(PC) Rood v. Lockwood

District Court, E.D. California·Decided October 22, 2020·No. 2:20-cv-00271·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 COLTON JAMES ROOD, No. 2:20-cv-00271-CKD P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER AND 14 ISAAC LOCKWOOD, et al., FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a former county prisoner proceeding pro se in this federal civil rights action 18 filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This proceeding was referred to this court by Local Rule 302 19 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). 20 I. Screening Requirement 21 The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 22 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 23 court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are legally 24 “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek 25 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1),(2). 26 A claim is legally frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. 27 Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th 28 Cir. 1984). The court may, therefore, dismiss a claim as frivolous where it is based on an 1 indisputably meritless legal theory or where the factual contentions are clearly baseless. Neitzke, 2 490 U.S. at 327. The critical inquiry is whether a constitutional claim, however inartfully 3 pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. See Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 640 (9th 4 Cir. 1989); Franklin, 745 F.2d at 1227. 5 In order to avoid dismissal for failure to state a claim a complaint must contain more than 6 “naked assertions,” “labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause 7 of action.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-557 (2007). In other words, 8 “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory 9 statements do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). Furthermore, a claim 10 upon which the court can grant relief has facial plausibility. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. “A 11 claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw 12 the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. 13 at 678. When considering whether a complaint states a claim upon which relief can be granted, 14 the court must accept the allegations as true, Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93-94 (2007), and 15 construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, see Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 16 U.S. 232, 236 (1974). 17 II. Allegations in the First Amended Complaint 18 At all times relevant to the allegations in the amended complaint, plaintiff was a pretrial 19 detainee at the Shasta County Jail in Redding, California. He alleges that on two specific dates in 20 2019 he was attacked and beaten by four deputy sheriffs at the jail resulting in injuries to him. 21 After the beating on October 11, 2019, plaintiff alleges that defendants Lockwood and Van 22 Gerwen told medical staff not to evaluate plaintiff’s injuries for treatment. He further contends 23 that defendant Z. Jurkiewicz issued him a false write-up for having a knife in his cell on 24 November 21, 2019. On this same date, defendant Jurkiewicz removed and then destroyed 25 property from plaintiff’s cell. After filing several lawsuits against jail deputies, plaintiff contends 26 that defendants Lockwood, Hurte, and Jurkiewicz “made a habit” of destroying his property and 27 legal work in his cell in retaliation for his litigiousness. Lastly, plaintiff asserts that defendant 28 Van Gerwen placed feces onto his food tray, removed portions of food, and told inmate porters to 1 spit on plaintiff’s food all in an attempt to murder plaintiff. 2 III. Legal Standards 3 “Within the prison context, a viable claim of First Amendment retaliation entails five 4 basic elements: (1) An assertion that a state actor took some adverse action against an inmate (2) 5 because of (3) that prisoner's protected conduct, and that such action (4) chilled the inmate's 6 exercise of his First Amendment rights, and (5) the action did not reasonably advance a legitimate 7 correctional goal. Rhodes v. Robinson, 408 F.3d 559 567-68 (9th Cir. 2005) (citations omitted). 8 Filing an inmate grievance is a protected action under the First Amendment. Bruce v. Ylst, 351 9 F.3d 1283, 1288 (9th Cir. 2003). 10 A prisoner has no constitutionally-guaranteed immunity from being falsely or wrongly 11 accused of conduct that may lead to disciplinary sanctions. See Sprouse v. Babcock, 870 F.2d 12 450, 452 (8th Cir. 1989). As long as a prisoner is afforded procedural due process in the 13 disciplinary hearing, allegations of a fabricated charge generally fail to state a claim under section 14 1983. See Hanrahan v. Lane, 747 F.2d 1137, 1140– 41 (7th Cir. 1984). An exception exists 15 when the fabrication of charges infringed on the inmate's substantive constitutional rights, such as 16 when false charges are made in retaliation for an inmate's exercise of a constitutionally protected 17 right. See Sprouse, 870 F.2d at 452 (holding that filing of a false disciplinary charge in retaliation 18 for a grievance filed by an inmate is actionable under section 1983). 19 Conditions of confinement claims raised by pretrial detainees are analyzed under the 20 Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, rather than under the Eighth Amendment. Bell v. 21 Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535 n. 16 (1979); Frost v. Agnos, 152 F.3d 1124, 1128 (9th Cir.1998). 22 Nevertheless, comparable standards apply, with Fourteenth Amendment analysis borrowing from 23 Eighth Amendment standards. Frost, 152 F.3d at 1128. “Jail officials have a duty to ensure that 24 detainees are provided adequate shelter, food, clothing, sanitation, medical care, and personal 25 safety.” Shorter v. Baca, 895 F.3d 1176, 1185 (9th Cir. 2018). To prevail on a substantive due 26 process claim, plaintiff must establish that the restrictions imposed by his confinement constituted 27 punishment as opposed to being incident to legitimate governmental purposes. Bell, 441 U.S. at 28 538. If a particular jail condition is reasonably related to a legitimate government objective, it 1 does not amount to punishment absent a showing of an express intent to punish. Id. at 538–39. 2 IV. Analysis 3 Based on the above-cited legal standards, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to state a 4 claim upon which relief may be granted against defendant Jurkiewicz for issuing him a false 5 write-up on November 21, 2019.

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