(PC) Ray v. Hosey

District Court, E.D. California·Decided February 16, 2021·No. 1:20-cv-01076·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 EDWARD VINCENT RAY, JR., No. 1:20-cv-01076-DAD-GSA 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER DECLINING TO ADOPT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AND 14 K. HOSEY, et al., REVOKING IN FORMA PAUPERIS STATUS 15 Defendant. (Doc. Nos. 5, 11) 16 17 18 Plaintiff Edward Vincent Ray, Jr., a state prisoner, is proceeding pro se and in forma 19 pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This matter was referred to a 20 United States Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302. 21 This action was filed on August 4, 2020, together with a motion to proceed in forma 22 pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915 that was granted on August 10, 2020. (Doc. Nos. 1, 2, 5.) 23 On November 2, 2020, the assigned magistrate judge issued findings and recommendations, 24 recommending that plaintiff’s in forma pauperis status be revoked and plaintiff instead be 25 required to pay the filing fee in full because: (1) he is subject to the three strikes bar under 26 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g); and (2) the allegations in his complaint do not satisfy the “imminent danger 27 of serious physical injury” exception to § 1915(g). (Doc. No. 8.) On November 16, 2020, 28 plaintiff filed objections to those findings and recommendations on various grounds, including his 1 contention that two of the three prior dismissals counted as strikes therein were in cases to which 2 plaintiff was not a party. (Doc. No. 9 at 1–2.) The November 2, 2020 findings and 3 recommendations were then withdrawn based upon plaintiff’s objections. (Doc. No. 10.) 4 Thereafter, on November 24, 2020, the assigned magistrate judge issued the pending 5 findings and recommendations, again recommending that plaintiff’s in forma pauperis status be 6 revoked and that he be directed to pay the required filing fee in full, based on other prior 7 dismissal orders found to qualify as strikes under § 1915(g). (Doc. No. 11.) The pending 8 findings and recommendations thus again found: (1) plaintiff is subject to the three strikes bar 9 under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g); and (2) the allegations in his complaint do not satisfy the “imminent 10 danger of serious physical injury” exception to § 1915(g). (Id.) These findings and 11 recommendations were served on plaintiff and contained notice that any objections thereto were 12 to be filed within fourteen (14) days from the date of service. (Id. at 6.) On December 2, 2020, 13 plaintiff’s timely-filed objections were docketed. (Doc. No. 12.) In his objections, plaintiff 14 argues that he is not subject to the three strikes bar of § 1915(g) because none of the three 15 dismissal orders relied upon in the pending findings and recommendations should be counted as 16 strikes and that, even if they do qualify as strike dismissals, he asserts that the allegations of his 17 complaint are sufficient to qualify for the imminent danger exception. (Doc. No. 12 at 2–3, 6–7.) 18 In accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C), this court has conducted a 19 de novo review of this case. Having carefully reviewed the entire file, the undersigned declines to 20 adopt the findings and recommendations. Specifically, the undersigned concludes that two of the 21 three dismissal orders relied upon in the findings and recommendations under 28 U.S.C. 22 § 1915(g) do not qualify as strike dismissals under the statute. Each of the dismissal orders 23 assessed as strikes in the findings and recommendations is addressed in turn below. With only 24 one qualifying strike dismissal, plaintiff may continue to proceed in this action in forma pauperis. 25 DISCUSSION 26 A. Ray v. Schoo, Case No. 5:10-cv-00942-VAP-PJW (C.D. Cal. Jan. 2, 2014) 27 First, the findings and recommendations rely upon the dismissal order in Ray v. Schoo, 28 Case No. 5:10-cv-00942-VAP-PJW (C.D. Cal. Jan. 2, 2014) as a prior strike. (Doc. No. 11 at 3.) 1 A review of the docket in that case establishes that the action was dismissed by an order adopting 2 the assigned magistrate judge’s recommendation in full for failure to state a claim upon which 3 relief may be granted and on qualified immunity grounds. (Schoo, Doc. No. 94 at 6.) 4 Accordingly, the dismissal of Ray v. Schoo qualifies as a strike against plaintiff under 28 U.S.C. 5 § 1915(g) despite the fact the language of the court stating that it disapproved of the conduct 6 alleged in the complaint.1 (Id.) (“Though the Court does not condone what happened here and 7 would prefer that prison guards not subject prisoners to 40-45 degree temperatures for extended 8 periods of time without proper clothing, doing so one time does not state a cause of action under 9 the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause.”) 10 ///// 11 1 The dismissing court’s explicit disapproval of the defendants’ alleged conduct does raise a 12 question as whether this dismissal should be counted as a strike. Nonetheless, because the action was dismissed in its entirety for failure to state claim, controlling case law requires that it be 13 counted as such. To be clear, the determination that this dismissal does qualify as a strike is not 14 based in any part on the language the dismissal order had adopted from the recommendation stating that the “dismissal constitutes a strike.” (Schoo, Doc. No. 94 at 8.) As the undersigned 15 has previously observed:

16 The practice of designating dismissals as “strikes” under § 1915(g) in orders of dismissal has been criticized because it is the 17 subsequent courts who must determine whether a plaintiff is barred from maintaining an action in forma pauperis by the three strikes 18 rule. In this regard, the Second Circuit has stated: “[D]istrict courts should not issue these strikes one by one, in their orders of 19 judgment, as they dispose of suits that may ultimately—upon determination at the appropriate time—qualify as strikes under the 20 terms of § 1915(g).” DeLeon v. Doe, 361 F.3d 93, 95 (2d Cir. 2004); see also Andrews v. King, 398 F.3d 1113, 1119 n.8 (9th Cir. 21 2005) (“[T]he district court is not required to determine whether the prisoner’s case is frivolous, malicious or fails to state a claim and 22 therefore will count as a future strike under § 1915(g).”); Shabbazz v. Fischer, No. 9:11-CV-0916 (TJM/ATB), 2012 WL 3241653, at 23 *1 (N.D.N.Y Aug. 7, 2012) (“In other words, a strike may not be assessed at the same time that the action or appeal is dismissed. 24 Instead, it is up to a later judge to determine, when the time is right, whether three previously dismissed actions or appeals might 25 constitute strikes.”); Pough v. Grannis, 08CV1498–JM (RBB), 2010 WL 3702421, at *13 (S.D. Cal. July 16, 2010) (denying 26 defendants’ request that the court designate a dismissal as a strike under § 1915(g) at the time of dismissal). 27 Davis v. Kings Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, No. 1:18-cv-01667-DAD-EPG, 2019 WL 28 6888585, at *3, n. 1 (E.D. Cal. 2019). 1 B. Ray v. Bruiniers, Case No. 3:10-cv-00824-SI (N.D. Cal. Sept.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

(PC) Ray v. Hosey, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

(PC) Ray v. Hosey ((PC) Ray v. Hosey) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc.
458 U.S. 564 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Heck v. Humphrey
512 U.S. 477 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Andrews v. Cervantes
493 F.3d 1047 (Ninth Circuit, 2007)
Andrews v. King
398 F.3d 1113 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)
Adonai El-Shaddai v. Jeffrey Wang, Md
833 F.3d 1036 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
Tommie Harris v. K. Harris
935 F.3d 670 (Ninth Circuit, 2019)
DeLeon v. Doe
361 F.3d 93 (Second Circuit, 2004)