(PC) Millare v. CDCR

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJanuary 30, 2023
Docket2:22-cv-01862
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Millare v. CDCR ((PC) Millare v. CDCR) 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) Millare v. CDCR, (E.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MORIANO MILLARE, No. 2: 22-cv-1862 KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 CDCR, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel, with a civil rights action pursuant 18 to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On October 19, 2022, defendants removed this action from San Joaquin 19 County Superior Court.1 (ECF No. 1.) On November 7, 2022, defendants filed a request for the 20 court to screen plaintiff’s second amended complaint. (ECF No. 4.) 21 //// 22

23 1 Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b)(3), defendants had thirty days from the date defendants Chavarria, Woods and Reynolds were served with the second amended complaint to remove this 24 action. According to the notice of errata, defendant California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) accepted service on behalf of defendants Chavarria, Woods and 25 Reynolds on September 13, 2022. (ECF No. 3.) Therefore, defendants’ notice of removal, filed October 19, 2021, appears untimely. However, the undersigned does not recommend remand of 26 this action to state court because plaintiff did not file a motion to remand or otherwise object to 27 removal. Hunt v. County of Los Angeles, 2022 WL 3998573, at *1 (9th Cir. Sept. 1, 2022) (finding that district court exceeded its authority to remand a case to state court sua sponte based 28 on procedural defect). 1 Good cause appearing, defendants’ request for the court to screen plaintiff’s second 2 amended complaint is granted. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). For the reasons stated herein, the 3 undersigned recommends dismissal of this action. 4 Background 5 On October 19, 2020, plaintiff filed a complaint, case no. STK CV LPI 2020 8820, in the 6 San Joaquin County Superior Court naming as defendants Transportation Officers Reynolds, 7 Charvarria and Woods. (ECF No. 1 at 7-47.) Plaintiff raised a state law claim for negligence 8 based on the alleged loss of his cervical pillow. (Id. at 9.) Apparently, no defendants were served 9 with the complaint. 10 On November 8, 2021, plaintiff filed a first amended complaint in case no. STK CV LPI 11 2020 8820, naming the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) as a 12 defendant and thereby voluntarily dismissed defendants Reynolds, Chavarria and Woods. (Id. at 13 49-90.) Plaintiff raised state law claims for negligence, violation of Title 15 of the California 14 Code of Regulations and California Civil Code § 1427 based on the alleged loss of his cervical 15 pillow. (Id. at 55-57.) 16 On February 3, 2022, defendant CDCR demurred to the first amended complaint. (Id. at 17 92-103.) 18 On June 14, 2022, the Honorable Barbara A. Krolund held a hearing regarding defendant 19 CDCR’s demurrer. (Id. at 105-08.) Judge Krolund granted the demurrer with thirty days to file a 20 second amended complaint. (Id.) 21 On June 27, 2022, plaintiff filed a second amended complaint naming CDCR and 22 Transportation Officers Reynolds, Chavarria and Woods as defendants. (Id. at 110-55.) Plaintiff 23 alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Eighth Amendment and 24 two state law claims based on the alleged loss of his cervical pillow. (Id.) 25 On July 27, 2022, defendant CDCR demurred to the second amended complaint. (Id. at 26 157-77.) Defendant CDCR also concurrently filed a request for judicial notice regarding 27 plaintiff’s alleged failure to comply with the California Government Claims Act. (Id. at 178- 28 201.) 1 On August 22, 2022, the San Joaquin County Superior Court issued a summons to 2 defendants Reynolds, Chavarria and Woods for the second amended complaint. (Id. at 204.) 3 On September 13, 2022, defendant CDCR accepted process on behalf of defendants 4 Chavarria, Woods and Reynolds. (ECF No. 3 (notice of errata).) On September 21, 2022, 5 defendant CDCR provided the service documents to defendants Chavarria, Woods and Reynolds. 6 (Id.) 7 On October 19, 2022, defendants filed the notice of removal. (ECF No. 1). 8 Legal Standard for Screening 9 A claim is legally frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. 10 Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th 11 Cir. 1984). The court may, therefore, dismiss a claim as frivolous when it is based on an 12 indisputably meritless legal theory or where the factual contentions are clearly baseless. Neitzke, 13 490 U.S. at 327. The critical inquiry is whether a constitutional claim, however inartfully 14 pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. See Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 640 (9th 15 Cir. 1989), superseded by statute as stated in Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1130-31 (9th Cir. 16 2000) (“[A] judge may dismiss [in forma pauperis] claims which are based on indisputably 17 meritless legal theories or whose factual contentions are clearly baseless.”); Franklin, 745 F.2d at 18 1227. 19 Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “requires only ‘a short and plain 20 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the 21 defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atlantic 22 Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 23 In order to survive dismissal for failure to state a claim, a complaint must contain more than “a 24 formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action;” it must contain factual allegations 25 sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atlantic, 550 U.S. at 555. 26 However, “[s]pecific facts are not necessary; the statement [of facts] need only ‘give the 27 defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Erickson v. 28 Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93 (2007) (quoting Bell Atlantic, 550 U.S. at 555, citations and internal 1 quotations marks omitted). In reviewing a complaint under this standard, the court must accept as 2 true the allegations of the complaint in question, Erickson, 551 U.S. at 93, and construe the 3 pleading in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 4 (1974), overruled on other grounds, Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183 (1984). 5 Plaintiff’s Claims in Second Amended Complaint 6 Named as defendants are CDCR and Transportation Officers Reynolds, Chavarria and 7 Woods. (ECF No. 1 at 111-12.) 8 Plaintiff alleges that he is mobility impaired and suffers from multi-level cervical spine 9 spondylosis, multi-level thoracic spine spondylosis and multi-level lumbar degenerative disease. 10 (Id. at 113.) Plaintiff alleges that these conditions cause plaintiff to suffer severe pain in his arms, 11 legs, back and head which interferes with his sleep. (Id.) 12 Prior to 2017, plaintiff was prescribed a durable medical equipment (“DME”) cervical 13 pillow to support his neck while laying down.

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(PC) Millare v. CDCR, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-millare-v-cdcr-caed-2023.