Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_06-cv-01801/USCOURTS-caed-1_06-cv-01801-9/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

LAWTIS DONALD RHODEN,

Plaintiff,

v.

STEPHEN MAYBERG, et al.,

Defendants.

 /

CASE NO. 1:09-CV-01890-DLB PC

ORDER CONSOLIDATING ACTION WITH

ALLEN V. MAYBERG, ET AL., CIVIL CASE

NO. 1:06-CV-01801-BLW-LMB

Order

I. Background And Analysis

Plaintiff Lawtis Donald Rhoden (“Plaintiff”) is a civil detainee in the custody of the

California Department of Mental Health (“CDMH”). Plaintiff is proceeding pro se and in forma

pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff is currently detained at

Coalinga State Hospital (“CSH”) pursuant to California Welfare and Institution Code section

6600, et seq., also known as the Sexually Violent Predator Act (“SVPA”).

Plaintiff initiated this action on October 28, 2009. Plaintiff brings suit against Defendants

Pam Ahlin, acting director at CSH, Cynthia Radavsky, deputy director at CSH, and Stephen

Mayberg, Director of CDMH. The operative pleading is Plaintiff’s first amended complaint,

filed March 8, 2010. Plaintiff contends that pursuant to Administrative Directive No. 654, dated

July 28, 2006, civil detainees were permitted to purchase and own personal laptop computers,

subject to certain rules and restrictions. (Pl.’s Am. Compl. ¶ 2.) Plaintiff purchased a laptop

which was delivered on October 11, 2006. (Id.) Pursuant to new emergency regulations

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approved on October 26, 2009, Defendants will allegedly deprive Plaintiff of his laptop computer

as contraband. (Id., Ex. B, California Office of Administrative Law, Notice.) These regulations

are codified as Title 9 of the California Code of Regulations, section 4350. (Id.) Plaintiff alleges

violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Also pending in this action

is Defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,

filed May 4, 2010. (Doc. 28.)

The Court finds this case substantially similar to Allen v. Mayberg, et al., E.D. Cal., Civil

Case No. 1:06-CV-01801-BLW-LMB. The consolidated Allen case involves claims made by

civil detainees detained pursuant to the SVPA relating to CSH’s computer moratorium and the

adoption of emergency regulations declaring their personal computers to be contraband. The

only claims in this action against CDMH and CSH relate to the computer moratorium and

emergency regulations.

On July 22, 2010, United States Magistrate Judge Larry M. Boyle issued a Report and

Recommendation (“R&R”) and Order in the consolidated Allen case directing the Clerk of Court

to send a copy of his Order to this Court, as well as the presiding judges of six other cases

identified as related cases to “determine whether to reassign [each] particular case for

consolidation based on the claims made in [each] particular case.” Allen v. Mayberg, et al., E.D.

Cal., Civil Case No. 1:06-CV-01801-BLW-LMB, July 23, 2010 R&R and Order at 6, Doc. 54. 

Judge Boyle stated that unless the case “has been processed to the point that it is close enough to

resolution so that consolidation would effect an unnecessary delay . . . it should be reassigned to

this Court and consolidated with this action.” Id.

Accordingly, this Court finds that Rhoden v. Mayberg, et al., E.D. Cal., Civil Case No.

1:09-CV-01890-DLB is sufficiently related to Allen v. Mayberg, et al., E.D. Cal., Civil Case No.

1:06-CV-01801-BLW-LMB to justify its reassignment to that court and consolidation with that

case. This Court further finds that both cases involve similar issues of law and fact and that

neither reassignment nor consolidation will effect any unnecessary cost or delay. Fed. R. Civ. P.

42(a); Pierce v. County of Orange, 526 F.3d 1190, 1203 (9th Cir. 2008); see L. R. 123.

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II. Conclusion And Order

For all the reasons stated above, this Court reassigns and consolidates this action, with

Allen v. Mayberg, et al., E.D. Cal., Lead Consolidated Civil Case No. 1:06-CV-01801-BLWLMB, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(a).

The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to file a copy of this Order in both this civil docket as

well as in the docket of Allen v. Mayberg, et al., Civil Case No. 1:08-CV-01801-BLW-LMB in

order to notify both courts and all parties of the reassignment and consolidation. The Clerk of

Court is FURTHER DIRECTED to close this member case.

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: August 16, 2010 /s/ Dennis L. Beck 

3b142a UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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