Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_09-cv-02929/USCOURTS-caed-2_09-cv-02929-24/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 

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

GREGORY NORWOOD, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

T. BYERS, et al., 

Defendants. 

No. 2:09-cv-2929 LKK AC P 

ORDER 

 Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and seeking relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 

1983. Pending before the court are plaintiff’s January 16, 2014 and May 21, 2014 motions for 

reconsideration of orders of this court dismissing defendants Salmi, Ramen, and T. Byers and 

seeking their reinstatement as defendants in this action.1

 The court construes these motions are 

motions pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) for relief from this court’s September 12, 2013 order 

adopting the magistrate judge’s June 28, 2013 findings and recommendations and dismissing 

Defendants Salmi and Byers for failing to exhaust administrative remedies with respect to his 

 

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 In the May 21, 2014 motion, plaintiff requests that the court “reconsider its previous ruling 

being that plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies as to defendants Nanganama, 

Ramen, Salmi, and Byers.” Motion for Reconsideration (ECF No. 119) at 1. Plaintiff does not, 

however, seek reinstatement of defendant Nanganama, who was dismissed by order filed January 

11, 2011 (ECF No. 47). 

 

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claims against these defendants,2 and this court’s July 18, 2011 order adopting the magistrate 

judge’s May 9, 2011 findings and recommendations and dismissing defendant Ramen for failure 

to name him as a defendant in the amended complaint. Defendants oppose both motions. 

 Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides in relevant part: 

On motion and just terms, the court may relieve a party or its legal 

representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the 

following reasons: 

(1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; 

(2) newly discovered evidence that, with reasonable diligence, 

could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial 

under Rule 59(b); 

(3) fraud (whether previously called intrinsic or extrinsic), 

misrepresentation, or misconduct by an opposing party; 

(4) the judgment is void; 

(5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged; it is 

based on an earlier judgment that has been reversed or vacated; or 

applying it prospectively is no longer equitable; or 

(6) any other reason that justifies relief. 

Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). All motions pursuant to Rule 60(b) must be made within a “reasonable 

time” and motions pursuant to reasons (1), (2), and (3) must be made within a year of the 

challenged order. Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(c)(1). Rule 60(b)(6) is used “‘sparingly as an equitable 

remedy to prevent manifest injustice.’” Lal v. California, 610 F.3d 518, 524 (9th Cir. 2010) 

(quoting United States v. Alpine Land & Reservoir Co., 984 F.2d 1047, 1049 (9th Cir. 1993)). 

 With respect to defendant Ramen, plaintiff’s motions are untimely and inapposite. As 

discussed above, defendant Ramen was dismissed over three years ago due to plaintiff’s failure to 

name him in the amended complaint. Plaintiff’s motions will be denied as to defendant Ramen. 

 Defendants Salmi and Byers were dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative 

remedies. In support of his first motion, plaintiff contends that newly discovered evidence shows 

 

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 Plaintiff’s motion is styled as a motion for “relief from judgment of court’s June 28, 2013 order, 

based on new evidence.” Motion filed January 16, 2014 (ECF No. 112) at 1. The magistrate 

judge’s findings and recommendations were signed in June 28, 2013 and entered on the docket on 

July 1, 2013. See Findings and Recommendations filed July 1, 2013 (ECF No. 103). 

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that he did exhaust his first relevant administrative grievance identified as # SATF-M-08-02492. 

Specifically, he offers a letter that he sent to the Appeals Coordinator at the Substance Abuse 

Treatment Facility and the Chief of Inmate Appeals on December 3, 2013 requesting copies of 

the original 602 appeal for Log No. 08-2492 and 1A-33-2008-06648 as well as any 

correspondence relating to these appeals that was sent to plaintiff. ECF No. 112 at 5, 7. Plaintiff 

received a response to this request on or about January 2, 2014 from J.A. Zamora, Chief of the 

Office of Appeals, indicating that “there is no record that the Office of Appeals received appeal 

log #SATF-08-02492.” ECF No. 113 at 3. Plaintiff relies upon this response in conjunction with 

his prison mail log indicating that he received correspondence from the Inmate Appeals Branch 

during 2008 and 2009 to suggest that the “defendants deleted dates that pertained [sic] to the 

relevant appeals.” ECF No. 113 at 1; see also ECF No. 112 at 8-22 (prison mail log). 

 In his second motion, plaintiff argues that defendants did not produce any evidence of 

how defendants determined that subsequent grievances screened out as duplicative of Log No. 

08-2492 were in fact duplicative of that grievance. Plaintiff contends they were not and that the 

improper screening out of his subsequent grievances rendered administrative remedies 

unavailable to him. Plaintiff also argues that the decision of the United States Court of Appeals 

in Albino v. Baca, 747 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2014) requires the question of administrative 

exhaustion to be resolved by summary judgment and, therefore, that he should be permitted to 

conduct discovery on the questions of how the appeals coordinators who screened out his 

subsequent appeals determined they were duplicative of # SATF-M-08-02492 and when they 

were erroneously informed that # SATF-M-08-02492 was exhausted. 

 Assuming without deciding that plaintiff was diligent in obtaining the new evidence, the 

court denies the motion to reconsider on the merits. Plaintiff’s evidence does not support his 

assertion that he properly exhausted his 2008 administrative appeal but that defendants destroyed 

the documents proving it. First, plaintiff’s present argument is entirely inconsistent with his prior 

concession that he did not pursue Appeal Log No. 08-2492 to the Director’s level of review 

because he never received it back from the first formal level of review. See ECF No. 103 at 14. 

Moreover, none of the evidence now presented by plaintiff demonstrates that he did submit the 

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2008 grievance to the Office of Third Level Appeals for Health Care Services (OTLA-HC) in 

order to properly exhaust his claim. See ECF No. 87-3 at 2. Moreover, none of the grievances 

screened out as duplicative, all of which were based on events on or after February 9, 2009, arose 

from alleged acts or omissions by defendant Salmi, and, as the magistrate judge found, none were 

directed at any action by defendant Byers after the 2008 events on which plaintiff’s claim against 

defendant Byers was based. See Findings and Recommendations (ECF No. 103) at 18; see also 

Second Amended Complaint (ECF No. 71). 

 Finally, Albino v. Baca, supra, does not require revisiting the decision to dismiss 

defendants Salmi and Byers. There is no material dispute over whether plaintiff exhausted # 

SATF-M-08-2492. The undisputed evidence shows he did not. 

 For all of these reasons, plaintiff has failed to show any ground for setting aside the prior 

orders or reinstating the claims against defendants Salmi, Byers, or Ramen. Accordingly, IT IS 

HEREBY ORDERED that: 

 1. Plaintiff’s January 16, 2014 motion (ECF No. 112) is denied; and 

 2. Plaintiff’s May 21, 2014 motion (ECF No. 119) is denied. 

 DATED: August 13, 2014. 

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