Tremaine Daniels v. Federal Bureau of Prisons

District Court, C.D. California·Decided August 12, 2019·No. 5:19-cv-00719·Unknown

Opinion

TREMAINE DANIELS, ) No. ED CV 19-719-FMO (PLA) ) Plaintiff, ) ) ORDER DISMISSING FIRST AMENDED v. ) COMPLAINT WITH LEAVE TO AMEND ) FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ) On April 18, 2019, Tremaine Daniels, a federal prisoner presently held at FCC Victorville, Adelanto, California, filed a pro se civil rights Complaint pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S. Ct. 1999, 29 L. Ed. 2d 619 (1971). (ECF No. 1). He was subsequently granted leave to proceed without prepayment of the filing fee. (ECF No. 5). Plaintiff named as sole defendant the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). (ECF No. 1 at 3). Plaintiff purported to raise one claim for “emotional distress and cruel and unusual punishment” arising out of an incident report he received for “refus[ing] general population” after his admission to protective custody. (Id. at 5). “While in the SHU,” plaintiff was served an “incident report . . . because the officer said [plaintiff] refused general population.” (Id.). Plaintiff alleged that giving him “an incident report where [he] can potentially lose [his] good time is a conflict of interest.” (Id.). Plaintiff also alleged that “[t]hey (the staff) are forcing [him] to choose between safety and well being or spending an extra amount of time incarcerated which constitutes as [sic] emotional distress and cruel and unusual punishment.” (Id.). He alleged that “[t]here shouldn’t be any retaliation on the administration[’]s behalf in the form of incident reports.” (Id.). Plaintiff sought punitive and compensatory damages. (Id. at 6). In accordance with the mandate of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PLRA”), the Court screened the Complaint prior to ordering service for the purpose of determining whether the action is frivolous or malicious; or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted; or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915A, 1915(e)(2); 42 U.S.C. § 1997e. After careful review of the Complaint, the Court found that the allegations in the Complaint appeared insufficient to state a claim. Accordingly, the Complaint was dismissed with leave to amend. Plaintiff was ordered, if he desired to pursue this action, to file a First Amended Complaint no later than June 3, 2019, remedying the deficiencies discussed in the Court’s Order. Further, plaintiff was admonished that, if he failed to timely file a First Amended Complaint or failed to remedy the deficiencies of his pleading as discussed, then the Court would recommend that the action be dismissed without further leave to amend. (ECF No. 7). Plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) on May 28, 2019. (ECF No. 10). In the FAC, plaintiff names as defendants the Director of the BOP; Warden Malusnic of USP Victorville; Mr. Barrigan, a “Special Investigative Specialist at USP Victorville;” M. Tate, an SHU counselor; and Correctional Officer Flores. All defendants are named in their official as well as individual capacities. (Id. at 3-4). Plaintiff again appears to raise only one claim, in which he references the Eighth Amendment, retaliation, and “emotional distress.” (Id. at 5-6). Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief regarding plaintiff’s disciplinary action(s) and the restoration of his lost good time credits. (Id. at 7). Plaintiff also seeks compensatory and punitive damages. (Id.). In accordance with the mandate of the PLRA, the Court once again has screened the FAC prior to ordering service. The Court’s screening of the pleading under the foregoing statutes is governed by the following standards. A complaint may be dismissed as a matter of law for failure to state a claim for two reasons: (1) lack of a cognizable legal theory; or (2) insufficient facts under 2 a cognizable legal theory. See, e.g., Kwan v. SanMedica Int’l, 854 F.3d 1088, 1093 (9th Cir. 2017); see also Rosati v. Igbinoso, 791 F.3d 1037, 1039 (9th Cir. 2015) (“In determining whether a complaint should be dismissed under the [PLRA], we apply the familiar standard of Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6).”). Further, with respect to a plaintiff’s pleading burden, the Supreme Court has held that “a plaintiff’s obligation to provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitle[ment] to relief’ requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do. . . . Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 167 L. Ed. 2d 929 (2007) (internal citations omitted, alteration in original); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 173 L. Ed. 2d 868 (2009) (To avoid dismissal for failure to state a claim, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” (internal citation omitted)). Since plaintiff is appearing pro se, the Court must construe the allegations of the pleading liberally and must afford plaintiff the benefit of any doubt. See Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010). Further, it is particularly important in a civil rights case filed by a pro se litigant to attempt to ascertain plaintiff’s claims to protect his or her access to the courts. See Blaisdell v. Frappiea, 729 F.3d 1237, 1241 (9th Cir. 2013) (the rule of liberal construction “relieves pro se litigants from the strict application of procedural rules”); Pouncil v. Tilton, 704 F.3d 568, 574-75 (9th Cir. 2012) (the rule of liberal construction “protects the rights of pro se litigants to self-representation and meaningful access to the courts”). In addition, the Court may not dismiss a claim because a pro se plaintiff has set forth an incomplete “legal theory supporting the claim” alleged. Johnson v. City of Shelby, 574 U.S. 10, 135 S. Ct. 346, 346, 190 L. Ed. 2d 309 (2014). Finally, in determining whether a complaint states a “claim to relief that is plausible on its face,” factual allegations are accepted as true and construed in the light most favorable to plaintiff. See, e.g., Soltysik v. Padilla, 910 F.3d 438, 444 (9th Cir. 2018). However, “the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions.” 3 Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; see also Chavez v. United States, 683 F.3d 1102, 1108 (9th Cir. 2012) (“a court discounts conclusory statements, which are not entitled to the presumption of truth, before determining whether a claim is plausible”). Nor is the Court “bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation or an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Keates v. Koile, 883 F.3d 1228, 1243 (9th Cir. 2018) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). After careful review of the FAC under the foregoing standards, the Court finds that plaintiff’s allegations remain insufficient to state a short and

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Tremaine Daniels v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, (C.D. Cal. 2019).

Tremaine Daniels v. Federal Bureau of Prisons (Tremaine Daniels v. Federal Bureau of Prisons) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Preiser v. Rodriguez
411 U.S. 475 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Carlson v. Green
446 U.S. 14 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Kentucky v. Graham
473 U.S. 159 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Federal Deposit Insurance v. Meyer
510 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Heck v. Humphrey
512 U.S. 477 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Lane v. Pena
518 U.S. 187 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Edwards v. Balisok
520 U.S. 641 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett
556 U.S. 247 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Hebbe v. Pliler
627 F.3d 338 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Edward McKeever Jr. v. Sherman Block
932 F.2d 795 (Ninth Circuit, 1991)
Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper
132 S. Ct. 1441 (Supreme Court, 2012)
Raymond Trimble v. City of Santa Rosa
49 F.3d 583 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)
Reichle v. Howards
132 S. Ct. 2088 (Supreme Court, 2012)
Jose Chavez v. James Ziglar
683 F.3d 1102 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Madero Pouncil v. James Tilton
704 F.3d 568 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)