Slavick v. Frink

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided September 5, 2023·No. 2:21-cv-00208·Unknown

Opinion

1 JL 2 WO 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Chris Slavick, No. CV-21-00208-PHX-JAT (JZB) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 M. Frink, et al., 13 Defendants.

14 15 Pro se Plaintiff Chris Slavick, who is currently confined in the Halawa Correctional 16 Facility in Aiea, Hawaii, brought this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 17 Defendant Case Manager C. Narvaez moves for summary judgment on the merits of 18 Plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment excessive force claim. (Doc. 35.) Plaintiff was informed of 19 his rights and obligations to respond pursuant to Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952, 962 (9th 20 Cir. 1998) (en banc) (Doc. 40), and he opposes the Motion. (Doc. 48.) Defendant filed a 21 Reply. (Doc. 49.) 22 The Court will deny the Motion for Summary Judgment. 23 I. Background 24 As relevant here, in the Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that on February 6, 2019, while 25 he was in custody at the Saguaro Correctional Center, another prisoner assaulted him, and 26 Plaintiff suffered a neck injury and damage to the C4-C5 discs. (Doc. 1 at 4.)1 Plaintiff 27

28 1 Plaintiff was in custody at the Halawa Correctional Facility when he filed the Complaint on February 8, 2021. (Doc. 1.) 1 claims that on May 6, 2020, an unidentified officer forcefully handcuffed Plaintiff with his 2 hands behind his back “in a painful position,” despite knowing Plaintiff had serious 3 physical injuries to his left shoulder, left foot and ankle, and right hand. (Id. at 7.) Plaintiff 4 claims Defendant Narvaez was “present and involved” and that both Defendant Narvaez 5 and the unidentified officer “continuously shoved [Plaintiff] forward onto [his] left 6 foot/ankle while pulling [his] left shoulder back and bending [his] fingers on both hands,” 7 while “mock[ing] [Plaintiff’s] apprisals [sic] to them of the serious pain that they were 8 inflicting.” (Id.) Plaintiff asserts that from the “HC module to the medical unit,” Defendant 9 Narvaez and the unidentified officer assaulted him and mocked his severe injuries and the 10 pain they were inflicting. (Id.) Plaintiff alleges that medical staff informed Defendant 11 Narvaez and the other officer that Plaintiff’s “serious injuries were valid/documented and 12 told to transport [Plaintiff] in a wheelchair.” (Id.) Plaintiff asserts “[e]xtreme pain was 13 inflicted to [his] right hand/wrist (fractured/dislocated condition), left foot and ankle as 14 weight was repeatedly forced down upon it, and left shoulder.” (Id.) 15 On screening under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a), the Court determined that Plaintiff stated 16 an Eighth Amendment excessive force claim in Count Four against Defendant Narvaez and 17 directed him to answer the claim. (Doc. 8.) The Court dismissed the remaining claims and 18 Defendants. (Id.) 19 On February 17, 2023, Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Prosecution 20 and the instant Motion for Summary Judgment. (Docs. 34, 35.) In the Motion for Summary 21 Judgment, Defendant asserted that Plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies 22 before he filed the Complaint in this case and argued that Plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment 23 claim fails on the merits. (Doc. 35.) In an August 3, 2023 Order, the Court denied 24 Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Prosecution and denied the Motion for 25 Summary Judgment as to exhaustion. (Doc. 52.) The Court declined to rule on the merits 26 of Plaintiff’s claims at that time and directed Defendant to file either a motion for an 27 evidentiary hearing regarding exhaustion or a motion to withdraw the non-exhaustion 28 argument. (Id.) On August 17, 2023, Defendant filed a Motion to Withdraw the non- 1 exhaustion argument and asks the Court to rule on his Motion for Summary Judgment on 2 the merits of Plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment claim. (Doc. 53.) 3 II. Summary Judgment Standard 4 A court must grant summary judgment “if the movant shows that there is no genuine 5 dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” 6 Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986). The 7 movant bears the initial responsibility of presenting the basis for its motion and identifying 8 those portions of the record, together with affidavits, if any, that it believes demonstrate 9 the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323. 10 If the movant fails to carry its initial burden of production, the nonmovant need not 11 produce anything. Nissan Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Ltd. v. Fritz Co., Inc., 210 F.3d 1099, 12 1102-03 (9th Cir. 2000). But if the movant meets its initial responsibility, the burden shifts 13 to the nonmovant to demonstrate the existence of a factual dispute and that the fact in 14 contention is material, i.e., a fact that might affect the outcome of the suit under the 15 governing law, and that the dispute is genuine, i.e., the evidence is such that a reasonable 16 jury could return a verdict for the nonmovant. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 17 242, 248, 250 (1986); see Triton Energy Corp. v. Square D. Co., 68 F.3d 1216, 1221 (9th 18 Cir. 1995). The nonmovant need not establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its 19 favor, First Nat’l Bank of Ariz. v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288-89 (1968); however, 20 it must “come forward with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” 21 Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986) (internal 22 citation omitted); see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). 23 At summary judgment, the judge’s function is not to weigh the evidence and 24 determine the truth but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial. Anderson, 25 477 U.S. at 249. In its analysis, the court must believe the nonmovant’s evidence and draw 26 all inferences in the nonmovant’s favor. Id. at 255. The court need consider only the cited 27 materials, but it may consider any other materials in the record. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3). 28 . . . . 1 III. Facts 2 Plaintiff is a Hawaii Department of Public Safety prisoner who was in custody at 3 SCC from November 18, 2018 to August 5, 2020. (Def.’s Statement of Facts (DSOF), 4 Doc. 36 at 1 ¶ 1.) At approximately 1:00 p.m. on May 6, 2020, Plaintiff was involved in 5 an incident with another prisoner and Correctional Officer (CO) Ramos. (Doc. 36-1 at 19.) 6 Plaintiff was referred to pre-hearing detention at 1:30 p.m. (Doc. 36-1 at 28.) 7 A. SCC Incident Reporting Policy 8 CoreCivic’s incident reporting policy requires facility personnel to complete either 9 a 5-1A Incident Report or a 5-1C Incident Statement. (DSOF ¶ 54.) A 5-1C Incident 10 Statement is completed by all employees involved in or witnessing an incident. (Id.

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