Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_11-cv-01015/USCOURTS-caed-2_11-cv-01015-4/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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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

GUILLERMO CHAVEZ,

Plaintiff, No. 2:11-cv-1015 WBS CKD P

vs.

GRANADOZ, AMENDED

Defendant. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 /

Plaintiff Chavez, an inmate of the California Department of Corrections and

Rehabilitation (“CDCR”), proceeds pro se with a verified civil rights complaint filed pursuant to

42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff asserts claims under the First and Eighth Amendments against

defendant Granadoz, the sole defendant. On May 30, 2012, defendant moved to dismiss the

complaint on the ground that plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies before filing suit. 

Plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion and defendant filed a reply. On January 8, 2013, the

undersigned issued findings and recommendations recommending that the motion to dismiss be

granted. Subsequently, plaintiff filed objections accompanied by a document styled as a

“Request for Judicial Notice...” in which he asked the court to consider new evidence and

argument not previously before the court in consideration of defendant’s motion to dismiss. 

Respondent made no response to plaintiff’s objections. The undersigned exercised discretion to

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consider the new argument submitted by petitioner (see Jones v. Blanas, 393 F.3d 918, 935 (9th

Cir. 2004)) and, based thereupon, vacated the findings and recommendations entered January 8,

2013. For the reasons that follow, it will be recommended that defendant’s motion to dismiss be

denied.

I. Allegations of the Complaint

The events giving rise to this lawsuit occurred at California State Prison- Solano

(CSP-Solano), where plaintiff was incarcerated and defendant was employed at all times

relevant. According to the complaint, during January or February of 2010, defendant searched

the cell of another inmate, to whom plaintiff had loaned his radio. (Id. at 10.) Defendant

indicated to plaintiff that defendant was going to confiscate the radio. (Id.) Plaintiff responded

that plaintiff was going to file a staff complaint and defendant stated “Oh I can play that game

better than you,” which plaintiff took to be a threat to retaliate if plaintiff filed a grievance. (Id.)

On February 14, 2010, plaintiff was standing at his cell door when he saw

defendant engage in a short conversation with inmate Barrera and then return to the officer’s

podium. (Id. at 5-6.) Approximately 15 minutes later, an unnamed officer, Doe 1, opened

plaintiff’s cell door for early worker’s chow release. (Id. at 6.) As plaintiff proceeded down the

stairs, Doe 1 released the cell door of inmate Barrera, who ran past defendant, up to plaintiff, and

began stabbing plaintiff in the left eye with a metal weapon and kicking plaintiff with his feet. 

(Id.) Defendant did not make any attempt to stop the assault and did not activate the security

alarm for approximately 5-10 seconds. (Id.) Plaintiff sustained injuries including stab wounds to

his left eye, cuts on his head, bruises, and abrasions. (Id. at 7.)

Plaintiff was transported to the emergency room at UC Davis Medical Center

where surgery was performed on his left eye. (Id. at 3, 8.) On February 19, 2010, he was

discharged from the hospital and placed in the Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) at CSPSolano. (Id. at 3, 8-9.) Once there, Doe 1 approached plaintiff and stated “...Oh Mr. Chavez, I’m

so sorry about what happened. I’m not the regular and I told [defendant] that inmate Barrera was

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not on the release roster but he insisted and opened the door[.]” (Id. at 9.) Plaintiff alleges that

defendant knew that Barerra was not supposed to be released at the time of the assault, and that

the assault resulted from defendant’s desire to retaliate against him “for exercising his right to

complain[ ] of reprisals for [defendant] keeping his radio.” (Id. at 9-10.)

Plaintiff’s inmate appeal (CDCR-602) regarding the events of February 14, 2010

was due March 5, 2010, however he was not able to timely file it due to being in excruciating

pain and suffering from mental stress from the assault. (Id. at 3.) Plaintiff requested unnamed

staff to assist him in preparing his inmate appeal pursuant to CCR 3084.1(b), however, staff

refused. (Id. at 3-4.) On March 23, 2010, plaintiff was transported back to UC Davis for a

follow-up appointment and on March 24, 2010 another surgery was performed during which his

left eye was removed and an implant inserted. (Id. at 4, 12.) Subsequently he was transported

back to ASU at CSP-Solano on March 24, 2010. (Id.)

Plaintiff commenced this federal action on April 15, 2011. (Dkt. No. 1.) For

screening purposes, it was determined that plaintiff stated cognizable claims that Granadoz

violated his rights under the First and Eighth Amendments. (See Dkt. No. 10 at 3.)

II. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies

A. Legal Standard

Pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”):

No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under

section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner

confined in a jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such

administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.

42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Compliance with the exhaustion requirement is mandatory. Booth v.

Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 739, 741 (2001) (holding that prisoners must exhaust their administrative

remedies regardless of the relief they seek, i.e., whether injunctive relief or money damages, even

though the latter is unavailable pursuant to the administrative grievance process).

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The State of California’s prison regulations provide administrative procedures in

the form of one informal and three formal levels of review to address plaintiff’s claims. See 15

Cal. Code Regs. §§ 3084.1-3084.7. Administrative procedures generally are exhausted once a

prisoner has received a “Director’s Level Decision,” or third level review, with respect to his

issues or claims. Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15, § 3084.5. All steps must be completed before a civil

rights action is filed, unless there is an exception; exhaustion during the pendency of the

litigation will not save an action from dismissal. McKinney v. Carey, 311 F.3d 1198, 1200 (9th

Cir. 2002). In order to properly exhaust in compliance with the exhaustion requirement of

section 1997e(a), a prisoner must comply with applicable procedural rules and time

requirements. Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 90-91 (2006).

“The level of detail in an administrative grievance necessary to properly exhaust a

claim is determined by the prison’s applicable grievance procedures.” Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S.

199, 218 (2007); see also McCollum v. CDCR, 647 F.3d 870, 876 (2011) (“Whether an inmate’s

claim has been exhausted is determined by reference to the prison’s own grievance requirements,

which necessitate that the inmate “describe the problem and the action requested.” (internal

quotations and citations omitted). In California,

A grievance need not include legal terminology or legal theories

unless they are in some way needed to provide notice of the harm

being grieved. A grievance also need not contain every fact

necessary to prove each element of an eventual legal claim. The

primary purpose of a grievance is to alert the prison to a problem

and facilitate its resolution, not to lay groundwork for litigation.

Griffin v. Arpaio, 557 F.3d 1117, 1120 (9th Cir. 2009); see also McCollum, 647 F.3d at 876

(“While an inmate need not articulate a precise legal theory, a grievance must alert the prison to

the nature of the wrong for which redress is sought.”); see also Jones, 549 U.S. at 219

(“[E]xhaustion is not per se inadequate simply because an individual later sued was not named in

the grievances.”).

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The exhaustion requirement is not jurisdictional, but rather is an affirmative

defense that may be raised by a defendant in a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of

Civil Procedure 12(b). See Jones 549 U.S. at 216 (“inmates are not required to specially plead

or demonstrate exhaustion in their complaints”); Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F.3d 1108, 1117–19 (9th

Cir. 2003) (failure to exhaust is an affirmative defense). The defendant bears the burden of

raising and proving the absence of exhaustion. Id. at 1119. If the district court concludes that the

prisoner has not exhausted administrative remedies on a claim, “the proper remedy is dismissal

of the claim without prejudice.” Wyatt, 315 F.3d at 1120; see also Lira v. Herrera, 427 F.3d

1164, 1170 (9th Cir. 2005) (“mixed” complaints may proceed on exhausted claims).

“In deciding a motion to dismiss for a failure to exhaust nonjudicial remedies, the

court may look beyond the pleadings and decide disputed issues of fact.” Wyatt, 315 F.3d at

1119. “I[f] the district court looks beyond the pleadings to a factual record in deciding the

motion to dismiss for failure to exhaust – a procedure closely analogous to summary judgment –

then the court must assure that [the prisoner] has fair notice of his opportunity to develop a

record.” Id. at 1120 n.14. In this case, plaintiff was advised of the requirements to oppose an

unenumerated Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss by orders of the court on February 17, 2012 and July

12, 2012. (Dkt. Nos. 14, 19.)

B. Discussion

Defendant contends plaintiff failed to properly exhaust administrative remedies

before filing suit. As set forth, plaintiff filed his inmate appeal (CDCR 602) late, on April 4,

2010. (Id. at 4.) Although he attempted to explain therein why it was submitted late, the CSPSolano Appeals coordinator rejected it as untimely. (Id. at 4.)

Subsequently, however, plaintiff’s untimely appeal dated April 4, 2010 was

accepted for further review. (Dkt. No. 18-1 at 3 & Ex. A.) According to the sworn declaration of

S. Cervantes, Appeals Coordinator at CSP-Solano, plaintiff’s April 4, 2010 appeal was accepted

for further review on June 14, 2010; however, at that time plaintiff was requested to provide

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more information about whether he was filing a staff complaint. (Id.) Specifically the response

provided to plaintiff was as follows:

Your CDC 602 dated 4/4/10 has been accepted for further review. 

However, clarification is needed. If you are filing a staff

complaint, you must provide specific name of staff involved in the

2/14/10 incident on first watch, in Building Twelve. If you are not

filing a staff complaint, please indicate that attached CDC 602 is

not filed as a staff complaint issue.

(Dkt. No. 18-1 at Ex. A.) Plaintiff did not respond to this request for additional information and

his appeal was screened out. (Dkt. No. 18-1 at 3.)

In addition, according to the sworn declaration of J.D. Lozano, Chief of the Office

of Appeals (OAA), no appeals have been accepted from plaintiff at the Director’s Level of

review, which is the final level of available review. (Dkt. No. 18-2 at 3.) Plaintiff’s Appellate

Appeal History maintained by the OAA indicates that only two appeals have been submitted by

plaintiff, one regarding a disciplinary issue in 2010 and one regarding a medical issue in 2001;

both were screened out. (Dkt. No. 18-2 at Ex. A.)

Defendant asserts that because plaintiff failed to respond to the request for

clarification from the CSP-Appeals coordinator and also failed to submit the issue to the third

and final level of review, he deprived the prison of the opportunity to review and remedy the

issues grieved, which constitutes a failure to properly exhaust administrative remedies. (Dkt. No.

18 at 5.)

In his opposition to the motion to dismiss, plaintiff argued, in relevant part, that

the CSP-Solano Appeals Coordinator improperly screened out his appeal for failing to respond to

the request for clarification regarding whether he was submitting a staff complaint. He asserted:

[T]he appeal rejection in June, 2010, was based upon the fact that

Plaintiff did not name the person he was attempting to submit the

appeal upon. However, [t]he prison grievance system in California

does not require a prisoner to expressly name the defendants in the

grievance in order to exhaust administrative remedies under the

PLRA.

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(Dkt. No. 21 at 8-9.) And further:

Because Plaintiff could not have completed the appeals process

without first going through the SOL Institutional Level Review,

Defendant must be estopped from relying on a condition to filing

an appeal that Plaintiff was prevented from attempting to exhaust.

(Dkt. No. 21 at 6-7 (internal citations and footnote omitted).)

“[E]xhaustion is not per se inadequate simply because an individual later sued

was not named in the grievances.” Jones, 549 U.S. at 219. In the vacated findings and

recommendations issued January 8, 2013, the undersigned found that the appeals coordinator’s

request for plaintiff to provide additional information was in accord with CDCR’s grievance

procedures which provide that the appealing inmate “shall list all staff member(s) involved and

shall describe their involvement in the issue.” 15 Cal. Code Regs. § 3084.2(a)(3). Plaintiff has

never disputed that he made no response directly to the appeals coordinator’s request for the

name of the staff member involved. Plaintiff argued in his opposition that the appeals

coordinator improperly screened out his appeal “on a technicality that he could not have possibly

complied with.” (Dkt. No. 21 at 6.) The undersigned rejected this argument in the vacated

findings and recommendations because plaintiff did not explain why he could not comply with

the request for more information and how he was allegedly prevented from complying with

CDCR’s rule to name or attempt to identify the staff member involved in his staff complaint after

specifically being requested to do so.

In new argument being considered in regard to the pending motion, plaintiff has

clarified why he could not complete the appeals process:

Defendant [Granadoz] argues that because plaintiff did not clarify

whether the 602 appeal was a staff complaint, that plaintiff has

failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. However before

plaintiff could even begin to clarify that his 602 appeal was a staff

complaint, plaintiff first has to able to [sic] identify the “specific

name[s]” of the staff involved in and surrounding the underlying

2/14/10 incident. (See Defendant’s Reply at p.2:13), and in order

to identify such requested specific names of the staff involved,

plaintiff first has to at least have a copy of the incident report of the

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incident, because the incident report is the primary document

which informs about the specific names of the staff involved.

Point here is that plaintiff has exercised due diligence in requesting

the specific names of the staff involved, and by failing and refusing

to provide plaintiff with the incident report and the specific names

defendants [sic], and each of them, have put plaintiff in a no-wincatch-22 situation by demanding on the one had [sic] a clarification

of whether the 602 is a staff complaint, which in turn requires

specific names of the staff involved, but then on the other hand

defendant, and each of them, are failing and refusing to provide

plaintiff with the incident report containing the specific names and

continuing to fail to provide plaintiff with the specific names of the

staff involved as requested in the interrogatories.”

More plainly put, defendants here are demanding clarification of a

staff complaint which requires plaintiff to give specific names of

staff that plaintiff simply does not know, but defendants here are

also depriving plaintiff of the means to acquire the specific names

so that he can clarify a staff complaint.

(Dkt. No. 26 at 1-2.) Plaintiff has submitted copies of requests he made for the relevant incident

report and rule violation report following the screening out of his grievance by the appeals

coordinator on June 14, 2010; those requests were dated June 20, 2010 and July 14, 2010. (Id. at

8.) Plaintiff alleges that these requests went unanswered. (Id. at 1.)

Of course, plaintiff could have responded to the appeal coordinator’s request

stating that he still did not have the staff member’s name and was unable to obtain the staff

member’s name. In this regard, CDCR grievance procedures provide that “if the inmate... does

not have the requested identifying information about the staff member(s), he or she shall provide

any other available information that would assist the appeals coordinator in making a reasonable

attempt to identify the staff member(s) in question.” 15 Cal. Code Regs. § 3084.2(a)(4). 

However, plaintiff had already identified the staff involved as the “first watch C/O in Building

12” on February 14, 2010, and was specifically advised by the appeal coordinator in response

(and contrary to the relevant regulation) that in order to proceed, “you must provide specific

name of staff involved....” (Dkt. No. 18-1 at Ex. A.) (emphasis added). The undersigned finds

that plaintiff has sufficiently demonstrated that he exhausted those administrative remedies as

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were available to him in light of the appeal coordinator’s response and plaintiff’s inability to

obtain the name of the staff involved. See Sapp v. Kimbrell, 623 F.3d 813, 822 (9th Cir. 2010)

(“We have recognized that the PLRA therefore does not require exhaustion when circumstances

render administrative remedies ‘effectively unavailable.’”) (quoting Nunez v. Duncan, 591 F.3d

1217, 1226 (9th Cir. 2010)). In other words, in light of the appeal coordinator’s response,

plaintiff reasonably believed in good faith that the name of the staff involved was necessary, not

merely useful, to continue his appeal. See Nunez, 591 F.3d at 1226; see also Sapp, 623 F.3d at

823 (“Consistent... with our decision in Nunez, we hold that... [i]f prison officials screen out an

inmate’s appeals for improper reasons, the inmate cannot pursue the necessary sequence of

appeals, and administrative remedies are therefore plainly unavailable.”). Under these

circumstances, plaintiff has met his burden of showing that administrative procedures were

effectively unavailable. See Albino v. Baca, 591 F.3d 1023, 1032 (9th Cir. 2012) (holding that

once the defendant meets his burden of showing a lack of exhaustion, the burden shifts to the

prisoner to demonstrate that the grievance process was not available because, for example, it was

thwarted).

In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY RECOMMENDED THAT:

1. Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 18) be DENIED.

These findings and recommendations are submitted to the United States District

Judge assigned to the case, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(l). Within fourteen

days after being served with these findings and recommendations, any party may file written

objections with the court and serve a copy on all parties. Such a document should be captioned 

“Objections to Magistrate Judge’s Findings and Recommendations.” Any reply to the objections

shall be served and filed within fourteen days after service of the objections. The parties are

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advised that failure to file objections within the specified time may waive the right to appeal the

District Court’s order. Martinez v. Ylst, 951 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir. 1991).

Dated: February 20, 2013

_____________________________________

CAROLYN K. DELANEY

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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