Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_14-cv-00453/USCOURTS-caed-2_14-cv-00453-4/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Anthony Cooper
Plaintiff
K. Jones
Defendant

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

ANTHONY COOPER, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

K. JONES, 

Defendant. 

No. 2:14-cv-0453 KJM AC P 

ORDER 

 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed this civil rights action seeking relief 

under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The matter was referred to a United States Magistrate Judge as provided 

by 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302. 

 On December 17, 2015, the magistrate judge filed findings and recommendations, which 

were served on all parties and which contained notice to all parties that any objections to the 

findings and recommendations were to be filed within twenty-one days. Defendant has filed 

objections to the findings and recommendations; plaintiff has filed a reply. 

 Defendant’s objections focus on whether plaintiff or defendant has the burden of pleading 

and proving that the provisions of California Code of Civil Procedure § 352.1 apply to extend by 

two years the statutory two-year limitation period for bringing the Eighth Amendment claim 

raised in this action. Defendant asserts the burden is on plaintiff to plead and prove that at the 

time his claim accrued he was serving a sentence of “less than life” in prison, and that plaintiff 

Case 2:14-cv-00453-KJM-AC Document 29 Filed 02/05/16 Page 1 of 2
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failed to meet this burden. In reply, plaintiff asserts that he is serving a sentence of twenty-five 

years to life in prison and he attaches as an exhibit a portion of a certified transcript from 

proceedings in Fresno County Superior Court during which a sentence of twenty-five years to life 

is imposed on the defendant in those proceedings, who is referred to once as Mr. Cooper in the 

transcript excerpt filed by plaintiff. The court need not resolve the merits of defendant’s 

objections at this time. Plaintiff’s evidence is sufficient to give rise to a reasonable inference that 

he has since 1980 been incarcerated on a sentence of twenty-five years to life in prison. If he was 

in fact serving a sentence of twenty-five years to life in prison when his cause of action accrued, 

he is entitled to the statutory tolling provided by § 352.1. See Martinez v. Gomez, 137 F.3d 1124, 

1126 (9th Cir. 1998). Good cause appearing, the court will convert this portion of defendant’s 

motion to a motion for summary judgment, consider the evidence tendered by plaintiff in reply to 

defendant’s objections, and grant defendant a period of ten days in which to respond to plaintiff’s 

reply and the evidence contained therein. See Anderson v. Angelone, 86 F.3d 932, 934 (9th Cir. 

1996). Thereafter, the matter will be submitted. 

 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that defendant is granted ten 

days from the date of this order in which to file and serve a response to plaintiff’s reply and the 

evidence attached thereto, ECF No. 28. 

DATED: February 4, 2016 

Case 2:14-cv-00453-KJM-AC Document 29 Filed 02/05/16 Page 2 of 2