1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 DENNIS G. COPELAND, Case No. 24-cv-05228-HSG

8 Plaintiff, ORDER DISMISSING COMPLAINT WITH LEAVE TO AMEND 9 v.

10 SAN BENITO COUNTY CORRECTIONS BUREAU FACILITY STAFF AND 11 MEDICAL STAFF,

12 Defendant.

13 Plaintiff is currently in the custody of the San Benito County Corrections Bureau, and has 14 filed a pro se action pursuant to

against San Benito County Corrections Bureau 15 “facility staff” and “medical staff.” His complaint (Dkt. No. 1) is now before the Court for review 16 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Plaintiff has been granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis in a 17 separate order. 18 DISCUSSION 19 A. Standard of Review 20 A federal court must conduct a preliminary screening in any case in which a prisoner seeks 21 redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. See 28 U.S.C. 22 § 1915A(a). In its review, the court must identify any cognizable claims and dismiss any claims 23 that are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted or seek 24 monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), 25 (2). Pro se pleadings must, however, be liberally construed. See United States v. Qazi,

989, 993 (9th Cir. 2020). 27 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only “a short and plain statement of the 1 claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). “Specific facts are not 2 necessary; the statement need only “‘give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the 3 grounds upon which it rests.’” Erickson v. Pardus,

(2007) (citations omitted). 4 While Rule 8 does not require detailed factual allegations, it demands more than an unadorned, 5 the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation. Ashcroft v. Iqbal,

, 677–78 (2009). 6 A pleading that offers only labels and conclusions, or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a 7 cause of action, or naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement does not suffice.

8 To state a claim under

, a plaintiff must allege two essential elements: 9 (1) that a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States was violated, and (2) that 10 the alleged violation was committed by a person acting under the color of state law. See West v. 11 Atkins,

(1988). 12 B. Complaint 13 The complaint names as defendants San Benito County Corrections Bureau facility staff 14 and medical staff. Dkt. No. 1 at 2. The complaint alleges as follows. Prior to entering the 15 custody of the San Benito County Corrections Bureau, Plaintiff had several spine surgeries to 16 replace five vertebrae and to install a cage with six screws, cables, and spacers; and a surgery to 17 remove defective hardware and reinstall on the front of his spine. On May 10, 2024, after entering 18 the custody of the San Benito County Corrections Bureau, Plaintiff slipped on garbage and fell 19 down seventeen steps, causing severe damage to his head, neck, and back. After returning from 20 the emergency room, Plaintiff was thrown on a dirty floor. This happened again several days later 21 after he collapsed again, even though he was twenty feet from the two-bed infirmary. Plaintiff is 22 constantly singled out and punished for begging for help. Since the fall, Plaintiff has had blurry 23 vision in his left eye and gets dizzy and disoriented. Plaintiff’s physical pain is dismissed by 24 medical and facility staff. Plaintiff now has to take psych medication to lessen his mental trauma 25 and distress. The complaint requests the following relief: that Plaintiff be released from custody, 26 either pursuant to a compassionate release, medical O.R., reinstatement of bond, or house arrest, 27 so that he can access doctors, medication, family care, and actual compassion. See generally Dkt. 1 The Court DISMISSES the complaint with leave to amend for the following reasons. 2 First, Plaintiff does not identify any federal law or federal constitution provision that was 3 violated. It appears that Plaintiff may be attempting to allege an Eighth Amendment claim. The 4 Eighth Amendment’s proscription against cruel and unusual punishment prohibits correctional 5 officials from being deliberately indifferent to a prisoner’s serious medical needs. See Estelle v. 6 Gamble,

(1976). A determination of “deliberate indifference” involves an 7 examination of two elements: the seriousness of the prisoner’s medical need and the nature of the 8 defendant’s response to that need. See McGuckin v. Smith,

(9th Cir. 1992), 9 overruled in part on other grounds by WMX Technologies, Inc. v. Miller,

, 1136 10 (9th Cir. 1997) (en banc). However, the conclusory statement that Plaintiff’s physical pain has 11 been dismissed is insufficient to state an Eighth Amendment violation because it is unclear what 12 medical treatment was needed and not provided. As explained above, although Fed. R. Civ. P. 8 13 does not require detailed factual allegations, the complaint must provide more than a conclusory 14 accusation that the plaintiff was harmed by the defendant. Ashcroft, 556 U.S. at 677–78. The 15 allegation that San Benito Corrections Bureau medical staff and facility staff “dismissed 16 [Plaintiff’s] physical pain” is insufficient to state a cognizable Eighth Amendment claim. 17 Second, the complaint fails to identify the specific individuals that denied Plaintiff medical 18 care. Section 1983 liability may be imposed on a defendant only if the plaintiff can show that the 19 defendant proximately caused the deprivation of a federally protected right. See Leer v. Murphy, 20

(9th Cir. 1988). In preparing an amended complaint, Plaintiff must identify by 21 name the individual facility staff members or medical staff members who allegedly denied him 22 medical care. 23 Because it appears that Plaintiff may be able to correct the above deficiencies, the Court 24 grants Plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint. See Lopez v. Smith,

(9th 25 Cir. 2000) (district court should grant leave to amend unless pleading could not possibly be cured 26 by allegation of other facts). In setting forth his legal claims in the amended complaint, Plaintiff 27 should list the alleged constitutional provision or federal law violated; identify by name the 1 individual did, or did not do, that was either unlawful or unconstitutional, i.e., specify what 2 medical care was needed or requested and not provided. While Rule 8 does not require detailed 3 factual allegations, Plaintiff should not refer to defendants as a group and should not rely on a 4 general allegation of denial of medical care. 5 C. Letters to the Court (Dkt. Nos. 4, 7, 8, 9, 10) 6 Since commencing this action, Plaintiff has filed five letters with this Court, Dkt. Nos. 4, 7, 7 8, 9, 10, reporting on additional instances of mistreatment he has suffered (unsafe housing 8 conditions, retaliation, mail tampering) or reporting events or discoveries that he believes support 9 his claims. Plaintiff’s letters serve no legal purpose and will not be considered by the Court for 10 the following reasons. 11 First, Plaintiff must present all his claims in his complaint. The Court will not piece 12 together claims from different documents. In other words, after filing a complaint, Plaintiff may 13 not raise additional claims by filing letters with the courts. Instead, he should file an amended 14 complaint that raise all his claims for relief. However, Plaintiff should keep in mind the joinder 15 rule set forth in Fed R. Civ. P. 20, which provides that all persons “may be joined in one action as 16 defendants if: (A) any right to relief is asserted against them jointly, severally, or in the alternative 17 with respect to or arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or 18 occurrences; and (B) any question of law or fact common to all defendants will arise in the 19 action.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 20(a)(2). Therefore while “multiple claims against a single party are fine, 20 but Claim A against Defendant 1 should not be joined with unrelated Claim B against Defendant 21 2.” George v. Smith,

(7th Cir. 2007). In his amended complaint, Plaintiff 22 should only bring claims that arise out of the same occurrence or series of occurrences and involve 23 a question of law or fact common to all the defendants. If Plaintiff believes that there have been 24 other occurrences where his constitutional rights have been violated, he must file a separate 25 lawsuit to seek relief for the violation(s) arising out of the other occurrences. 26 Second, the court is not a depository for Plaintiff’s prematurely filed evidence. To the 27 extent Plaintiff has collected evidence that he believes supports his claims, the appropriate time to 1 the Court has no legal effect and will not be considered. Any premature filings of evidence will be 2 || disregarded by the Court. 3 CONCLUSION 4 For the foregoing reasons, the Court DISMISSES the complaint with leave to amend. 5 Within twenty-eight (28) days of the date of this order, Plaintiff shall file an amended complaint 6 || that addresses the identified deficiencies. The amended complaint must include the caption and 7 || civil case number used in this order, Case No. 24-05228 HSG (PR) and the words “AMENDED 8 || COMPLAINT” on the first page. If using the court form complaint, Plaintiff must answer all the 9 || questions on the form in order for the action to proceed. An amended complaint completely 10 replaces the previous complaints. See Lacey v. Maricopa Cty.,

(9th Cir. 2010). 11 Accordingly, Plaintiff must include in his amended complaint all the claims he wishes to present 12 and all of the defendants he wishes to sue, and may not incorporate material from the prior 5 13 complaint by reference. Failure to file an amended complaint in accordance with this order in the 14 || time provided will result in dismissal of this action without further notice to Plaintiff. The Clerk 3 15 shall include two copies of the court’s complaint form with a copy of this order to Plaintiff. a 16 IT IS SO ORDERED. 2 17 |) Dated: 10/17/2024 18 Abeer hb HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR. 19 United States District Judge 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28