Sanders 146274 v. Trinity Services Group Incorporated

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided February 23, 2021·No. 2:18-cv-01471·Unknown

Opinion

1 WO SKC 2 3 4 5 8 9 Michael Martin Sanders, No. CV 18-01471-PHX-JAT (DMF) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 Trinity Services Group Incorporated, et 13 al., 14 Defendants.

15 Plaintiff Michael Martin Sanders, who is currently confined in the Arizona State 16 Prison Complex (ASPC)-Lewis, brought this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 17 § 1983. Before the Court are the following Motions: (1) a Motion for Summary Judgment 18 filed by Defendants former Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry 19 (ADCRR) Director Charles L. Ryan and ASPC-Lewis Warden Chris Moody (Doc. 100), 20 and (2) a Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants Trinity Services Group 21 Incorporated (“Trinity”) and current ADCRR Director David Shinn (Doc. 95). 22 Plaintiff was informed of his rights and obligations to respond to both Motions for 23 Summary Judgment pursuant to Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952, 962 (9th Cir. 1998) (en 24 banc) (Doc. 98, 102), and he failed to respond in a timely manner. Thereafter, Magistrate 25 Judge Fine granted two Motions of Plaintiff, seeking extensions of time to respond, but 26 Plaintiff also failed to meet the extended deadlines. (See Doc. 124.) The Court 27 subsequently denied Plaintiff’s appeal of Judge Fine’s November 2, 2020 Order setting a 28 final, extended deadline for Plaintiff’s responses; struck Plaintiff’s late-filed Responses 1 and Statements of Fact and Defendants’ reply briefs; and directed that the Motions for 2 Summary Judgment be considered unopposed. (Id.)1 3 The Court will now grant both Motions for Summary Judgment. 4 I. Background 5 On screening under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a), the Court determined that Plaintiff stated 6 Eighth Amendment claims in Count One against Trinity and Ryan in his official capacity 7 based on the alleged nutritional inadequacy of Trinity’s standard adult male diet provided 8 to ADCRR prisoners. (Doc. 9.) The Court also found that Plaintiff stated Eighth 9 Amendment claims in Counts Two and Three against Ryan and Moody in their individual 10 and official capacities based on ADCRR’s blanket mechanical restraint policy. (Id.) The 11 Court dismissed the remaining claims and Defendants. (Id.) The Court subsequently 12 substituted current ADCRR Director Shinn for former Director Ryan in his official 13 capacity only, pursuant to Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Doc. 73.) 14 Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and damages. (Doc. 1 at 20.) 15 II. Summary Judgment Standard 16 A court must grant summary judgment “if the movant shows that there is no genuine 17 dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” 18 Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986). The 19 movant bears the initial responsibility of presenting the basis for its motion and identifying 20 those portions of the record, together with affidavits, if any, that it believes demonstrate 21 the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323. 22 If the movant fails to carry its initial burden of production, the nonmovant need not 23 produce anything. Nissan Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Ltd. v. Fritz Co., Inc., 210 F.3d 1099, 24 1102-03 (9th Cir. 2000). But if the movant meets its initial responsibility, the burden shifts 25 to the nonmovant to demonstrate the existence of a factual dispute and that the fact in 26 contention is material, i.e., a fact that might affect the outcome of the suit under the 27 28 1 The Court has since denied Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration of that Order. (Doc. 127.) 1 governing law, and that the dispute is genuine, i.e., the evidence is such that a reasonable 2 jury could return a verdict for the nonmovant. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 3 242, 248, 250 (1986); see Triton Energy Corp. v. Square D. Co., 68 F.3d 1216, 1221 (9th 4 Cir. 1995). The nonmovant need not establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its 5 favor, First Nat’l Bank of Ariz. v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288-89 (1968); however, 6 it must “come forward with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” 7 Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986) (internal 8 citation omitted); see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). 9 At summary judgment, the judge’s function is not to weigh the evidence and 10 determine the truth but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial. Anderson, 11 477 U.S. at 249. In its analysis, the court must believe the nonmovant’s evidence and draw 12 all inferences in the nonmovant’s favor. Id. at 255. The court need consider only the cited 13 materials, but it may consider any other materials in the record. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3). 14 III. Facts2 15 Plaintiff has been incarcerated within ADCRR since August 1999 and is currently 16 serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, has a future life sentence for first-degree 17 murder, and has four other future sentences ranging from 15 to 24 years for two counts 18 each of aggravated assault and first-degree burglary. (Doc. 101 (Ryan and Moody’s 19 Statement of Facts) ¶¶ 1−2.) Plaintiff was initially classified as maximum custody, but his 20 custody level has twice been reduced, in 2001 and 2003, first to close custody, then to 21 medium custody, and it cannot be further reduced. (Id. ¶ 4.) 22 . . . . 23 . . . . 24

25 2 Because the Court has stricken Plaintiff’s Responses and Statements of Fact, it 26 will consider Defendants’ properly supported facts undisputed, except where those facts 27 are clearly contradicted by Plaintiff’s first-hand allegations in the verified Complaint or by other evidence on the record. Where the nonmovant is a pro se litigant, the Court must 28 consider as evidence in opposition to summary judgment all the nonmovant’s contentions set forth in a verified complaint. Jones v. Blanas, 393 F.3d 918, 923 (9th Cir. 2004). 1 A. ADCRR’s Mechanical Restraint Policy 2 Department Order (DO) 705, Inmate Transportation, establishes the requirements 3 and guidelines for the transportation of ADCRR prisoners. (Doc. 101 ¶ 17.) As part of 4 their pre-service 7-week Correctional Officer Training Academy (COTA), ADCRR 5 Correctional Officers (COs) receive a seven-hour course called Transportation and 6 Restraints 6.2, which covers restraint requirements for each custody level, the different 7 types of restraints used, and how and when these restraints are used. (Id. ¶¶ 14−17; 8 Doc. 101-1, Ex. E (Montano Decl.) ¶¶ 3−6.) “Transportation” is defined in this context as 9 the “moving of inmates outside the confines of an [ADCRR] institution,” and includes 10 hospital appointments. (Doc.

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