(PC) Powell v. Gomes

District Court, E.D. California·Decided April 1, 2024·No. 2:21-cv-00781·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ADAM RANDOLPH POWELL, No. 2:21-cv-0781 DJC DB P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 GOMES, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action pursuant to 42 18 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff claims defendants were deliberately indifferent to his mental health 19 needs. In 2022, defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds that plaintiff failed to 20 exhaust his administrative remedies prior to filing this action. The court denied the motion. The 21 court ordered an evidentiary hearing to resolve factual disputes regarding the availability of the 22 grievance process to plaintiff. On March 4, 2024, the undersigned held an evidentiary hearing. 23 For the reasons set forth below, the undersigned will recommend that the district court find that 24 administrative remedies were unavailable to plaintiff and excuse plaintiff from the exhaustion 25 requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”). 26 //// 27 //// 28 //// 1 I. Background 2 A. Allegations in the Complaint 3 Plaintiff claims the events giving rise to the claim occurred while he was incarcerated at 4 California State Prison, Sacramento (CSP-SAC). (ECF No. 21 at 1.) Plaintiff has identified 5 CSP-SAC correctional officers Gomes and Hudspeth as defendants in this action. (Id. at 2.) 6 On October 7, 2020, plaintiff told officer Hudspeth that he was suicidal. (Id. at 3.) 7 Hudspeth put plaintiff back in his cell. Plaintiff “swallowed several pain medication bottles in 8 front of [officer] Hudspeth.” Hudspeth walked away. Plaintiff’s cellmate, Ahmad Jones, yelled, 9 “he’s trying to kill himself.” Jones tried to call officer Gomes who was working nearby. When 10 Hudspeth came by for count at 9:00 p.m., Jones told Hudspeth that plaintiff swallowed several 11 bottles of pills, but Hudspeth ignored him. Jones broke out of the cell windows to get plaintiff 12 medical attention. 13 Plaintiff further alleges that both Hudspeth and Gomes were aware plaintiff swallowed 14 multiple pill bottles, but they failed to ensure plaintiff got medical attention. (Id. at 4.) Hudspeth 15 and Gomes left without calling for plaintiff to receive medical attention. Plaintiff had to wait 16 until around 11:00 p.m. when he received help from the first watch correctional officers. (Id.) 17 B. Procedural History 18 Plaintiff initiated this action by filing the original complaint. (ECF No. 1.) Upon 19 screening the undersigned determined the complaint contained a potentially cognizable deliberate 20 indifference claim against defendants Hudspeth and Gomes. (ECF No. 5.) Defendants were 21 served and this action was referred to the court’s Post-Screening ADR (Alternative Dispute 22 Resolution) Project. (ECF No. 12.) Defendants moved to opt-out and this case proceeded to 23 discovery. (ECF Nos. 13, 14, 16.) 24 During the discovery process plaintiff filed an amended complaint and defendants filed an 25 amended answer. (ECF Nos. 21, 24.) Thereafter, defendants moved for summary judgment 26 (ECF No. 27), plaintiff filed an opposition (ECF No. 28), and defendants filed a reply (ECF No. 27 30). 28 //// 1 C. Summary Judgment 2 On September 19, 2022, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. (ECF No. 27.) 3 Therein, they argued that they were entitled to summary judgment because plaintiff failed to 4 exhaust administrative remedies as to his claim. (Id.) Plaintiff opposed the motion arguing he 5 submitted his appeal for second level review via institutional mail. (ECF No. 28.) 6 The undersigned recommended that the motion be denied because it could not be resolved 7 based on the record and further recommended that an evidentiary hearing be set to determine 8 whether plaintiff exhausted administrative remedies. (ECF No. 31.) The findings and 9 recommendations were adopted in full on May 1, 2023. (ECF No. 34.) Thereafter, the 10 undersigned appointed Donald Lancaster Jr. to represent plaintiff for the limited purpose of 11 resolving the exhaustion issue. (ECF No. 35.) 12 D. Evidentiary Hearing 13 An evidentiary hearing was scheduled to take place on November 16, 2023. (ECF No. 14 36.) For reasons stated on the record the hearing was continued twice. (ECF Nos. 43, 48.) The 15 evidentiary hearing took place on March 4, 2024. (ECF No. 57.) At the hearing, Mr. Lancaster 16 appeared on behalf of plaintiff, who was also present. Garrett Seuell and Tyler Heath appeared 17 on behalf of defendants. The court heard testimony from plaintiff, Adam Powell, and defense 18 witnesses, David Contreras, Michael Gallegos, and Howard Moseley. The court took the matter 19 under submission and advised the parties a written decision would issue. 20 At the hearing plaintiff argued that he was placed in COVID-19 quarantine for the entire 21 month of December 2020 and did not receive his property until approximately mid-January 2021. 22 He alleges that he submitted an appeal after he received his property in mid-January 2021. 23 Defendants argued that plaintiff could have submitted an appeal while in quarantine and records 24 indicated that plaintiff did not submit an appeal. 25 II. Legal Standards 26 A. PLRA Exhaustion Requirement 27 The Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) mandates that “[n]o action shall be brought 28 with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 . . . or any other Federal law, by a prisoner 1 confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are 2 available are exhausted.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Compliance with deadlines and other critical 3 prison grievance rules is required to exhaust. Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 90 (2006) 4 (exhaustion of administrative remedies requires “using all steps that the agency holds out, and 5 doing so properly”). “[T]o properly exhaust administrative remedies prisoners ‘must complete 6 the administrative review process in accordance with the applicable procedural rules,’ - rules that 7 are defined not by the PLRA, but by the prison grievance process itself.” Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 8 199, 218 (2007) (quoting Woodford, 548 U.S. at 88); see also Marella v. Terhune, 568 F.3d 1024, 9 1027 (9th Cir. 2009) (“The California prison system’s requirements ‘define the boundaries of 10 proper exhaustion.’” (quoting Jones, 549 U.S. at 218)). 11 Although “the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement applies to all inmate suits about prison 12 life,” Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 532 (2002), the requirement for exhaustion under the PLRA 13 is not absolute, Albino v. Baca, 747 F.3d 1162, 1172-72 (9th Cir. 2014) (en banc). As explicitly 14 stated in the statute, “[t]he PLRA requires that an inmate exhaust only those administrative 15 remedies ‘as are available.’” Sapp v. Kimbrell, 623 F.3d 813, 822 (9th Cir. 2010) (quoting 42 16 U.S.C. § 1997e(a)) (administrative remedies plainly unavailable if grievance was screened out for 17 improper reasons); see also Nunez v. Duncan, 591 F.3d 1217, 1224 (9th Cir. 2010) (“Remedies 18 that rational inmates cannot be expected to use are not capable of accomplishing their purposes 19 and so are not available.”).

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