United States District Court for the Northern District of California, 2022

Florence v. Allison

Florence v. Allison
United States District Court for the Northern District of California · Decided July 21, 2022
Florence v. Allison

Trial Court Opinion

4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA DAVID FLORENCE, Case No. 22-cv-02265-JSC 8 Plaintiff, ORDER OF SERVICE v. 10 KATHLEEN ALLISON, et al., Defendants.

12 INTRODUCTION 13 Plaintiff, a California prisoner proceeding without an attorney, filed this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff has been granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis in a separate order. For the reasons discussed below, the complaint is ordered served upon Defendants.

17 STANDARD OF REVIEW 18 Federal courts must engage in a preliminary screening of cases in which prisoners seek redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 20 1915A(a). The Court must identify cognizable claims or dismiss the complaint, or any portion of the complaint, if the complaint “is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,” or “seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” Id. § 1915A(b). Pleadings filed by parties unrepresented by a lawyer must be liberally construed.

Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep't, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1990).

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” “Specific facts are not necessary; the statement need only give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . . claim is and the grounds upon state a claim a complaint “does not need detailed factual allegations, . . . 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, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 1964-65 (2007) (citations omitted). A complaint must proffer “enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. at 1974.

7 To state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege two elements: (1) that a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States was violated, and (2) that the alleged violation was committed by a person acting under the color of state law. West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 9 42, 48 (1988).

LEGAL CLAIMS When liberally construed, Plaintiff’s allegations state a cognizable claim for relief against Defendants for being deliberately indifferent to his medical needs, in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.

CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, 1. Defendants Secretary Kathleen Allison and Appeals Examiner Kenneth J. Allen shall be served at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Defendant G.

Cates shall be served at the California Correctional Health Care Services. Defendants Warden J.

Robertson, Chief Executive Officer Bill Woods, Chief Medical Executive Donna Jacobsen, Dr. Mauricio Martinez, Licensed Vocational Nurse L. Ford, Licensed Vocational Nurse A. Romero, Facility Captain J. Berg, and Chief Mental Health Dr. K. Limon shall be served at Pelican Bay State Prison. Defendant G. Cates shall be served at the California Correctional Health Care Services.

Service shall proceed under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) e-service program for civil rights cases from prisoners in CDCR custody. In accordance with the program, the Clerk is directed to serve on CDCR via email the following documents: the complaint, this order, a CDCR Report of E-Service Waiver form, and a summons. The Clerk also shall serve a copy of this order on the Plaintiff.

2 No later than 40 days after service of this order via email on CDCR, CDCR shall provide the Court a completed CDCR Report of E-Service Waiver advising the Court which Defendant(s) listed in this order will be waiving service of process without the need for service by the United States Marshal Service (USMS) and which Defendant(s) decline to waive service or could not be reached. CDCR also shall provide a copy of the CDCR Report of E-Service Waiver to the California Attorney General’s Office which, within 21 days, shall file with the Court a waiver of service of process for the Defendant(s) who are waiving service.

9 Upon receipt of the CDCR Report of E-Service Waiver, the Clerk shall prepare for each Defendant who has not waived service according to the CDCR Report of E-Service Waiver a USM-205 Form. The Clerk shall provide to the USMS the completed USM-205 forms and copies of this order, the summons, and the complaint for service upon each Defendant who has not waived service. The Clerk also shall provide to the USMS a copy of the CDCR Report of E- Service Waiver.

15 2. Service on Defendant Receiver J. Clark Kelso shall proceed separately. The Clerk is directed to electronically serve J. Clark Kelso and his attorney via the email address [email protected] the following documents: the complaint, this order, a Waiver of the Service of Summons form, and a summons.

19 No later than 40 days after service of this order via email on Kelso and his attorney, Kelso shall file the Waiver of the Service of Summons or a Notice indicating that he does not waive service. If Kelso files such a notice, the Clerk shall prepare a USM-205 Form and shall provide to the USMS the completed USM-205 form and copies of this order, the summons, and complaint for service upon Kelso.

24 3. To expedite the resolution of this case: 25 a. No later than 91 days from the date this order is issued, Defendants shall file a motion for summary judgment or other dispositive motion. The motion shall be supported by adequate factual documentation and shall conform in all respects to Federal Rule of Civil events at issue. If Defendants are of the opinion that this case cannot be resolved by summary judgment, they shall so inform the Court prior to the date the summary judgment motion is due.

3 All papers filed with the Court shall be promptly served on Plaintiff.

4 b. At the time the dispositive motion is served, Defendants shall also serve, on a separate paper, the appropriate notice required by Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952, 953-954 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc). See Woods v. Carey, 684 F.3d 934, 940-941 (9th Cir. 2012).

7 c. Plaintiff's opposition to the dispositive motion, if any, shall be filed with the Court and served upon Defendants no later than 28 days from the date the motion is filed.

Plaintiff must read the attached page headed “NOTICE -- WARNING,” which is provided to him pursuant to Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952, 953-954 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc). d. Defendants shall file a reply brief no later than 14 days after the opposition is filed. e. The motion shall be deemed submitted as of the date the reply brief is due. No hearing will be held on the motion unless the Court so orders at a later date.

4. All communications by the plaintiff with the court must be served on defendants, or defendants’ counsel once counsel has been designated, by mailing a true copy of the document to defendants or their counsel.

5. Discovery may be taken in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. No further court order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(a)(2) or Local Rule 16-1 is required before the parties may conduct discovery.

Plaintiff is reminded that state prisoners inmates may review all non-confidential material in their medical and central files, pursuant to In re Olson, 37 Cal. App. 3d 783 (Cal. Ct. App. 1974); 15 California Code of Regulations § 3370; and the CDCR’s Department Operations Manual §§ 13030.4, 13030.16, 13030.16.1-13030.16.3, 13030.21, and 71010.11.1. Requests to review these files or for copies of materials in them must be made directly to prison officials, not to the court.

6. It is the plaintiff's responsibility to prosecute this case. Plaintiff must keep the court Failure to do so may result in the dismissal of this action for failure to prosecute pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b).

3 IT IS SO ORDERED.

4 || Dated: July 21, 2022 6 ne /ACQWELINE SCOTT CORLEY 7 United States District Judge

Z 18 1 NOTICE -- WARNING (SUMMARY JUDGMENT) 2 If Defendants move for summary judgment, they are seeking to have your case dismissed.

3 A motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure will, if granted, end your case.

5 Rule 56 tells you what you must do in order to oppose a motion for summary judgment.

6 Generally, summary judgment must be granted when there is no genuine issue of material fact-- that is, if there is no real dispute about any fact that would affect the result of your case, the party who asked for summary judgment is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, which will end your case. When a party you are suing makes a motion for summary judgment that is properly supported by declarations (or other sworn testimony), you cannot simply rely on what your complaint says. Instead, you must set out specific facts in declarations, depositions, answers to interrogatories, or authenticated documents, as provided in Rule 56(e), that contradict the facts shown in Defendant's declarations and documents and show that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. If you do not submit your own evidence in opposition, summary judgment, if appropriate, may be entered against you. If summary judgment is granted, your case will be dismissed and there will be no trial.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.