Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_09-cv-00846/USCOURTS-casd-3_09-cv-00846-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 28:1331 Federal Question: Bivens Act

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 See Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 338

(1971).

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

MANUEL CABRERA-ALEJANDRE,

Plaintiff,

CASE NO. 09cv846-WQH-MDD

ORDER

vs.

MR. DAVID LUSCHE, MS. MARIA

MOREL, LT. COMMANDER

LINSTEDT,

Defendants.

HAYES, Judge:

The matter before the Court is the review of the Report and Recommendation (ECF No.

43) issued by United States Magistrate Judge Mitchell D. Dembin, recommending that

Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint (ECF No. 38) be

granted.

BACKGROUND

On April 15, 2009, Plaintiff, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, filed a Complaint

fashioned as a Bivens action1

 against the United States and fifteen individual Defendants.

(ECF No. 1).

On April 21, 2010, Plaintiff filed the Second Amended Complaint, which is the

operative pleading, against three individual Defendants. (ECF No. 26). Plaintiff alleges that

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in July 2007 and November 2007, while Plaintiff was incarcerated at a Corrections Corporation

of America facility in San Diego, California, the Defendants “acted with deliberate

indifference to Plaintiff’s health and safety” by providing “inadequate health care treatment.”

Id. ¶¶ 28, 29.

On May 12, 2011, all Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended

Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. (ECF No. 38). Defendants contend that,

because they were at all relevant times employees of the United States Public Health Service

(“USPHS”) acting within the scope of their employment, they are absolutely immune from suit

in a Bivens action.

On August 12, 2011, the Magistrate Judge issued the Report and Recommendation.

(ECF No. 43). The Report and Recommendation recommends that Defendants’ Motion to

Dismiss be granted on the basis that Defendants are absolutely immune from suit. The Report

and Recommendation recommends that Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint be dismissed

with prejudice.

On September 16, 2011, Plaintiff filed Objections to the Report and Recommendation.

(ECF No. 45). Plaintiff requests this “Court to convey such petition for relief under [the]

Federal Tort Claim[s] Act if that [is] the avenue that ... give[s] this ... Court the jurisdiction to

[consider] ... this case.” Id. at 1.

On September 21, 2011, Defendants filed a Reply to Plaintiff’s Objections. (ECF No.

47). Defendants contend that the Magistrate Judge correctly recommended that the Court lacks

subject matter jurisdiction and Plaintiff’s claim should be dismissed with prejudice.

DISCUSSION

The duties of the district court in connection with a Report and Recommendation of a

Magistrate Judge are set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b) and 28 U.S.C. § 636(b).

The district judge must “make a de novo determination of those portions of the report ... to

which objection is made,” and “may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings

or recommendations made by the magistrate.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b).

The Court has considered all objections filed by Plaintiff and reviewed de novo all

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portions of the Report and Recommendation. The Magistrate Judge correctly found that the

affidavits submitted with the Motion to Dismiss, and not disputed by Plaintiff, were sufficient

to establish that each Defendant was a commissioned officer of the USPHS acting within the

scope of his or her employment at all relevant times. The Magistrate Judge correctly found

that, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 233(a), the Federal Tort Claims Act is the exclusive remedy for

any personal injury caused by a USPHS employee while performing a medical or related

function while acting within the scope of his or her employment. See Hui v. Castaneda, 130

S. Ct. 1845, 1851 (2010). Defendants have presented evidence that Plaintiff has failed to file

an administrative tort claim pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act within the two-year

limitations period established by 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b). (Gantzel Decl. ¶¶ 2-3, ECF No. 47-1).

“[B]ecause § 2401(b) is jurisdictional, [courts] must refrain from using equitable estoppel or

equitable tolling to excuse Plaintiff’s untimeliness.” Marley v. United States, 567 F.3d 1030,

1037 (9th Cir. 2009). Accordingly, the Magistrate Judge correctly concluded that the Second

Amended Complaint should be dismissed with prejudice. See Frigard v. United States, 862

F.2d 201, 204 (9th Cir. 1988) (“Ordinarily, a case dismissed for lack of subject matter

jurisdiction should be dismissed without prejudice so that a plaintiff may reassert his claims

in a competent court. Here, however, the bar of sovereign immunity is absolute: no other court

has the power to hear the case, nor can the Frigards redraft their claims to avoid the exceptions

to the [Federal Tort Claims Act]. Thus, the district court did not abuse its discretion in

dismissing the action with prejudice.”) (citation omitted).

CONCLUSION

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: (1) the Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 43)

is ADOPTED; (2) Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 38) is GRANTED; and the

Second Amended Complaint is DISMISSED for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Clerk

shall enter judgment for Defendants and against Plaintiff.

DATED: September 30, 2011

WILLIAM Q. HAYES

United States District Judge

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