(PC) Montgomery v. Madera Department of Corrections

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMarch 11, 2024
Docket1:23-cv-00919
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Montgomery v. Madera Department of Corrections ((PC) Montgomery v. Madera Department of Corrections) 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) Montgomery v. Madera Department of Corrections, (E.D. Cal. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PAULINE MONTGOMERY, No. 1:23-cv-00919-JLT-SAB (PC) 12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION RECOMMENDING DISMISSAL OF THE 13 v. ACTION 14 MADERA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS, et (ECF No. 20) al., 15 Defendants. 16

17 Plaintiff is proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action filed pursuant 18 to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 19 Plaintiff’s complaint in this action was filed on June 20, 2023. (ECF No. 1.) Plaintiff 20 filed a first amended complaint on August 9, 2023. (ECF No. 9.) 21 On September 28, 2023, the Court screened Plaintiff’s first amended complaint, found no 22 cognizable claim, and granted Plaintiff thirty days to file an amended complaint. (ECF No. 10.) 23 Plaintiff failed to respond to the screening order and an order to show cause why the 24 action should not be dismissed was issued on November 7, 2023. (ECF No. 11.) After Plaintiff 25 failed to file a response, Findings and Recommendations were issued on December 1, 2023. 26 (ECF No. 13.) On December 15, 2023, the Court vacated the Findings and Recommendations 27 based on Plaintiff’s objections and granted Plaintiff thirty days to file a second amended 28 1 complaint. (ECF No. 16.) On January 16, 2024, the Court send Plaintiff a blank civil rights 2 complaint form and granted her thirty additional days to file a second amended complaint. (ECF 3 No. 18.) Plaintiff did not file a second amended complaint. Therefore, on February 15, 2024, the 4 Court issued another order to show cause why the action should not be dismissed. (ECF No. 20.) 5 Plaintiff has failed to respond to the order to show cause and the time to do so has now passed. 6 Accordingly, dismissal of the action is warranted. 7 I. 8 SCREENING REQUIREMENT 9 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 10 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 11 Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are legally 12 “frivolous or malicious,” that “fail[] to state a claim on which relief may be granted,” or that 13 “seek[] monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 14 1915(e)(2)(B); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). 15 A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 16 pleader is entitled to relief. . . .” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Detailed factual allegations are not 17 required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 18 conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell 19 Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). Moreover, Plaintiff must demonstrate 20 that each defendant personally participated in the deprivation of Plaintiff’s rights. Jones v. 21 Williams, 297 F.3d 930, 934 (9th Cir. 2002). 22 Prisoners proceeding pro se in civil rights actions are entitled to have their pleadings 23 liberally construed and to have any doubt resolved in their favor. Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 24 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). To survive screening, Plaintiff’s claims must be 25 facially plausible, which requires sufficient factual detail to allow the Court to reasonably infer 26 that each named defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678-79; Moss 27 v. U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). The “sheer possibility that a defendant 28 has acted unlawfully” is not sufficient, and “facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s 1 liability” falls short of satisfying the plausibility standard. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; Moss, 572 F.3d 2 at 969. 3 II. 4 SUMMARY OF ALLEGATIONS 5 The Court accepts Plaintiff’s allegations in her complaint as true only for the purpose of 6 the screening requirement under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. 7 Plaintiff brings suit against the Madera Department of Corrections and correctional 8 officers. Plaintiff is currently incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. 9 It is not clear from the allegations in the first amended complaint whether Plaintiff was a 10 pretrial detainee, or a convicted inmate housed at the Madera County jail at the time of the 11 incident. 12 At 2:30 a.m., after Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the Madera Department of Corrections, 13 a male officer ordered Plaintiff out of bed while she was partly unclothed and a women officer 14 did not intervene. The other male officer had hit boots on Plaintiff’s bunk as he searched 15 Plaintiff’s cell which included opening Plaintiff’s legal mail. 16 III. 17 DISCUSSION 18 A. Opening of Legal Property 19 Inmates have a right under the First and Sixth Amendments to have their properly marked 20 legal mail opened in their presence, and prison officials may not read their legal mail. Hayes v. 21 Idaho Corr. Ctr., 849 F.3d 1204, 1208 (9th Cir. 2017) (concluding that First Amendment 22 protected right of prisoner to have legal mail opened in his presence); Mangiaracina v. Penzone, 23 849 F.3d 1191, 1196 (9th Cir. 2017) (concluding that pretrial detainee had a Sixth Amendment 24 right to privately confer with counsel and not have legal mail opened outside his presence); 25 Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 910-11 (9th Cir. 2014) (concluding that the Constitution 26 prohibits reading ongoing attorney-client correspondence). The rationale for these protections is 27 that permitting prison officials to inspect legal mail outside an inmate's presence could chill 28 attorney-client communications. See Nordstrom, 762 F.3d at 910 (“It takes no stretch of 1 imagination to see how an inmate would be reluctant to confide in his lawyer about the facts of 2 the crime, perhaps other crimes, possible plea bargains, and the intimate details of his own life 3 and his family members’ lives, if he knows that a guard is going to be privy to them, too.”). 4 To prove a violation regarding legal mail, a plaintiff must “clarify who sent the mail or 5 whether it was properly marked as ‘legal mail.’ ” Hayes v. Idaho Corr. Ctr., 849 F.3d 1204, 1211 6 (9th Cir. 2017). The Ninth Circuit has not provided a definitive answer as to how legal mail must 7 be labeled to be “properly marked” and has declined to “decide whether mail clearly sent from a 8 lawyer to an inmate but lacking the “Legal Mail” designation may be opened outside the presence 9 of the inmate.” Keenan v. Hall, 83 F.3d 1083, 1094 (9th Cir. 1996), opinion amended on denial of 10 reh'g, 135 F.3d 1318 (9th Cir. 1998); see also Evans v. Gower, No. 2:17-CV-01162-MK, 2022 11 WL 3226968, at *8 (D. Or. Aug.

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Bluebook (online)
(PC) Montgomery v. Madera Department of Corrections, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-montgomery-v-madera-department-of-corrections-caed-2024.