(PC) Price v. Warden

District Court, E.D. California·Decided November 7, 2023·No. 2:23-cv-00731·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 SCOTT RICHARD PRICE, No. 2:23-cv-0731 DAD AC P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 Defendant. 16 17 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, seeks relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 18 has requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. 19 I. Procedural History 20 After plaintiff initiated this action, the court found that though he had used the form for a 21 petition for writ of habeas corpus, he appeared to be attempting to bring a civil rights action 22 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. ECF No. 5. Plaintiff was then given the options of filing an 23 amended petition containing only claims challenging his conviction and sentence or an amended 24 complaint containing only claims related to his conditions of confinement. Id. at 2. Plaintiff 25 proceeded to file an amended complaint. ECF No. 10. This case will therefore proceed as a civil 26 rights action and the Clerk of the Court will be directed to update the docket accordingly. 27 //// 28 //// 1 II. Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis 2 Plaintiff has submitted a declaration that makes the showing required by 28 U.S.C. 3 § 1915(a). ECF No. 9. Accordingly, the request to proceed in forma pauperis will be granted. 4 Plaintiff is required to pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00 for this action. 28 U.S.C. 5 §§ 1914(a), 1915(b)(1). By this order, plaintiff will be assessed an initial partial filing fee in 6 accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). By separate order, the court will direct 7 the appropriate agency to collect the initial partial filing fee from plaintiff’s trust account and 8 forward it to the Clerk of the Court. Thereafter, plaintiff will be obligated for monthly payments 9 of twenty percent of the preceding month’s income credited to plaintiff’s prison trust account. 10 These payments will be forwarded by the appropriate agency to the Clerk of the Court each time 11 the amount in plaintiff’s account exceeds $10.00, until the filing fee is paid in full. 28 U.S.C. 12 § 1915(b)(2). 13 III. Complaint 14 A. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 15 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against “a 16 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). 17 The court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are 18 “frivolous, malicious, or fail[] to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,” or that “seek[] 19 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). 20 A claim “is [legally] frivolous where it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact.” 21 Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th 22 Cir. 1984). “[A] judge may dismiss . . . claims which are ‘based on indisputably meritless legal 23 theories’ or whose ‘factual contentions are clearly baseless.’” Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 24 640 (9th Cir. 1989) (quoting Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 327), superseded by statute on other grounds as 25 stated in Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1130 (9th Cir. 2000). The critical inquiry is whether a 26 constitutional claim, however inartfully pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. 27 Franklin, 745 F.2d at 1227-28 (citations omitted). 28 “Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only ‘a short and plain statement of the 1 claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the defendant fair notice of 2 what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 3 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (alteration in original) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 4 “Failure to state a claim under § 1915A incorporates the familiar standard applied in the context 5 of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Wilhelm v. Rotman, 6 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). In order to survive dismissal for failure 7 to state a claim, a complaint must contain more than “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a 8 cause of action;” it must contain factual allegations sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the 9 speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (citations omitted). “[T]he pleading must contain 10 something more . . . than . . . a statement of facts that merely creates a suspicion [of] a legally 11 cognizable right of action.” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting 5 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur 12 R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216 (3d ed. 2004)). 13 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to 14 relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting 15 Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual 16 content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 17 misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). In reviewing a complaint under this 18 standard, the court must accept as true the allegations of the complaint in question, Hosp. Bldg. 19 Co. v. Trs. of the Rex Hosp., 425 U.S. 738, 740 (1976) (citation omitted), as well as construe the 20 pleading in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and resolve all doubts in the plaintiff’s favor, 21 Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421 (1969) (citations omitted). 22 B. Allegations 23 The complaint identifies Warden, Goncalvez, Johnson, and Gill as defendants. ECF No. 24 10 at 1. Plaintiff alleges that on May 4, 2021, Gill made a threat to his life by refusing to accept 25 plaintiff’s inmate grievance related to safety concerns. Id. at 5. Goncalvez then falsely stated in a 26 declaration submitted in plaintiff’s state court case that Johnson determined that Gill did not 27 refuse plaintiff’s grievance. Id. at 3. Plaintiff also alleges that state court judges and district 28 attorneys Nogaard and Gissing have failed to set a personal appearance hearing or issue 1 protective orders. Id. at 8. 2 C. Failure to State a Claim 3 i.

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