Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_18-cv-03209/USCOURTS-cand-3_18-cv-03209-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 555
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Prison Condition
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Civil Rights Act

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JAMES M. MILLIKEN,

Plaintiff,

v.

A. MAYLIN, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No.18-cv-03209-JSC 

ORDER DENYING MOTION

FOR COURT TO ACT AS 

INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN

PLAINTIFF AND WITNESSES; 

INSTRUCTING CLERK TO

SEND PLAINTIFF SUBPOENA 

FORM; EXTENDING DEADLINE

Re: Dkt. No. 25

Plaintiff, a California prisoner, filed this pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 

1983 against officials at Pelican Bay State Prison, where Plaintiff was formerly housed. Plaintiff 

claims that Defendants violated his Eighth Amendment rights by placing him on “Contraband 

Surveillance Watch” (“CSW”) for 44 hours to determine whether he had ingested contraband. 

Defendants have filed a motion for summary judgment, and Plaintiff’s opposition is presently due 

on or before April 18, 2019. 

Plaintiff has filed a motion requesting that the Court act as an intermediary between him 

and two inmates whom he claims are witnesses. Specifically, he wants these witnesses to answer 

written questions he has prepared about their experience on CSW. He requests that the Court 

locate and serve the questions upon the witnesses, order the witnesses to answer them, and then 

supply the answers to Plaintiff. 

The answers to Plaintiff’s questions are not relevant to the issues raised in Defendants’ 

motion for summary judgment. The experience of other inmates on CSW may be relevant to the 

subjective element of the Eighth Amendment analysis, that is, whether Defendants were 

deliberately indifferent to his safety. Defendants do not, however, base their pending motion on a 

Case 3:18-cv-03209-JSC Document 29 Filed 04/17/19 Page 1 of 3
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

lack of evidence of deliberate indifference. Rather, they base their motion on the objective 

element of the Eighth Amendment claim, arguing that the conditions Plaintiff faced were not 

sufficiently harsh to implicate the Eighth Amendment, and on qualified immunity, arguing that the 

law was not clearly established that such conditions violated the Eighth Amendment. The 

conditions that other inmates faced while on CSW are irrelevant to the conditions that Plaintiff 

faced while he was on CSW. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motion is DENIED.

If the case proceeds past summary judgment, Plaintiff may be entitled to the discovery he 

seeks, but the Court will defer that question until after summary judgment is decided.

Plaintiff has requested a subpoena duces tecum. The Clerk shall mail Plaintiff a subpoena 

form. Plaintiff shall fill it out and return it to the Court with an explanation for why the 

documents he seeks are relevant to his claims. If appropriate, the Clerk will then issue and serve 

the subpoena. 

The deadline for Plaintiff’s opposition to the motion for summary judgment is extended to 

and including May 16, 2019. Defendants’ reply brief is due 14 days after the opposition is filed. 

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: April 17, 2019

JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY

United States Magistrate Judge

Case 3:18-cv-03209-JSC Document 29 Filed 04/17/19 Page 2 of 3
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JAMES M. MILLIKEN,

Plaintiff,

v.

A. MAYLIN, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 18-cv-03209-JSC 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S. 

District Court, Northern District of California.

That on April 17, 2019, I SERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by placing 

said copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by 

depositing said envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(ies) into an inter-office delivery 

receptacle located in the Clerk's office.

James M. Milliken ID: F08618

Corcoran State Prison

P.O. Box 3476

4A2R-55

Corcoran, CA 93212 

Dated: April 17, 2019

Susan Y. Soong

Clerk, United States District Court

By:________________________

Ada Means, Deputy Clerk to the 

Honorable JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY

Case 3:18-cv-03209-JSC Document 29 Filed 04/17/19 Page 3 of 3