Schrubb v. State of California

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 31, 2022
Docket5:22-cv-00266
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Schrubb v. State of California, (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 KEVIN R. SCHRUBB, Case No. 22-cv-00266-EJD

8 Plaintiff, ORDER DISMISSING NON- COGNIZABLE CLAIMS; OF 9 v. SERVICE; INSTRUCTIONS TO CLERK 10 STATE OF CALIFORNIA,

Defendant. 11

Plaintiff, a state prisoner at San Quentin State Prison (“SQSP”), filed the instant pro se 13 civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Dkt. No. 1. Plaintiff’s motion for leave to 14 proceed in forma pauperis will be granted in a separate written Order. 15 DISCUSSION 16 A. Standard of Review 17 A federal court must conduct a preliminary screening in any case in which a prisoner seeks 18 redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. See 28 19 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). In its review, the court must identify any cognizable claims and dismiss any 20 claims that are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted or seek 21 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), 22 (2). Pro se pleadings must, however, be liberally construed. See United States v. Qazi, 975 F.3d 23 989, 993 (9th Cir. 2020). 24 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only “a short and plain statement of the 25 claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). “Specific facts are not 26 necessary; the statement need only “‘give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the 27 1 While Rule 8 does not require detailed factual allegations, it demands more than an unadorned, 2 the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 677–78 (2009). 3 A pleading that offers only labels and conclusions, or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a 4 cause of action, or naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement does not suffice. Id. 5 To state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege two essential elements: 6 (1) that a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States was violated, and (2) that 7 the alleged violation was committed by a person acting under the color of state law. See West v. 8 Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988). 9 B. Plaintiff’s Claims 10 Plaintiff alleges that Defendants were involved in the decision to transfer over 100 11 prisoners, some of whom were infected with COVID-19, from the California Institution for Men 12 (“CIM”) to SQSP in May 2020. Dkt. No. 1 at 19. He alleges that Defendants failed to take 13 adequate safety precautions before, during, and after the transfer, including failing to test the 14 transferring prisoners or screen them for symptoms at the appropriate times, failing to implement 15 distancing measures on the transfer busses, and failing to test and isolate the transferred prisoners 16 upon arrival. Id. He alleges that over the course of three weeks, SQSP went from having no cases 17 of COVID to 499 cases, and by late July, SQSP had more than 2,000 prisoner cases and 26 18 prisoners had died from the virus. Id. at 19, 24. He alleges that Defendants failed to follow the 19 recommendations of a Marin County public health official to mitigate spread, and that there was 20 “a grave lack of personal protective equipment and masks at San Quentin . . . even though masks 21 and PPE were easily obtainable.” Id. at 21. He alleges that Defendants failed to follow the 22 recommendations of a group of public health experts, who toured SQSP at the request of federal 23 receiver Clark Kelso, to release or transfer prisoners and avoid reliance on punitive housing to 24 quarantine the sick. Id. at 22-23. He alleges that Defendants refused offers by the Innovative 25 Genomics Institute at Berkeley and by a research laboratory at UCSF Medical Center to provide 26 free COVID testing. Id. at 23. 27 Plaintiff alleges that Defendants were aware of his high-risk factors for COVID, including 1 at 34. He alleges that he became infected with COVID around June 20, 2020. Id. 2 Plaintiff names the following Defendants: 3 1. The State of California 4 2. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) 5 3. SQSP 6 4. Ralph Diaz, former secretary of CDR 7 5. Estate of Robert S. Tharratt, former Medical Director of CDR 8 6. Ronald Davis, Warden of SQSP 9 7. Ronald Broomfield, Acting Warden of SQSP 10 8. Clarence Cryer, Chief Executive Officer of SQSP 11 9. Alison Pachynski, Chief Medical Executive of SQSP 12 10. Shannon Garrigan, Chief Physician and Surgeon of SQSP 13 11. Louie Escobell, Health Care Chief Executive Officer of CIM 14 12. Muhammad Farooq, Chief Medical Executive for CIM 15 13. Kirk Torres, Chief Physician and Surgeon for CIM 16 14. Does 1 through 20. 17 Dkt. No. 1 at 4. Plaintiff sues all Defendants who are people in their individual capacities. Id. 18 Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Diaz, Estate of Tharratt, Davis, Broomfield, Cryer, 19 Pachynski, Garrigan, Escobell, Farooq, Torres, and Does 1-20 violated his rights under the Eighth 20 Amendment by being deliberately indifferent, either directly or via supervisory liability, to his 21 medical and safety needs; interfered with his right to familial association; interfered with his right 22 to be free from state-created danger under the Fourteenth Amendment; and violated his rights 23 under California Civil Code section 52.1. He alleges that Defendants State of California, CDCR, 24 and SQSP violated his rights under the Rehabilitation Act. Plaintiff also brings a negligent 25 infliction of emotional distress claim against Defendants Diaz, Estate of Tharratt, Davis, 26 Broomfield, Cryer, Pachynski, Garrigan, Escobell, Farooq, Torres, and Does 1-20. Id. at 47. 27 Plaintiff seeks declaratory relief, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and costs. Id. 1 se. Id. 2 C. Legal Claims 3 Although Plaintiff lists “Does 1-20” in the caption, he has made no specific allegations 4 regarding any unknown defendants. Although the use of “John Doe” to identify a defendant is not 5 favored in the Ninth Circuit, see Gillespie v. Civiletti, 629 F.2d 637, 642 (9th Cir. 1980); Wiltsie 6 v. Cal. Dep’t of Corrections, 406 F.2d 515, 518 (9th Cir. 1968), situations may arise where the 7 identity of alleged defendants cannot be known prior to the filing of a complaint. In such 8 circumstances, the plaintiff should be given an opportunity through discovery to identify the 9 unknown defendants, unless it is clear that discovery would not uncover their identities or that the 10 complaint should be dismissed on other grounds. See Gillespie, 629 F.2d at 642; Velasquez v. 11 Senko, 643 F. Supp. 1172, 1180 (N.D. Cal. 1986). Because Plaintiff has not made any specific 12 allegations about Does 1-20, the claims against these Doe Defendants are DISMISSED without 13 prejudice. 14 The allegations regarding the May 2020 transfer of CIM inmates into SQSP state 15 cognizable Eighth Amendment claims against Defendants Diaz, Estate of Tharratt, Davis, 16 Broomfield, Cryer, Pachynski, Garrigan, Escobell, Farooq, and Torres. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 17 U.S.

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Schrubb v. State of California, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schrubb-v-state-of-california-cand-2022.