(PC) Miller v. Diaz

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 31, 2023·No. 1:20-cv-01243·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CURTIS MILLER, Case No. 1:20-cv-01243-ADA-HBK (PC) 12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION TO GRANT DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR 13 v. PARTIAL DISMISSAL 14 B. CATES, FAYE MONTEGRANDE, (Doc. No. 23) OLUFEMI OWALBI, U. BANIGA, 15 FOURTEEN DAY OBJECTION PERIOD Defendants. 16 17 Pending before the Court is Defendants’ motion to dismiss filed on November 3, 2022. 18 (Doc. No. 23, “Motion”). Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Defendants seek 19 partial dismissal of Plaintiff’s Complaint. (Id.). Despite being afforded an opportunity to do so, 20 Plaintiff elected not to file any opposition to the Motion. See Order dated July 31, 2023 (Doc. 21 No. 27); see also L.R. 230(l). For the reasons set forth below, the undersigned recommends that 22 the district court grant Defendants’ Motion. 23 BACKGROUND 24 A. Plaintiff’s Complaint and Procedural History 25 Plaintiff initiated this action while a prisoner and confined at California Correctional 26 Institution (“CCI”). According to the Complaint, Plaintiff was diagnosed with Morton’s 27 Neuroma or ganglion cyst on his feet by his physician at California State Prison, Los Angeles 28 County and prescribed orthotic boots and insoles with a permanent order for the boots and 1 insoles. (Doc. No. 1 at 8). Plaintiff was transferred to CCI on February 19, 2019. (Id.). After his 2 transfer, Plaintiff twice met with Dr. Owolabi concerning the fact that his prescribed orthotic 3 boots were over a year overdue, that he was in pain, and that his condition was worsening. (Id. at 4 8-9). Dr. Owolabi initially agreed to investigate the issue, but then declined to provide Plaintiff 5 with the orthotic boots because CDCR was required to pay for the boots and insoles and were 6 only providing them to prisoners who were diabetic or had missing toes. (Id.). After Dr. 7 Montegrande personally considered Plaintiff’s health care appeal, he examined Plaintiff’s feet 8 and told him that he did not qualify for orthotics because he was not diabetic and was not missing 9 any toes. (Id. at 8-9 ¶ 8). Thereafter, Dr. Baniga denied Plaintiff’s health care appeal. (Id. at 9 ¶ 10 9). Plaintiff sought injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages. (Id. at 22, ¶¶ 2-4). 11 The undersigned screened the Complaint, and determined it alleged an Eighth 12 Amendment medical deliberate indifference claim against Defendants Dr. Montegrande, Dr. 13 Owolabi, and Dr. Baniga in their individual capacities and an official capacity claim against 14 Defendant Warden Cates to the extent that Plaintiff sought injunctive relief concerning CDCR’s 15 orthotics policy but no other claims. (Doc. No. 10). Plaintiff agreed to proceed on his Complaint 16 as screened. (Doc. No. 11). The Court directed service and Defendants agreed to waive personal 17 service but sought extensions of time to respond to the Complaint, which the Court granted. 18 (Doc. Nos. 13, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22). On August 8, 2022, Plaintiff filed a notice of change of 19 address indicating he was released from CDCR’s custody. (Doc. No. 19). On November 3, 2022, 20 Defendants filed the instant Motion in response to the Complaint. (Doc. No. 23). 21 B. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss 22 The Motion seeks partial dismissal of Plaintiff’s Complaint against Defendants Cates and 23 Baniga. (See generally Doc. No. 25). Specifically, Defendant Cates seeks dismissal of the 24 Complaint on the grounds that Plaintiff’s official capacity claim against him seeking injunctive 25 relief in connection with CDCR’s orthotics’ policy is moot due to Plaintiff’s release from prison. 26 (Id. at 5). Defendant Baniga argues the Complaint, as pled, does not state an Eighth Amendment 27 claim against him in his individual capacity. More particularly, the Complaint alleged only that 28 Defendant Baniga denied Plaintiff’s appeal of his health care grievance and the denial of 1 Plaintiff’s health care grievance alone, is not sufficient to state a cognizable medical deliberate 2 indifference claim. (Id. at 9-10). 3 C. Plaintiff’s Opposition 4 On January 19, 2023, after Plaintiff failed to timely file any opposition to Defendant’s 5 Motion, the Court directed Plaintiff to file an opposition or to file a statement of no opposition. 6 (Doc. No. 24). The Court warned Plaintiff that if he failed to file any opposition, “the Motion 7 shall be deemed unopposed.” (Id. at 2). Plaintiff filed no opposition or statement of no 8 opposition. See docket. 9 APPLICABLE LAW AND ANALYSIS 10 A. Applicable Law 11 A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “tests the 12 legal sufficiency of a claim.” Conservation Force v. Salazar, 646 F.3d 1240, 1242 (9th Cir. 13 2011). Dismissal for failure to state a claim is proper if there is a “lack of a cognizable legal 14 theory or the absence of sufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory.” Id.; see 15 also Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007) (to survive a motion to dismiss, the 16 complaint must have sufficient facts to state a facially plausible claim to relief). In deciding a 17 motion under Rule 12(b)(6), the court accepts as true all well-pled factual allegations in the 18 complaint and determines whether the factual allegations are sufficient to state a right to relief 19 above the speculative level. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009); see also Nw. Envtl. Def. Ctr. 20 v. Brown, 640 F.3d 1063, 1070 (9th Cir. 2011) (court accepts as true all material allegations in the 21 complaint, as well as any reasonable inferences to be drawn from them). Though courts construe 22 pro se filings liberally and afford the pro se litigant the benefit of any doubt, a pro se complaint 23 still must satisfy these standards. Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 341-43 (9th Cir. 2010). 24 “Where a motion to dismiss is granted, a district court must decide whether to 25 grant leave to amend. Generally, the Ninth Circuit has a liberal policy favoring amendments and, 26 thus, leave to amend should be freely granted.” Winebarger v. Pennsylvania Higher Educ. 27 Assistance Agency, 411 F. Supp. 3d 1070, 1082 (C.D. Cal. 2019) (citation omitted). However, 28 where leave to amend would be futile, because “the allegation of other facts consistent with the 1 challenged pleading could not possibly cure the deficiency,” leave to amend may be denied. 2 DeSoto v. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc., 957 F.2d 655, 658 (9th Cir. 1992). 3 B. Plaintiff’s Failure to Oppose Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss 4 This Court’s local rules provide that the “[f]ailure of the responding party to file an 5 opposition or to file a statement of no opposition may be deemed a waiver of any opposition to 6 the granting of the motion and may result in the imposition of sanctions.” L.R. 230(l). Under 7 Ninth Circuit precedent a “[f]ailure to follow a district court’s local rules is proper grounds for 8 dismissal.” Ghazali v. Moran, 46 F.3d 52, 53 (9th Cir. 1995) (citing United States v. Warren, 601 9 F.2d 471, 474 (9th Cir. 1995)).

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

(PC) Miller v. Diaz, (E.D. Cal. 2023).

(PC) Miller v. Diaz ((PC) Miller v. Diaz) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Flast v. Cohen
392 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Kentucky v. Graham
473 U.S. 159 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Hebbe v. Pliler
627 F.3d 338 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Ameziane v. Obama
620 F.3d 1 (D.C. Circuit, 2010)
Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Brown
640 F.3d 1063 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Conservation Force v. Salazar
646 F.3d 1240 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Josiah L. Merrill, III
746 F.2d 458 (Ninth Circuit, 1985)
Harlan L. Jacobsen v. Richard Filler
790 F.2d 1362 (Ninth Circuit, 1986)
Kim King and Kent Norman v. Victor Atiyeh
814 F.2d 565 (Ninth Circuit, 1987)
Robert R. Reimers v. State of Oregon
863 F.2d 630 (Ninth Circuit, 1989)
John Desoto v. Yellow Freight Systems, Inc.
957 F.2d 655 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
Michael Lacey v. Joseph Arpaio
693 F.3d 896 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Farmer v. Brennan
511 U.S. 825 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Rupe v. Cate
688 F. Supp. 2d 1035 (E.D. California, 2010)