Pitts v. Ige

CourtDistrict Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedJuly 22, 2019
Docket1:18-cv-00470
StatusUnknown

This text of Pitts v. Ige (Pitts v. Ige) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pitts v. Ige, (D. Haw. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII

JOSEPH PITTS, #A0259019, ) CIV. NO. 18-00470 LEK-RT ) Plaintiff, ) ORDER DISMISSING FIRST ) AMENDED COMPLAINT WITH vs. ) LEAVE TO AMEND ) DAVID IGE, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) _____________________________ ) ORDER DISMISSING FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT WITH LEAVE TO AMEND Before the court is pro se Plaintiff Joseph Pitts’ first amended Complaint (“FAC”) brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986, and Hawaii Revised Statutes §§ 662-2, 663-31 & 96-18. See FAC, ECF No. 12. Pitts is incarcerated at the Halawa Correctional Facility (“HCF”). He alleges that prison officials violated his constitutional rights when he was incarcerated at the Oahu Community Correctional Center (“OCCC”) for six months between approximately May and December 2016. Pitts names the State of Hawaii and Governor David Ige; Department of Public Safety (“DPS”) Director Nolan Espinda, Deputy Director of Corrections Jodie Maesaka-Hirata, and Division Administrator Cathy Ross; OCCC Chief of Security Denise Johnston, Adult Corrections Officers (“ACOs”) Captain Evans, Sgt. Blue, ACO Koma, and ACO Laredo; Case Managers Andrea Barayuga and Joleen; Food Services and Environmental Health and Safety Director and staff

Jane/John Doe 1-10, Medical and Mental Health staff Jane/John Doe 1-10; Librarian Caroline Gunn; Acting Wardens Michael J. Hoffman and Francis Sequirra;1 and Brian Watanabe as Defendants (collectively, “Defendants”).

Pitts seeks monetary damages and injunctive orders ensuring that, if he is ever rehoused at OCCC, he will not experience the conditions that he challenges here, and that he will be housed in a “Work Module with no roaches/ [and]

afforded employment.” FAC, ECF No. 12, PageID #85. For the following reasons, the FAC is DISMISSED with leave to amend as limited below, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(a).

I. STATUTORY SCREENING The court conducts a pre-Answer screening of all prisoners’ pleadings. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(a). Claims or complaints that are frivolous,

malicious, fail to state a claim for relief, or seek damages from defendants who are immune from suit must be dismissed. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 1004 (9th Cir.

1 Pitts spells this “Sequirra,” “Sequiera,” and “Sequierra.” The Court uses “Sequeira,” as seen in prior cases, news media, and DPS records. See https://www.staradvertiser.com/2015/01/28. 2 2010). Screening under §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(b) involves the same standard of

review as that under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See Watison v. Carter, 668 F.3d 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012). 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) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory

statements, do not suffice.” Id. The “mere possibility of misconduct” or an “unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed me accusation” falls short of meeting this plausibility standard. Id. at 678-79; see also Moss v. U.S. Secret

Serv., 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). Rule 12 is read in conjunction with Rule 8(a)(2) when screening a complaint; Rule 8 “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) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). The court must accept the complaint’s plausible allegations as true,

Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007), and construe the pleading in the light 3 most favorable to the plaintiff, Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 (1974), overruled on other grounds by Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183 (1984).

Pro se litigants’ pleadings must be liberally construed and all doubts should be resolved in their favor. Byrd v. Maricopa Cty. Bd. of Supervisors, 845 F.3d 919, 922 (9th Cir. 2017). The court must grant leave to amend if it appears the

plaintiff can correct the defects in the complaint, Lopez, 203 F.3d at 1130, but if a claim or complaint cannot be saved by amendment, dismissal with prejudice is appropriate. Sylvia Landfield Tr. v. City of L.A., 729 F.3d 1189, 1196 (9th Cir.

2013). II. BACKGROUND2 A. Procedural History

Pitts commenced this suit on behalf of himself, two named OCCC prisoners, and all present and future OCCC prisoners, on November 29, 2018, when his state-court attorney filed the Complaint with the court. See ECF No. 1. Pitts says

that he was housed at OCCC for six months “between May 2016 to approximately December 2016,” while he awaited re-sentencing and a decision on his motion for

2 Pitts’s plausible facts are accepted as true and construed in his favor on screening. Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 908 (9th Cir. 2014). 4 a new trial in State v. Pitts, Cr. No. 09-1-00097 (Haw. 1st Cir.).3 Id., at PageID #2. He alleged that overcrowding at OCCC led to inhumane conditions of

confinement, including tiny, filthy, vermin-infested cells, inadequate food, deficient medical and mental health care, increased violence, limited recreation and showers, and inmates sleeping on the floor. He also complained that case

manager Barayuga often denied inmates attorney calls and visits during lockdowns, which prevented him from “constant contact” with his defense attorneys. Id., at PageID #7. Pitts suggested this resulted in the denial of his post-

trial motion and the re-imposition of a life term. On April 1, 2019, the Court screened the Complaint and dismissed Pitts’ claims for prospective injunctive relief with prejudice, because Pitts was no longer

incarcerated at OCCC when he filed the Complaint. See Order, ECF No. 8, at PageID #54 (“April 1, 2019 Order”). The Court also dismissed damages claims against official capacity Defendants under the Eleventh Amendment without leave to amend, and the remaining claims against individual Defendants with leave to

amend. The April 1, 2019 Order notified Pitts that, if he filed an amended

3 The Court therefore takes judicial notice of Cr. No. 09-1-00097. See U.S. ex rel. Robinson Rancheria Citizens Council v. Borneo, Inc., 971 F.2d 244, 248 (9th Cir.

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