(PC) Porter v. Icban

District Court, E.D. California·Decided October 4, 2024·No. 2:24-cv-00696·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 KEVIN LAMAR PORTER, No. 2:24-cv-0696 SCR P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 T. ICBAN, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. 18 §1983. Before the court is plaintiff’s first amended complaint for screening and plaintiff’s motion 19 for preliminary injunctive relief. For the reasons set forth below, this court dismisses the first 20 amended complaint with leave to amend and recommends plaintiff’s motion for preliminary 21 injunctive relief be denied. 22 SCREENING 23 I. Legal Standards 24 As described in the court’s prior screening order, the court is required to screen 25 complaints brought by prisoners to determine whether they sufficiently state claims under 42 26 U.S.C. § 1983. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The prisoner must plead an arguable legal and factual 27 basis for each claim in order to survive dismissal. Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 28 (9th Cir. 1984). In addition, the prisoner must demonstrate a link between the actions of each 1 defendant and the deprivation of his rights. Monell v. Dept. of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694 2 (1978). Plaintiff may demonstrate that connection by alleging facts showing: (1) a defendant’s 3 “personal involvement in the constitutional deprivation,” or (2) that a defendant set “in motion a 4 series of acts by others” or “knowingly refus[ed] to terminate a series of acts by others, which 5 [the defendant] knew or reasonably should have known would cause others to inflict a 6 constitutional injury.” Starr v. Baca, 652 F.3d 1202, 1207-08 (9th Cir. 2011) (internal quotation 7 marks and citations omitted). 8 II. Discussion 9 A. Allegations in the First Amended Complaint (ECF No. 17) 10 Plaintiff is an inmate at the California Medical Facility (“CMF”). He complains of 11 conduct that occurred there in early 2023. Plaintiff identifies the following defendants: (1) 12 Licensed Vocational Nurse (“LVN”) T. Icban; (2) Psychiatric Technician D. Leyto; (3) 13 Supervising Registered Nurse (“RN”) R. Laguerta; (4) Supervising RN Y. Gamboa; (5) 14 Correctional Sergeant S. Shepherd; and (6) Chief Executive Officer Traci Patterson. 15 Plaintiff alleges the following. On January 7, 2023, defendant Icban provided plaintiff’s 16 treatment team with false information, apparently that plaintiff exposed himself, that resulted in 17 plaintiff’s discharge from CMF’s “64 Bed” program and a charge of indecent exposure. Plaintiff 18 appears to allege Icban made this report in retaliation for plaintiff’s threat to file a grievance. 19 Plaintiff told defendants Shepherd and Laguerta that Icban’s report was false. 20 Nonetheless, Shepherd and Laguerta allowed the false report to be placed in plaintiff’s health 21 records. When plaintiff told Shepherd and Laguerta he intended to file a grievance against them 22 for allowing the false report to be processed, they helped Icban make changes to the report after it 23 had already been entered into plaintiff’s electronic health records. 24 Defendant Patterson was notified by plaintiff that he was found “not guilty” of indecent 25 exposure. Icban’s report remained in plaintiff’s records and plaintiff filed a grievance to have it 26 removed. Patterson told plaintiff the report would remain in his records because, in their opinion, 27 the incident happened. Plaintiff states that health care staff have access to his files and the report 28 but, he appears to allege, do not have access to the “not guilty” finding. 1 Patterson then “educated” psychiatrist Dr. Tarash to force plaintiff to take medication that 2 makes him impotent. Patterson also directed Tarash to take plaintiff off pain medication required 3 for plaintiff’s severe back pain. Patterson did so in retaliation for plaintiff’s threat to file a 4 grievance and lawsuit about the report remaining in his file. 5 Patterson directed defendant Gamboa not to interview an inmate witness which 6 “influenced the conclusion of the investigation.” 7 Plaintiff contends that as a result of defendants’ retaliation, he was restricted from visiting, 8 making calls, and participating in many programs. He was also subjected to hostile treatment by 9 prison staff. 10 Plaintiff identifies his claims as First Amendment retaliation and claims under state law 11 for interference with his federal constitutional rights. 12 B. Does Plaintiff State Claims Cognizable under §1983? 13 1. Retaliation 14 Plaintiff appears to be attempting to assert retaliation claims against defendants Icban, 15 Shepherd, Laguerta, and Patterson. “Within the prison context, a viable claim of First 16 Amendment retaliation entails five basic elements: (1) An assertion that a state actor took some 17 adverse action against an inmate (2) because of (3) that prisoner’s protected conduct, and that 18 such action (4) chilled the inmate’s exercise of his First Amendment rights, and (5) the action did 19 not reasonably advance a legitimate correctional goal.” Rhodes v. Robinson, 408 F.3d 559, 567- 20 68 (9th Cir. 2005) (footnote and citations omitted). While the court previously found that 21 plaintiff stated a claim for retaliation against defendant Icban (see ECF No. 10 at 4), plaintiff’s 22 allegations are less clear in the first amended complaint. If plaintiff feels he has a claim for 23 retaliation against Icban, he must state his facts in the order that they occurred. Plaintiff must 24 allege facts showing: (1) Icban took an action; (2) plaintiff threatened to file a grievance about 25 that action; and (3) as a result of plaintiff’s threat to file a grievance, Icban took a second action 26 that was adverse to plaintiff. 27 With respect to defendants Shepherd and Laguerta, plaintiff contends that he threatened to 28 file a grievance against them for permitting Icban to submit the false report. As a result of 1 plaintiff’s threat, Shepherd and Laguerta helped Icban change the report after it had been 2 submitted to the electronic records system. Plaintiff has alleged facts satisfying some of the 3 elements of retaliation against Shepherd and Laguerta. However, plaintiff does not show how 4 changing Icban’s report was adverse to him. Plaintiff seems to place some significance on the 5 time the report was filed, but he does not explain why that was important. 6 With respect to defendant Patterson, plaintiff makes conclusory allegations that Patterson 7 required plaintiff’s psychiatrist to prescribe plaintiff a medication that caused impotence and to 8 discontinue plaintiff’s pain medications. However, besides simply stating that Patterson had a 9 retaliatory motive for doing so, plaintiff fails to allege any facts connecting his threats to file a 10 grievance against Patterson with Patterson’s control over his medications. To state a claim, 11 plaintiff must do more than simply restate the legal standards. 12 To the extent plaintiff alleges Patterson’s refusal to remove Icban’s report from his 13 records was retaliatory, plaintiff fails to show he had threatened to file a grievance against 14 Patterson before that time or that Patterson acted due to threats plaintiff made to file grievances 15 against other staff members.

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