Stevenson v. Beard

District Court, S.D. California·Decided March 16, 2020·No. 3:16-cv-03079·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STEVIE J. STEVENSON, Case No.: 16-CV-3079 JLS (RBM)

12 Plaintiff, ORDER (1) DENYING PLAINTIFF’S 13 v. MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, AND 14 JEFFREY BEARD, Ph.D., et al., (2) GRANTING PLAINTIFF LEAVE 15 Defendants. TO FILE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT 16

17 (ECF No. 95)

18 Plaintiff Stevie J. Stevenson, a prisoner currently incarcerated at Solano State Prison 19 (“Solano”), proceeds pro se and in forma pauperis, see ECF No. 6, on a First Amended 20 Complaint (“FAC,” ECF No. 8) filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. There are currently 21 five Defendants: Jeffrey Beard, former Secretary of the California Department of 22 Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”); C. Walker, a mailroom staff member at 23 Centinela State Prison (“Centinela”); C. Bell, a mailroom supervisor at Centinela; 24 N. Telles, a litigation coordinator at Centinela; and R. Madden, Warden of Centinela.1 See 25 ECF Nos. 8, 61. 26

27 1 The Court’s July 11, 2018 Order dismissed S. Kernan, the former Secretary of CDCR, as a Defendant. 28 1 Plaintiff filed the instant Motion for Preliminary Injunction or Temporary 2 Restraining Order (“Mot.,” ECF No. 95) seeking to stop CDCR from destroying and/or 3 removing all law books from its law libraries. The Court accepted the Motion nunc pro 4 tunc to March 7, 2019.2 See id. The Court held its ruling in abeyance pending Plaintiff’s 5 appeal of this Court’s Order dismissing Claim One of the First Amended Complaint, see 6 infra pages 4–5, which asserted a cause of action relating to deprivation of a state-created 7 liberty interest affording inmates adequate access to law libraries. See FAC at 5–18. The 8 Motion is now ripe, as the Ninth Circuit denied Plaintiff’s appeal. See ECF Nos. 101, 104. 9 Having considered the Parties’ arguments and the applicable law, the Court DENIES 10 Plaintiff’s Motion. 11 BACKGROUND 12 This case has a lengthy and complicated procedural history with intermingled causes 13 of action regarding law library access. Given that the instant Motion directly concerns law 14 library access and an underlying access-to-court cause of action, the Court outlines the 15 procedural history.3 16 I. First Amended Complaint and Motion to Dismiss 17 On June 8, 2017, Plaintiff filed the operative First Amended Complaint asserting the 18 following causes of action: (1) Plaintiff and other inmates housed in California state 19 prisons have been deprived of their due process rights as a result of CDCR amending 20 statutes governing law libraries in prisons; (2) Plaintiff’s rights were violated when 21 Centinela staff opened his legal mail outside of his presence; (3) Plaintiff was subject to 22 23 24 2 Plaintiff’s moving papers contained the following discrepancies: (1) failure to file a memorandum of 25 points and authorities in support of the Motion as a separate document; and (2) failure to state the time and date of the hearing on the Motion. See S.D. Cal. CivLR 5.1(j); 7.1(b), (f). The Court accepted the 26 Motion despite such discrepancies. (ECF No. 98.)

27 3 Portions of the Procedural History are incorporated from Magistrate Judge Peter C. Lewis’ Report and Recommendation of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, see ECF No. 47, which the Court fully adopted in 28 1 retaliation by Centinela prison staff in that he was not allowed to mail outgoing documents 2 to courts, attorneys, or the California Innocence Project; (4) Plaintiff’s rights have been 3 violated because Centinela’s litigation coordinator has withheld from Plaintiff an audio CD 4 recording of an allegedly exculpatory witness statement; and (5) altogether, the cumulative 5 effect of these deprivations have effectively denied Plaintiff the right to access the courts 6 to present a “non-frivolous claim.” See ECF Nos. 8, 47. 7 As to Claim One, Plaintiff contended law library changes rendered the library 8 ineffective and prevented Plaintiff from conducting meaningful legal research to challenge 9 “sentences . . . convictions . . . and conditions of confinement.” FAC at 5–10, 13. The 10 First Amended Complaint cited Plaintiff’s petitions for writ of habeas corpus challenging 11 these same issues. Id. at 10–11; see also ECF No. 32-2. 12 On January 18, 2018, all named Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss portions of 13 the First Amended Complaint. See generally ECF No. 32. Defendants moved to dismiss 14 Claims One and Five as barred by res judicata/claim preclusion. Id. at 3–5. As to res 15 judicata/claim preclusion, both parties requested the Court take judicial notice of Plaintiff’s 16 previously-filed petitions for writ habeas corpus challenging Defendant Beard’s actions in 17 amending statutes governing law libraries in prisons. See ECF Nos. 32-2, 38-1, 38-2, 39. 18 Given these previously filed petitions, Defendants argued Claim One “involve[d] the same 19 parties, in the same locations, with the same actions for the same incident.” ECF No. 32 20 at 5. Defendants also sought dismissal of Defendant Beard based upon this same rationale. 21 Id. at 3–5. Defendants contended Claim Five should be treated the same as Claim One, as 22 it merely fleshed out Claim One’s allegations. Id. at 3 n.1. Defendants also moved to 23 dismiss Defendants Kernan and Madden based upon their lack of personal participation in 24 any alleged constitutional violation. (Id. at 5-9.) 25 II. The Orders on Defendants’ Motion and Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration 26 On April 26, 2018, Magistrate Judge Lewis issued a Report and Recommendation 27 on Defendants’ motion to dismiss recommending dismissal of Claim One based upon res 28 judicata grounds. ECF No. 47. Ultimately, he recommended, Plaintiff’s habeas petition 1 filed in the California Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of California barred re- 2 litigation of Claim One. Id. at 7–13. But, Magistrate Judge Lewis left Claim Five 3 “untouched” by the res judicata analysis. Id. at 10 n.2. While Defendants argued that 4 Claims Five and One were the same, Judge Lewis disagreed. Id. Consequently, Magistrate 5 Judge Lewis did not analyze Claim Five and therefore recommended denying the motion 6 to dismiss as to Claim Five. Id. 7 As to Defendants’ request to dismiss Defendant Beard from the litigation, Magistrate 8 Judge Lewis recommended denial of the motion to dismiss on this ground because 9 Defendant Beard is named in Claim Five. Id. at 12. On the other hand, Magistrate Judge 10 Lewis recommended dismissal of Defendant Kernan because the First Amended Complaint 11 contained “no facts to indicate Kernan personally participated in or directed Plaintiff’s 12 alleged constitutional violation” or “showing Kernan was ever even aware of Plaintiff’s 13 claim before Plaintiff filed the present suit.” Id. at 16. Finally, Magistrate Judge Lewis 14 recommended denying the motion to dismiss as to Defendant Madden. Id. 15 On July 11, 2018, the Court adopted Magistrate Judge Lewis’ report and 16 recommendation in full and granted Plaintiff an additional thirty days to file a second 17 amended complaint to cure the deficiencies relating to Plaintiff’s claims against Defendant 18 Kernan. ECF No. 61 at 8. The Court cautioned that, “[i]f Plaintiff chooses not to file a 19 second amended complaint within thirty days, the case will proceed on Plaintiff’s 20 remaining claims.” Id. at 9. 21 After the Court dismissed Claim One and Defendant Kernan, Plaintiff filed a Motion 22 for Reconsideration and an appeal before the Ninth Circuit. ECF Nos. 63, 64. On 23 August 2, 2018, the Court issued an Order: (1) requesting Defendants to file a response to 24 Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration; and (2) vacating the deadline for Plaintiff to file a 25 second amended complaint. ECF No. 69.

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