Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_05-cv-02441/USCOURTS-caed-2_05-cv-02441-18/pdf.json

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

---

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

1

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

ROBERT HECKER, et al., 

Plaintiffs, 

v. 

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF 

CORRECTIONS AND 

REHABILITATION, et al., 

Defendants. 

No. 2:05-cv-2441 KJM DAD P 

ORDER 

 This matter came on for hearing on December 8, 2014 on the joint motion of the 

parties for final approval of the settlement agreement reached in this matter. Michael Bien, Esq., 

Blake Thompson, Esq., and Claudia Center, Esq., appeared as counsel for the plaintiff class. 

Michael Quinn, Deputy Attorney General, appeared as counsel for defendants. 

 At the hearing, the court asked the parties for clarification concerning the 

effectiveness of notice to the class. The court finds the content of the notice provided to be 

adequate and notes the notice has been posted in the thirty-four state prisons in which class 

members are housed in a manner consistent with the posting requirements ordered by the court in 

the related case of Coleman v. Brown, No. 2:09-cv-0520.1

 At any given time several hundred 

 

1

 At the hearing, counsel represented to the court that the Coleman class and the Hecker classes are identical in terms 

of the mentally ill inmate population covered by each class, and that the Hecker class is a subset of the Coleman class 

to the extent the Hecker class is defined as inmates who have experienced discrimination as a result of their 

Case 2:05-cv-02441-KJM-DAD Document 137 Filed 12/22/14 Page 1 of 3
1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

2

Coleman class members are housed in inpatient programs, with one operated by the California 

Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and six operated by the California 

Department of State Hospitals (DSH). See Order filed July 11, 2013 (ECF No. 4688) at 2 n.3; see

also Coleman v. Brown ECF No. 5249 (SEALED) (November 2014 Monthly Bed Utilization 

Report for DSH Facilities). Good cause appearing, the parties will be directed to show cause in 

writing why the notice to the Hecker class should not be posted forthwith in all inpatient program 

units in which members of the Coleman class are housed. 

 The proposed order submitted by the parties includes a provision requiring them to 

“agree on a revised Coleman notice advising class members that issues alleged” in Hecker “shall 

now be addressed in Coleman” and for defendants to affirm publication of said revised notice. 

Proposed Order (ECF No. 132-1). At the hearing, the court discussed with the parties whether 

this revised notice should be published prior to final approval of the settlement in this action. The 

court has not resolved that question. At the hearing the court indicated to the parties it is likely to 

give final approval to the settlement agreement but that, in an abundance of caution, such 

approval will be deferred until after February 17, 2015, the end of the notice period in the Class 

Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), 28 U.S.C. § 1715.2 Accordingly, good cause appearing the 

parties will be directed to submit the revised Coleman notice to the court by January 23, 2015. 

The court will, thereafter, determine whether the revised Coleman notice should be posted before 

or after final approval of the settlement agreement in this action. 

 There are seventeen named plaintiffs in the second amended complaint (ECF No. 

35). Review of CDCR inmate locator records suggests that eight of those individuals are no 

longer housed in a California state prison. These individuals are Robert Hecker, Christopher Lee 

Jenkins, Ying Watt, Askia Ashanti, Daniel Hunley, Michael Lovelace, Samuel D’Angelo, Jr., and 

Jon Schooley. In addition, it is unclear whether named plaintiffs John Mueller and Quinton Gray 

are currently incarcerated.3 Good cause appearing, plaintiffs will be directed to show cause why 

 psychiatric disorders. 

2

 The court makes no finding that the parties were required to provide CAFA notice in this case. However, 

defendants have provided such notice and plaintiffs represented they have no objection to delaying final approval in 

this action until the end of the statutory notice period. 

3

 There are individuals with these names currently incarcerated in CDCR institutions who were received into CDCR 

Case 2:05-cv-02441-KJM-DAD Document 137 Filed 12/22/14 Page 2 of 3
1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

3

some or all of these named plaintiffs should not be dismissed. See Johnson v. Duffy, 588 F.2d 

740, 745 (9th Cir. 1978) (quoting Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 403 (1975) (“A litigant must be a 

member of the class which he or she seeks to represent at the time the class action is certified by 

the district court.” ). 

 Finally, the parties have responded to the court’s inquiry concerning the related 

case, Wilson v. Woodford, No. 2:05-cv-0876. (ECF No. 136.) The court will address the status of 

the Wilson matter following final approval of the settlement agreement in this action. 

 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 

 1. On or before January 15, 2015, the parties shall show cause in writing why the 

notice to the Hecker class should not be posted forthwith in all inpatient program units in which 

members of the Coleman class are housed or, in the alternative, certify by declaration that such 

notice has been posted. 

 2. On or before January 23, 2015, the parties shall file in this action and in 

Coleman v. Brown an agreed revised notice to the Coleman class. 

 3. On or before January 15, 2015, plaintiffs shall either request voluntary 

dismissal of named plaintiffs Robert Hecker, Christopher Lee Jenkins, Ying Watt, Askia Ashanti, 

Daniel Hunley, Michael Lovelace, Samuel D’Angelo, Jr., and Jon Schooley or show cause in 

writing why said plaintiffs should not be dismissed from this action. In addition, by the same date 

plaintiffs shall clarify whether named plaintiffs John Mueller and Quinton Gray are currently 

incarcerated. 

 SO ORDERED. 

DATED: December 19, 2014. 

 in 2013; the second amended complaint was filed in 2006. 

Case 2:05-cv-02441-KJM-DAD Document 137 Filed 12/22/14 Page 3 of 3