(PC)Witkin v. Snelling

District Court, E.D. California·Decided May 23, 2025·No. 2:21-cv-02181·Unknown

Opinion

MICHAEL AARON WITKIN, No. 2:21-cv-2181 DAD AC P Plaintiff, v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS C. SNELLING, et al., Defendants. Plaintiff is a former state prisoner proceeding without counsel and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff’s second amended complaint (“SAC”) is before the court for screening. ECF No. 31. I. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints As plaintiff was previously advised, the court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against “a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are “frivolous, malicious, or fail[] to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,” or that “seek[] monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). The court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against “a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are “frivolous, malicious, or fail[] to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,” or that “seek[] monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). A claim “is [legally] frivolous where it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact.” Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1227-28 (9th Cir. 1984). “[A] judge may dismiss . . . claims which are ‘based on indisputably meritless legal theories’ or whose ‘factual contentions are clearly baseless.’” Jackson v. Arizona, 885 F.2d 639, 640 (9th Cir. 1989) (quoting Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 327), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1130 (9th Cir. 2000). The critical inquiry is whether a constitutional claim, however inartfully pleaded, has an arguable legal and factual basis. Franklin, 745 F.2d at 1227-28 (citations omitted). “Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only ‘a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (alteration in original) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). “Failure to state a claim under § 1915A incorporates the familiar standard applied in the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). In order to survive dismissal for failure to state a claim, a complaint must contain more than “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action;” it must contain factual allegations sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (citations omitted). “[T]he pleading must contain something more . . . than . . . a statement of facts that merely creates a suspicion [of] a legally cognizable right of action.” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting 5 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216 (3d ed. 2004)). “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). In reviewing a complaint under this standard, the court must accept as true the allegations of the complaint in question, Hosp. Bldg. Co. v. Trs. of the Rex Hosp., 425 U.S. 738, 740 (1976) (citation omitted), as well as construe the pleading in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and resolve all doubts in the plaintiff’s favor, Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421 (1969) (citations omitted). II. Second Amended Complaint1 The SAC presents nine separate claims against fourteen named defendants and 50 unnamed Doe defendants employed at California Medical Facility during various periods in 2021. ECF No. 31. In Claim One, plaintiff alleges that on September 17, 2021, defendants Arrezola and Damacion conducted a strip search that was unreasonable because it was performed next to a low dose scanner that could have been used instead, and because defendants admitted knowing that plaintiff did not have contraband. ECF No. 31 at 3. Defendant Benavidez reviewed the grievance that plaintiff filed on October 15, 2021, concerning this search. Id. Claim Two contends that defendants Bennamon, Wheeler, and Conner retaliated against plaintiff in violation of the First Amendment based on the issuance and administrative review of a false rules violation report (“RVR”) that was meant to punish plaintiff for filing staff complaints and lawsuits. Id. at 4-5. Defendant Conner issued the RVR and defendants Bennamon and Wheeler reviewed it after plaintiff filed a grievance. Id. In Claim Three, plaintiff asserts a separate First Amendment retaliation claim against defendants Conner, Sawyer, Bennamon, Wheeler, Gonzalez, and Kahie for placing him in administrative segregation (“ASU”) as a “time out” for his litigious conduct. Id. at 6. Specifically, plaintiff alleges that defendant Sawyer ordered plaintiff to be placed in ASU after defendants Bennamon, Wheeler, Gonzalez and Kahie told him that they wanted plaintiff moved because he “had become too aggressive in asserting his legal rights.” Id. Defendant Conner escorted plaintiff from the visitation room to a holding cell before he was placed in the ASU. Id.

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

(PC)Witkin v. Snelling, (E.D. Cal. 2025).

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

Related

Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Jenkins v. McKeithen
395 U.S. 411 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Wolff v. McDonnell
418 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Rizzo v. Goode
423 U.S. 362 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Hospital Building Co. v. Trustees of Rex Hospital
425 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Moody v. Daggett
429 U.S. 78 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Hudson v. Palmer
468 U.S. 517 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Neitzke v. Williams
490 U.S. 319 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Harry Franklin v. Ms. Murphy and Hoyt Cupp
745 F.2d 1221 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
Buckley v. Barlow
997 F.2d 494 (Eighth Circuit, 1993)
Raymond Watison v. Mary Carter
668 F.3d 1108 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Rhodes v. Robinson
408 F.3d 559 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)