [he was] tackled by a correctional officer.” ECF No. 18 at 6. 7 The amended complaint does not identify which defendant deployed the pepper spray or tackled 8 plaintiff. That does not sufficiently link any named defendant to the alleged constitutional 9 violations asserted in the amended complaint. See Johnson v. Duffy, 588 F.2d 740, 743 (9th Cir. 10 1978) (citation omitted).

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