(PC) Smith v. Knowlton

District Court, E.D. California·Decided February 7, 2024·No. 1:18-cv-00851·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LAWRENCE CHRISTOPHER SMITH, Case No. 1:18-cv-00851-JLT-BAM (PC) 12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR 13 v. LAW LIBRARY ACCESS (ECF No. 46) 14 KNOWLTON, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 Defendant. GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (EXHAUSTION) 16 (ECF No. 37) 17 FOURTEEN (14) DAY DEADLINE 18 19 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 20 I. Background 21 Plaintiff Lawrence Christopher Smith (“Plaintiff”) is a state prisoner proceeding pro se 22 and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This action 23 proceeds against Defendant Knowlton (“Defendant”) for excessive force in violation of the 24 Eighth Amendment. 25 On August 23, 2019, Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that 26 Plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies for his excessive force claim against 27 Defendant, as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act.1 Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c), Albino v.

28 1 Concurrent with this motion, Plaintiff was provided with notice of the requirements for opposing a motion for 1 Baca, 747 F.3d 1162, 1166 (9th Cir. 2014) (en banc), cert. denied, 574 U.S. 968 (2014). (ECF 2 No. 37.) Following an extension of time, Plaintiff filed his opposition on October 24, 2019, (ECF 3 No. 43), and Defendant filed a reply on October 31, 2019, (ECF No. 44). 4 On January 8, 2020, while the motion for summary judgment was pending, Plaintiff filed 5 a motion to compel the Secretary of CDCR to grant him law library access, which the Court 6 construes as a motion for preliminary injunctive relief. (ECF No. 46.) Defendant did not file a 7 response. 8 The motion for summary judgment and motion for preliminary injunctive relief are 9 deemed submitted.2 Local Rule 230(l). 10 II. Plaintiff’s Motion for Access to the Law Library 11 On January 8, 2020, Plaintiff filed a motion to compel the Secretary of CDCR to grant 12 him law library access, which the Court construes as a motion for preliminary injunctive relief. 13 (ECF No. 46.) Plaintiff states that since he was transferred to CSP-Corcoran on June 28, 2019, 14 correctional officials and staff have refused to allow Plaintiff access or adequate access to the 15 facility law library. (Id. at 3.) Plaintiff argues that he requires access to the law library to 16 conduct research in support of his pending motions to amend his complaint to consolidate his 17 cases and requests regarding discovery sanctions against defense counsel. (Id. at 3–4.) Plaintiff 18 requests that the Court order the Secretary of CDCR to order subordinate correctional officials to: 19 (1) provide Plaintiff no less than eight logged hours per week of law library access; (2) in 20 conjunction with law library access, provide Plaintiff twenty paging services requests per week 21 for case law/statutes; and (3) that these orders be renewed every ninety days as necessary for 22 Plaintiff to properly prosecute this action. (Id. at 8.) 23 “A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy never awarded as of right.” Winter 24 v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 24 (2008) (citation omitted). “A plaintiff seeking a 25 preliminary injunction must establish that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to

26 summary judgment. See Woods v. Carey, 684 F.3d 934 (9th Cir. 2012); Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952, 957 (9th Cir. 1988); Klingele v. Eikenberry, 849 F.2d 409, 411–12 (9th Cir. 1988). (ECF No. 37-1.) 27

2 These motions were dropped inadvertently by the Court’s CM/ECF reporting/calendaring system resulting in the 28 prolonged delay in resolution. 1 suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips in his 2 favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest.” Id. at 20 (citations omitted). An injunction 3 may only be awarded upon a clear showing that the plaintiff is entitled to relief. Id. at 22 (citation 4 omitted). 5 Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and in considering a request for 6 preliminary injunctive relief, the Court is bound by the requirement that as a preliminary matter, it 7 have before it an actual case or controversy. City of L.A. v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 102 (1983); 8 Valley Forge Christian Coll. v. Ams. United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U.S. 9 464, 471 (1982). If the Court does not have an actual case or controversy before it, it has no 10 power to hear the matter in question. Id. Requests for prospective relief are further limited by 18 11 U.S.C. § 3626(a)(1)(A) of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which requires that the Court find 12 the “relief [sought] is narrowly drawn, extends no further than necessary to correct the violation 13 of the Federal right, and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of the 14 Federal right.” 15 Furthermore, the pendency of this action does not give the Court jurisdiction over prison 16 officials in general. Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U.S. 488, 491–93 (2009); Mayfield v. 17 United States, 599 F.3d 964, 969 (9th Cir. 2010). The Court’s jurisdiction is limited to the parties 18 in this action and to the viable legal claims upon which this action is proceeding. Summers, 555 19 U.S. at 491−93; Mayfield, 599 F.3d at 969. 20 Plaintiff has not met the requirements for the injunctive relief he seeks in this motion. 21 Plaintiff is requesting that the Court issue an order requiring the Secretary of CDCR and 22 unspecified correctional officials to provide him access to the law library and paging services. 23 The Secretary of CDCR and other correctional officials are not parties to this action. “A federal 24 court may issue an injunction [only] if it has personal jurisdiction over the parties and subject 25 matter jurisdiction over the claim; it may not attempt to determine the rights of persons not before 26 the court.” Zepeda v. U.S. Immigration Serv., 753 F.2d 719, 727 (9th Cir. 1985). Thus, the Court 27 must deny Plaintiff’s motion because it lacks jurisdiction over the Secretary of CDCR and other 28 correctional officials. 1 Further, Plaintiff’s motion makes no showing that he will suffer irreparable harm in the 2 absence of an injunction, that the balance of equities tips in his favor, or that an injunction is in 3 the public interest. The motions for which Plaintiff seeks to conduct further research have been 4 denied, (ECF Nos. 62, 63), and Plaintiff has identified no other matters for which he requires (or 5 has been denied) law library access.

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