(PC) Perry v. Brevick

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedFebruary 2, 2021
Docket2:21-cv-00065
StatusUnknown

This text of (PC) Perry v. Brevick ((PC) Perry v. Brevick) 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) Perry v. Brevick, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JACK LEE PERRY, No. 2: 21-cv-0065 KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 BREVICK, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding without counsel. Plaintiff seeks relief pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and has requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 19 § 1915. This proceeding was referred to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) and Local 20 Rule 302. 21 Plaintiff submitted a declaration that makes the showing required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). 22 Accordingly, the request to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. 23 Plaintiff is required to pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00 for this action. 28 U.S.C. 24 §§ 1914(a), 1915(b)(1). By this order, plaintiff will be assessed an initial partial filing fee in 25 accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). By separate order, the court will direct 26 the appropriate agency to collect the initial partial filing fee from plaintiff’s trust account and 27 forward it to the Clerk of the Court. Thereafter, plaintiff will be obligated to make monthly 28 payments of twenty percent of the preceding month’s income credited to plaintiff’s prison trust 1 account. These payments will be forwarded by the appropriate agency to the Clerk of the Court 2 each time the amount in plaintiff’s account exceeds $10.00, until the filing fee is paid in full. 28 3 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). 4 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 5 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 6 court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are legally 7 “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek 8 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), (2). 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.” Id. However, “[s]pecific facts 26 are not necessary; the statement [of facts] need only ‘give the defendant fair notice of what the . . 27 . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93 (2007) 28 (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp., 550 U.S. at 555) (citations and internal quotations marks omitted). 1 In reviewing a complaint under this standard, the court must accept as true the allegations of the 2 complaint in question, id., and construe the pleading in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. 3 Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 (1974), overruled on other grounds, Davis v. Scherer, 468 4 U.S. 183 (1984). 5 Named as defendants are Correctional Officer Brevick and Sergeant Moran. Plaintiff’s 6 complaint contains three claims. 7 Claim One 8 Plaintiff alleges that on January 16, 2019, defendant Brevick searched plaintiff’s cell. 9 Plaintiff alleges that defendant Brevick left his cell in total disarray. Plaintiff alleges that 10 defendant Brevick opened a box of his legal documents and left them on the floor. Plaintiff 11 alleges that other personal property belonging to plaintiff was damaged. Plaintiff alleges that 12 defendant Brevick took plaintiff’s CPAP machine out of its storage bag and left its parts in 13 different areas of his cell. Plaintiff alleges that the nasal pillows that are necessary to use the 14 CPAP machine were lost and never replaced. Plaintiff alleges that defendant Brevick took food 15 items that plaintiff had purchased and threw them on the cell floor. Plaintiff found his toothbrush 16 under the toilet. 17 Plaintiff alleges that defendant Brevick’s search of his cell violated the Eighth and 18 Fourteenth Amendments and the Equal Protection Clause. 19 The Eighth Amendment protects inmates from cell searches that are conducted solely for 20 the purpose of harassment. Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 530 (1984). Courts have found that 21 frequent and retaliatory cell searches that “result in the ‘violent dishevelment of [the prisoner’s] 22 cell’ and cause the prisoner to suffer ‘fear, mental anguish, and misery,’ constitute an Eight 23 Amendment violation.” Scher v. Engelke, 943 F.2d 921, 924 (8th Cir. 1991 (inmate’s cell 24 searched ten times in nineteen days and left in disarray after three searches); see also Blanks v. 25 Smith, 790 F.Supp. 192, 193–94 (E.D. Wis.1992) (daily body cavity and cell searches for a 26 period of two weeks); Williams v. Southwoods State Prison, 2007 WL 1752088, *3 (D. N.J. June 27 13, 2007) (three cell searches in three days, followed by the filing of two disciplinary reports).

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Related

Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Scheuer v. Rhodes
416 U.S. 232 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Wolff v. McDonnell
418 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Hudson v. Palmer
468 U.S. 517 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Neitzke v. Williams
490 U.S. 319 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Hafer v. Melo
502 U.S. 21 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Helling v. McKinney
509 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Crawford-El v. Britton
523 U.S. 574 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Booth v. Churner
532 U.S. 731 (Supreme Court, 2001)
Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A.
534 U.S. 506 (Supreme Court, 2002)
United States v. Georgia
546 U.S. 151 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Burrell v. Hampshire County
307 F.3d 1 (First Circuit, 2002)
Harry Franklin v. Ms. Murphy and Hoyt Cupp
745 F.2d 1221 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
James Piatt v. Ellis MacDougall
773 F.2d 1032 (Ninth Circuit, 1985)
Gregory A. Scher v. Daniel Engelke
943 F.2d 921 (Eighth Circuit, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
(PC) Perry v. Brevick, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-perry-v-brevick-caed-2021.