1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 John William UPSHAW, Case No.: 22-cv-00183-JO-BGS

11 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING MOTION TO 12 v. OPPOSE DEFENDANT’S ATTORNEYS FROM 13 Dr. John CHAU, CIRCUMVENTING THE COURT 14 Defendant. AND ACCESSING HIS CENTRAL AND HEALTHCARE FILE 15 WITHOUT AN ORDER FROM THE 16 COURT

17 [ECF No. 13] 18

19 Plaintiff’s Motion to Oppose Defendant’s Attorneys from Circumventing the Court 20 and Accessing his Central File and Healthcare File Without an Order from the Court is 21 currently before the Court. (ECF No. 13.) Plaintiff indicated that he received a letter from 22 Defendant’s Counsel that indicated that all proceedings should send all 23 pleadings/documents to the address provided in the letter and that they will be accessing 24 Plaintiff’s central and healthcare file. (Id. at 1.) However, Plaintiff stated that he “never 25 received anything from the courts stating that [the Defendant] sought the court’s 26 permission to do so.” (Id.) Plaintiff requested that the court deny the Defendant’s access 27 until they seek proper permission from the courts to do so and he is notified. (Id.) 28 1 Plaintiff attached the letter he received from Defendant’s Counsel. (Id. at 2.) The 2 letter indicated that “[c]opies of all pleadings, motions, or other documents required to be 3 served upon this defendant must be served upon [Defendant’s Counsel] at the above 4 address in San Diego. Service at any other address is defective.” (Id.) Further, the letter 5 stated that “[u]nder section 3370(e) of Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations, this 6 office will be requesting that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 7 provide documents from your central file” and that “[i]f [Plaintiff] allege[d] any injury to 8 [his] health, this office will also request documents from [his] unit health record.” (Id.) 9 Section 3370(e) of Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations provides that “[n]o 10 case records file, unit health records, or component thereof shall be released to any agency 11 or person outside the department, except for [. . .] the office of the attorney general [. . .] 12 and as provided by applicable federal and state law.” Courts have repeatedly held that this 13 regulation supports the proposition that the Office of the Attorney General has access or 14 control over documents contained within a prisoner plaintiff’s central file, and has required 15 defendants represented by the Office of the Attorney General to produce such documents 16 in discovery. See, e.g., Steward v. Igbinosa, No. 118CV00551AWIBAMPC,

3722943, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 2021); Gann v. Kokor, No. 118CV00084AWIBAMPC, 18

, at *1 (E.D. Cal. May 2018), report and recommendation adopted, No. 19 118CV00084AWIBAMPC,

(E.D. Cal. June 2018); Porter v. Jennings, 20 No. 1:10–cv–01811–AWI–DLB PC,

, at *2 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 2012). 21 Further, to the extent Plaintiff attempts to raise an issue regarding the confidentiality 22 of his central file or health records, Plaintiff “do[es] not have a constitutionally protected 23 expectation of privacy in prison treatment records when the state has a legitimate 24 penological interest in access to them.” Seaton v. Mayberg,

(9th Cir. 25 2010). Plaintiff waived any right to privacy he may otherwise have maintained by putting 26 his medical care at issue in this lawsuit. See Steward,

, at *1 (“Plaintiff 27 put his medical care at issue by bringing this lawsuit and therefore, waived any right to 28 privacy he may otherwise have maintained.”); Gann,

, at *2 (same). 1 Based on the foregoing, Plaintiff's Motion to Oppose Defendant’s Attorneys from 2 ||Circumventing the Court and Accessing his Central File and Healthcare File Without an 3 || Order from the Court (ECF No. 13), is DENIED. 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 ||Dated: October 21, 2022 p / / 6 on. Bernard G. Skomal 7 United States Magistrate Judge 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28