Walker v. Gonzalez

District Court, S.D. California·Decided August 11, 2020·No. 3:20-cv-00404·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 AARON M. WALKER, Case No.: 3:20-cv-0404-CAB (AHG) CDCR #T-35851, 12 ORDER DISMISSING FIRST Plaintiff, 13 AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR vs. FAILING TO STATE A CLAIM 14 PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)

15 AND 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) GONZALEZ; MONTIANO; 16 R. MADDEN; D. FOSTON, 17 Defendants. 18 19 20 I. Procedural History 21 On March 3, 2020, Aaron Walker (“Plaintiff”), a state inmate currently 22 incarcerated at Centinela State Prison (“CEN”) located in Imperial, California, and 23 proceeding pro se, filed a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (See Compl., 24 ECF No.1.) In addition, Plaintiff filed a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP”) 25 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). (ECF No. 2.) 26 The Court GRANTED Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed IFP but also DISMISSED his 27 Complaint for failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted pursuant to 28 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). (ECF No. 5.) 1 Plaintiff was granted leave to file an amended pleading in order to correct the 2 deficiencies of pleading identified in the Court’s Order. (See id.) On July 24, 2020, 3 Plaintiff filed his First Amended Complaint (“FAC”). (ECF No. 6.) 4 II. Screening of FAC pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A(b) 5 A. Standard of Review 6 As the Court previously informed Plaintiff, because he is a prisoner and is 7 proceeding IFP, his FAC requires a pre-answer screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 8 § 1915(e)(2) and § 1915A(b). Under these statutes, the Court must sua sponte dismiss a 9 prisoner’s IFP complaint, or any portion of it, which is frivolous, malicious, fails to state 10 a claim, or seeks damages from defendants who are immune. See Williams v. King, 875 11 F.3d 500, 502 (9th Cir. 2017) (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)) (citing Lopez v. Smith, 12 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc)); Rhodes v. Robinson, 621 F.3d 1002, 13 1004 (9th Cir. 2010) (discussing 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)). “The purpose of [screening] is 14 ‘to ensure that the targets of frivolous or malicious suits need not bear the expense of 15 responding.’” Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 920 n.1 (9th Cir. 2014) (quoting 16 Wheeler v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc., 689 F.3d 680, 681 (7th Cir. 2012)). 17 “The standard for determining whether a plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon 18 which relief can be granted under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the Federal Rule of 19 Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) standard for failure to state a claim.” Watison v. Carter, 668 20 F.3d 1108, 1112 (9th Cir. 2012); see also Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th 21 Cir. 2012) (noting that screening pursuant to § 1915A “incorporates the familiar standard 22 applied in the context of failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 12(b)(6)”). Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8 and 12(b)(6) require a complaint to 24 “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is 25 plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (internal quotation 26 marks omitted). 27 Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the 28 elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” 1 Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief [is] ... a context- 2 specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and 3 common sense.” Id. The “mere possibility of misconduct” or “unadorned, the defendant- 4 unlawfully-harmed me accusation[s]” fall short of meeting this plausibility standard. Id.; 5 see also Moss v. U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). 6 B. Plaintiff’s Allegations1 7 On May 14, 2019, Plaintiff and Correctional Officer Gonzalez “entered into an 8 agreement” that Plaintiff would accept a cellmate if the “administration” would “accept 9 liability for any contraband that may be found inside of the cell.” (FAC at 3.) Plaintiff 10 claims he was “presented with a choice” to either “comply with [Correctional Officer] 11 Gonzalez’s order” or he would be issued a Rules Violation Report (“RVR”). (Id.) 12 Plaintiff claims that “in spite of the signed agreement,” Plaintiff “felt necessary to 13 remove himself” from his cell on June 18, 2019 when a “cell became available.” (Id. at 14 5.) However, his “efforts were prohibited by [Sergeant] Montiano.” (Id.) 15 On July 2, 2019, Plaintiff was the “Chairman of the Inmate Advisory Council 16 (“IAC”).” (Id. at 6.) The IAC is a “departmental term used to describe a body of inmates 17 who are selected by the inmate population to act in an advisory capacity to the Warden 18 and his administration.” (Id.) Plaintiff claims the IAC “serves as a communication 19 bridge not just for the Warden and his administration, but for the inmate population as 20 well.” (Id.) 21 On July 2, 2019, Plaintiff “accepted a sealed envelope from another inmate to be 22 delivered to an inmate housed in the same unit as Plaintiff.” (Id.) In the “rush to race the 23 closing unit doors, Plaintiff failed to be informed of the contents of the envelope.” (Id.) 24 Correctional Officer Herrera-Salazar “noticed the sealed envelope sitting in Plaintiff’s top 25 shirt left pocket and wanted to inspect it.” (Id.) Plaintiff alleges he “complied” with 26

27 1 The Court will refer to the page numbers as they are imprinted by the court’s electronic case filing 28 1 Herrera-Salazar’s request. (Id.) “Upon inspection, a small quantity of heroin in a plastic 2 wrapper was discovered.” (Id.) Plaintiff was “taken to the facilities office” but was later 3 “allowed to return to his unit” provide that a search of his cell would not contain any 4 narcotics. (Id.) 5 However, a search of Plaintiff’s cell “produced over 3 grams of heroin” and other 6 evidence of drug distribution. (Id.) Plaintiff and his cellmate were “placed in 7 administrative segregation (“Ad-Seg”)” as a result of the drugs found inside of the cell. 8 (Id.) On July 11, 2019, Plaintiff was “scheduled to appear before an Inmate 9 Classification Committee (“ICC”).” (Id.

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

Walker v. Gonzalez, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Walker v. Gonzalez (Walker v. Gonzalez) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Rhodes v. Chapman
452 U.S. 337 (Supreme Court, 1981)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Sandin v. Conner
515 U.S. 472 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Rhodes v. Robinson
621 F.3d 1002 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Diaz-Fonseca v. Commonwealth of PR
451 F.3d 13 (First Circuit, 2006)
Michael Henry Ferdik v. Joe Bonzelet, Sheriff
963 F.2d 1258 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
Anderson v. County of Kern
45 F.3d 1310 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)
Wilhelm v. Rotman
680 F.3d 1113 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Wheeler v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.
689 F.3d 680 (Seventh Circuit, 2012)
Michael Lacey v. Joseph Arpaio
693 F.3d 896 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Parks
698 F.3d 1 (First Circuit, 2012)
Farmer v. Brennan
511 U.S. 825 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Moss v. U.S. Secret Service
572 F.3d 962 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
Scott Nordstrom v. Charles Ryan
762 F.3d 903 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
Nadia Naffe v. John Frey
789 F.3d 1030 (Ninth Circuit, 2015)