1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 6 TIMOTHY PEOPLES, Case No. 19-cv-05468-RMI
7 Plaintiff, ORDER RE: DEFENDANTS’ MOTION 8 v. FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS 9 RAUL MACHUCA, et al., Re: Dkt. No. 158 Defendants. 10
11 12 Plaintiff, a state prisoner, filed a pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He 13 argued that Defendants used excessive force, were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical 14 needs, and retaliated against him. Now pending before the court is Defendants’ Motion for 15 Judgment on the Pleadings (dkt. 158), which seeks to dismiss the complaint because the action is 16 barred by the statute of limitations. Plaintiff filed an opposition (dkt. 163) and Defendants filed a 17 reply (dkt. 164). For the reasons stated below, Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. 18 BACKGROUND 19 On March 14, 2012, Plaintiff filed a case against the same Defendants with the same 20 claims. See Peoples v. Mack, Case No. 3:12-cv-1281-CRB (“Peoples I”). On February 2, 2015, 21 the court granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on Plaintiff’s failure to 22 exhaust administrative remedies. (Peoples I, dkt. 110). The claims against these Defendants were 23 dismissed without prejudice, and Plaintiff could refile if he exhausted administrative remedies. Id. 24 at 15. 25 After summary judgment was granted in Peoples I, Plaintiff attempted to exhaust 26 administrative remedies at the prison. (Dkt. 1 in the instant action, pp. 18–19, 27–30.). The 27 administrative appeal was denied as untimely by prison officials. (id. at 28, 33, 42–43). Plaintiff 1 motion for summary judgment based on Plaintiff’s failure to properly exhaust administrative 2 remedies. (Dkt. 65). The motion was denied on January 13, 2022. (Dkt. 86). 3 Counsel was later appointed for Plaintiff and the case was proceeding towards trial. 4 Counsel for Plaintiff withdrew on April 3, 2024, and Plaintiff again continued pro se. Based on 5 the parties’ joint stipulation with several discovery and disclosure deadlines, and due to new 6 discovery obtained, Defendants were allowed to file an additional dispositive motion. (Dkt. 140). 7 After this motion was fully briefed, the case was referred for settlement, but did not settle. 8 Therefore, the court will look to the merits of the motion. 9 LEGAL STANDARD 10 Under Rule 12(c), a party may move for “judgment on the pleadings” after the pleadings 11 are closed. The difference between a motion under Rule 12(c) and motion under Rule 12(b)(6) is 12 the time of filing; otherwise, they are functionally identical. Dworkin v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 13 867 F.2d 1188, 1192 (9th Cir. 1989). To obtain judgment on the pleadings, the moving party must 14 clearly establish that the pleadings cannot raise a triable issue of fact, and that judgment as a 15 matter of law should be entered. Hal Roach Studios, Inc., v. Richard Feiner & Co., 896 F.2d 16 1542, 1550 (9th Cir. 1989). In evaluating a motion for judgment on the pleadings, all material 17 allegations in the complaint are accepted as true and construed in the light most favorable to the 18 non-moving party. See Turner v. Cook, 362 F.3d 1219, 1225 (9th Cir. 2004). 19 Section 1983 does not contain its own limitations period. Instead, courts in § 1983 actions 20 apply the forum state’s statute of limitations for personal injury torts. See Wilson v. Garcia, 471 21 U.S. 261, 276 (1985), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in Jones v. R.R. Donnelley 22 & Sons Co., 541 U.S. 369 377–78 (2004); TwoRivers v. Lewis, 174 F.3d 987, 991 (9th Cir. 1999). 23 In California, the statute of limitations for § 1983 actions is the two-year period set forth in 24 California Civil Procedure Code § 335.1. See Maldonado v. Harris, 370 F.3d 945, 954 (9th Cir. 25 2004). Section 352.1 recognizes imprisonment as a disability that tolls the statute of limitations 26 when a person is “imprisoned on a criminal charge, or in execution under the sentence of a 27 criminal court for a term of less than for life.” Id. § 352.1(a). However, the disability of 1 It is federal law that determines when a cause of action accrues, and thus, when the statute 2 of limitations begins to run in a § 1983 action. Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384, 388 (2007). Under 3 federal law, a claim generally accrues when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury 4 which is the basis of the action. See TwoRivers, 174 F.3d at 991–92. 5 DISCUSSION 6 Statute of Limitations 7 The events giving rise to this case occurred in May 2011. (Dkt. 1, pp. 7–8, 13; dkt. 26, pp. 8 5–6). Because Plaintiff was imprisoned, he had four years to commence the instant case: two 9 years under California Civil Procedure Code § 335.1, and two more years under California Civil 10 Procedure Code § 352.1 because he was imprisoned. Therefore, the statute of limitations expired 11 in May 2015. Because this case was filed on August 14, 2019, it is untimely by several years. 12 Plaintiff’s opposition only briefly discusses the statute of limitations. Plaintiff contends 13 that he exhausted administrative remedies and timely filed the prior case. Plaintiff does not 14 address any of Defendants’ specific contentions, nor does he present any arguments for statutory 15 or equitable tolling. 16 A review of the record indicates that the two main issues regarding the statute of 17 limitations are the effects of Peoples I and if any tolling is appropriate. Defendants argue that 18 limitations period was not tolled during the pendency of Peoples I. Their argument is well taken. 19 Generally, an action that is dismissed without prejudice does not toll the statute of limitations:
20 The filing of a suit stops the running of the statute of limitations, though only contingently. . . . [I]f the suit is dismissed without 21 prejudice, meaning that it can be refiled, then the tolling effect of the filing of the suit is wiped out and the statute of limitations is deemed 22 to have continued running from whenever the cause of action accrued, without interruption by that filing. . . . In other words, a suit dismissed 23 without prejudice is treated for statute of limitations purposes as if it had never been filed. 24 Elmore v. Henderson, 227 F.3d 1009, 1011 (7th Cir. 2000); see also Cirlasky v. CIA, 355 F.3d 25 661, 672 n.11 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (collecting cases). The Ninth Circuit and other courts in California 26 have reached the same conclusion. See O’Donnell v. Vencor Inc., 466 F.3d 1104, 1111 (9th Cir. 27 2006); Wood v. Elling Corp., 572 P.3d 755, 758 (1977) (“In the absence of a statute, a party 1 cannot deduct from the period of the statute of limitations applicable to his case the time 2 consumed by the pendency of an action in which he sought to have the matter adjudicated, but 3 which was dismissed without prejudice to him.”); Gibbs v. Wood, 2017 WL 1407727, at *3–4 4 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 20, 2017); Sandoval v. Barneburg, 2013 WL 5961087, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 6, 5 2013) (finding pro se prisoner not entitled to equitable tolling during pendency of his prior federal 6 lawsuit, the dismissal of which was affirmed on appeal).
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1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 6 TIMOTHY PEOPLES, Case No. 19-cv-05468-RMI
7 Plaintiff, ORDER RE: DEFENDANTS’ MOTION 8 v. FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS 9 RAUL MACHUCA, et al., Re: Dkt. No. 158 Defendants. 10
11 12 Plaintiff, a state prisoner, filed a pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He 13 argued that Defendants used excessive force, were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical 14 needs, and retaliated against him. Now pending before the court is Defendants’ Motion for 15 Judgment on the Pleadings (dkt. 158), which seeks to dismiss the complaint because the action is 16 barred by the statute of limitations. Plaintiff filed an opposition (dkt. 163) and Defendants filed a 17 reply (dkt. 164). For the reasons stated below, Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. 18 BACKGROUND 19 On March 14, 2012, Plaintiff filed a case against the same Defendants with the same 20 claims. See Peoples v. Mack, Case No. 3:12-cv-1281-CRB (“Peoples I”). On February 2, 2015, 21 the court granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on Plaintiff’s failure to 22 exhaust administrative remedies. (Peoples I, dkt. 110). The claims against these Defendants were 23 dismissed without prejudice, and Plaintiff could refile if he exhausted administrative remedies. Id. 24 at 15. 25 After summary judgment was granted in Peoples I, Plaintiff attempted to exhaust 26 administrative remedies at the prison. (Dkt. 1 in the instant action, pp. 18–19, 27–30.). The 27 administrative appeal was denied as untimely by prison officials. (id. at 28, 33, 42–43). Plaintiff 1 motion for summary judgment based on Plaintiff’s failure to properly exhaust administrative 2 remedies. (Dkt. 65). The motion was denied on January 13, 2022. (Dkt. 86). 3 Counsel was later appointed for Plaintiff and the case was proceeding towards trial. 4 Counsel for Plaintiff withdrew on April 3, 2024, and Plaintiff again continued pro se. Based on 5 the parties’ joint stipulation with several discovery and disclosure deadlines, and due to new 6 discovery obtained, Defendants were allowed to file an additional dispositive motion. (Dkt. 140). 7 After this motion was fully briefed, the case was referred for settlement, but did not settle. 8 Therefore, the court will look to the merits of the motion. 9 LEGAL STANDARD 10 Under Rule 12(c), a party may move for “judgment on the pleadings” after the pleadings 11 are closed. The difference between a motion under Rule 12(c) and motion under Rule 12(b)(6) is 12 the time of filing; otherwise, they are functionally identical. Dworkin v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 13 867 F.2d 1188, 1192 (9th Cir. 1989). To obtain judgment on the pleadings, the moving party must 14 clearly establish that the pleadings cannot raise a triable issue of fact, and that judgment as a 15 matter of law should be entered. Hal Roach Studios, Inc., v. Richard Feiner & Co., 896 F.2d 16 1542, 1550 (9th Cir. 1989). In evaluating a motion for judgment on the pleadings, all material 17 allegations in the complaint are accepted as true and construed in the light most favorable to the 18 non-moving party. See Turner v. Cook, 362 F.3d 1219, 1225 (9th Cir. 2004). 19 Section 1983 does not contain its own limitations period. Instead, courts in § 1983 actions 20 apply the forum state’s statute of limitations for personal injury torts. See Wilson v. Garcia, 471 21 U.S. 261, 276 (1985), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in Jones v. R.R. Donnelley 22 & Sons Co., 541 U.S. 369 377–78 (2004); TwoRivers v. Lewis, 174 F.3d 987, 991 (9th Cir. 1999). 23 In California, the statute of limitations for § 1983 actions is the two-year period set forth in 24 California Civil Procedure Code § 335.1. See Maldonado v. Harris, 370 F.3d 945, 954 (9th Cir. 25 2004). Section 352.1 recognizes imprisonment as a disability that tolls the statute of limitations 26 when a person is “imprisoned on a criminal charge, or in execution under the sentence of a 27 criminal court for a term of less than for life.” Id. § 352.1(a). However, the disability of 1 It is federal law that determines when a cause of action accrues, and thus, when the statute 2 of limitations begins to run in a § 1983 action. Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384, 388 (2007). Under 3 federal law, a claim generally accrues when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury 4 which is the basis of the action. See TwoRivers, 174 F.3d at 991–92. 5 DISCUSSION 6 Statute of Limitations 7 The events giving rise to this case occurred in May 2011. (Dkt. 1, pp. 7–8, 13; dkt. 26, pp. 8 5–6). Because Plaintiff was imprisoned, he had four years to commence the instant case: two 9 years under California Civil Procedure Code § 335.1, and two more years under California Civil 10 Procedure Code § 352.1 because he was imprisoned. Therefore, the statute of limitations expired 11 in May 2015. Because this case was filed on August 14, 2019, it is untimely by several years. 12 Plaintiff’s opposition only briefly discusses the statute of limitations. Plaintiff contends 13 that he exhausted administrative remedies and timely filed the prior case. Plaintiff does not 14 address any of Defendants’ specific contentions, nor does he present any arguments for statutory 15 or equitable tolling. 16 A review of the record indicates that the two main issues regarding the statute of 17 limitations are the effects of Peoples I and if any tolling is appropriate. Defendants argue that 18 limitations period was not tolled during the pendency of Peoples I. Their argument is well taken. 19 Generally, an action that is dismissed without prejudice does not toll the statute of limitations:
20 The filing of a suit stops the running of the statute of limitations, though only contingently. . . . [I]f the suit is dismissed without 21 prejudice, meaning that it can be refiled, then the tolling effect of the filing of the suit is wiped out and the statute of limitations is deemed 22 to have continued running from whenever the cause of action accrued, without interruption by that filing. . . . In other words, a suit dismissed 23 without prejudice is treated for statute of limitations purposes as if it had never been filed. 24 Elmore v. Henderson, 227 F.3d 1009, 1011 (7th Cir. 2000); see also Cirlasky v. CIA, 355 F.3d 25 661, 672 n.11 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (collecting cases). The Ninth Circuit and other courts in California 26 have reached the same conclusion. See O’Donnell v. Vencor Inc., 466 F.3d 1104, 1111 (9th Cir. 27 2006); Wood v. Elling Corp., 572 P.3d 755, 758 (1977) (“In the absence of a statute, a party 1 cannot deduct from the period of the statute of limitations applicable to his case the time 2 consumed by the pendency of an action in which he sought to have the matter adjudicated, but 3 which was dismissed without prejudice to him.”); Gibbs v. Wood, 2017 WL 1407727, at *3–4 4 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 20, 2017); Sandoval v. Barneburg, 2013 WL 5961087, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 6, 5 2013) (finding pro se prisoner not entitled to equitable tolling during pendency of his prior federal 6 lawsuit, the dismissal of which was affirmed on appeal). 7 In this case, Plaintiff pursued Peoples I, but he failed to complete the administrative 8 exhaustion process, so the claims and Defendants were dismissed without prejudice. Accordingly, 9 the statute of limitations on Plaintiff’s claims continued running from the date those claims 10 accrued. Because the statute of limitations expired in May 2015, this case is untimely absent any 11 additional tolling. See Epps v. Deleon, 2019 WL 2339430, at *2–3 (E.D. Cal. June 3, 2019) 12 (second case was untimely because the prior case was dismissed without prejudice and did not toll 13 the limitations period), aff’d, 804 F. App’x 772 (9th Cir. 2020). 14 Statutory Tolling 15 The statute of limitations is tolled for the period in which a prisoner administratively 16 exhausted his underlying grievances pursuant to the requirements of the Prison Litigation Reform 17 Act (“PLRA”). See Soto v. Unknown Sweetman, 882 F.3d 865, 875 (9th Cir. 2018) (holding that a 18 prisoner “is entitled to tolling [of the applicable statute of limitations] while he was actively 19 exhausting his remedies” under the PLRA); Brown v. Valoff, 422 F.3d 926, 942-43 (9th Cir. 2005) 20 (“the applicable statute of limitations must be tolled while a prisoner completes the mandatory 21 exhaustion process”). 22 The court in Peoples I found that Plaintiff had not exhausted his administrative remedies 23 related to these claims. There is no clear consensus among district courts in the Ninth Circuit as to 24 whether a plaintiff is entitled to tolling for grievances that were rejected under prison regulations 25 and therefore would not properly exhaust a claim for purposes of the PLRA. Compare Baker v. 26 German, 2018 WL 276762, at *4 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 3, 2018) (finding that the plaintiff was “not 27 entitled to exhaustion-based tolling because his appeal was cancelled as untimely” but noting that, 1 2010 WL 3895478, at *12, *18 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 25, 2010), adopted, 2010 WL 3895468 (C.D. Cal. 2 Sept. 28, 2010) (finding prison officials “were justified in screening out the” grievance “as 3 untimely, since more than fifteen days had elapsed since the” incident, but the plaintiff was 4 “entitled to equitable tolling while he completed, or at least attempted to complete[,] the 5 mandatory exhaustion process[;]” ultimately finding that this tolling did not render the claim 6 timely). 7 Even if Plaintiff was entitled to additional tolling while he attempted to exhaust 8 administrative remedies prior to Peoples I, this case would still be untimely. The Court in Peoples 9 I found that Plaintiff attempted to submit 23 grievances between March 2011 to May 2012, but 10 that no properly filed grievances concerned the Defendants and events for the case. (Peoples I, 11 dkt. 110, p. 6). Even if Plaintiff did attempt to exhaust a grievance relevant to these Defendants 12 and claims, and even if he was provided fourteen months of tolling for exhaustion and the 13 additional two-year tolling for California Civil Procedure Code section 352.1, the instant case 14 would still be untimely by roughly three years. 15 The court previously held in the instant case that Plaintiff properly exhausted his claims 16 after the earlier dismissal in Peoples I. (Dkt. 86). However, the court found that Plaintiff’s initial 17 inmate appeal after the dismissal in Peoples I was filed on June 1, 2017. (Dkt. 86, pp. 7–8).1 18 Plaintiff started the exhaustion process more than two years after the statute of limitations expired. 19 No amount of tolling during the exhaustion of his claims can cure the fact that the statute of 20 limitations had already expired. 21 Equitable Tolling 22 “Equitable tolling under California law operates independently of the literal wording of the 23 Code of Civil Procedure to suspend or extend a statute of limitations as necessary to ensure 24 fundamental practicality and fairness.” Jones v. Blanas, 393 F.3d 918, 928 (9th Cir. 2004) (citing 25 Lantzy v. Centex Homes, 73 P.3d 517, 523 (Cal. 2003)) (cleaned up). “The purpose of 26
27 1 To the extent Plaintiff now contends that he was also exhausting administrative remedies in the 1 California’s equitable tolling doctrine ‘is to soften the harsh impact of technical rules which might 2 otherwise prevent a good faith litigant from having a day in court.’” Id. (citing Daviton v. 3 Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., 241 F.3d 1131, 1137 (9th Cir. 2001) (en banc)). 4 California law recognizes tolling “in a later suit when an earlier suit was filed and where 5 the record shows: (1) timely notice to the defendant in filing the first claim; (2) lack of prejudice to 6 the defendant in gathering evidence to defend against the second claim; and (3) good faith and 7 reasonable conduct by the plaintiff in filing the second claim.” Azer v. Connell, 306 F.3d 930, 936 8 (9th Cir. 2002) (citing Collier v. City of Pasadena, 142 Cal. App. 3d 917, 924 (Cal. Ct. App. 9 1983), and Addison v. State, 578 P.3d 941, 943–44 (Cal. 1978)) (internal quotations omitted). 10 However, such tolling does not apply when the two lawsuits were filed in the same forum. 11 Centaur Classic Convertible Arbitrage Fund Ltd. v. Countrywide Fin. Corp., 878 F. Supp. 2d 12 1009, 1018 (C.D. Cal. 2011) (“In Addison, however, the California Supreme Court also explained 13 that the doctrine of equitable tolling applies when a plaintiff has several legal remedies and 14 reasonably, and in good faith, pursues one. . . . California’s equitable tolling doctrine does not 15 apply in this case because this case and [the first] were filed in the same forum: this Court.”); see 16 also Jamison v. Garza, 2017 WL 3226472, at *4 (E.D. Cal. July 31, 2017) (“when a plaintiff does 17 not pursue one remedy when several are available, but instead repeatedly pursues the same claim 18 in the same forum, equitable tolling does not apply”). Because Plaintiff filed both actions in the 19 same forum, this court, he is not entitled to this type of tolling. 20 In addition, under the so-called “Bollinger rule,” “a plaintiff may also argue the statute of 21 limitations should be tolled based on the filing of an earlier, timely action based upon general 22 equitable principles[.]” Carranza v. Lewis, 2017 WL 1050538, at *19 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 17, 2017) 23 (citing Bollinger v. National Fire Ins. Co., 25 Cal. 2d 399 (1944) and Addison, 21 Cal. 3d at 318- 24 19 ). The Bollinger rule applies where the plaintiff shows that three factors are met:
25 (1) the plaintiff [has] diligently pursued his or her claim; (2) the fact that the plaintiff is left without a judicial forum for resolution of the 26 claim [is] attributable to forces outside the control of the plaintiff, [i.e., the dismissal of the first action was in error and, thus, due to 27 forces outside of his own control]; and (3) the defendant [is not] 1 Carranza, 2017 WL 1050538, at *19 (quoting Hull v. Cent. Pathology Serv. Med. Clinic, 28 Cal. 2 || App. 4th 1328, 1336 (1994)). In this case, Plaintiff fails to satisfy the second Bollinger factor 3 because he does not allege and had not shown that the court in Peoples I erred in dismissing his 4 || first action, or that it was dismissed due to forces outside of his own control. Plaintiff is not 5 entitled to any equitable tolling. 6 CONCLUSION 7 Accordingly, for the reasons stated herein, Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the 8 Pleadings (dkt. 158) is GRANTED and this action is dismissed as untimely. A separate judgment 9 shall issue. 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. 11 Dated: July 10, 2025 12
13 4 RGBERT M. ILLMAN United States Magistrate Judge 15 16
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