Opinion ID: 1038320
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Summary Judgment as to Westcare

Text: We now turn to Hazle’s constitutional claim against Westcare. The district judge granted summary judgment to Westcare on the ground that Hazle had failed to introduce any facts tending to support the conclusion that Westcare was a proximate cause of his injuries, holding that Hazle “cannot establish a causal connection between Westcare’s alleged acts and the violation of [Plaintiff’s] rights.” We hold that, when the facts are taken in the light most favorable to Hazle, a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Westcare’s actions causally contributed to the violation of Hazle’s constitutional rights. We thus reverse the grant of summary judgment in Westcare’s favor with regard to Hazle’s section 1983 claim. One of Hazle’s allegations was that he suffered harm as a result of Westcare’s unconstitutional conduct in “requiring him . . . to participate in a ‘12-step’ program that contains substantial religious components.” Further, Hazle alleged that this constitutional violation occurred, at least in part, because Westcare had a policy or custom of “failing to provide [parolees] with secular or non-religious alternatives for post-release treatment.” This is the manner in which, according to the record, Westcare contributed to the violation of Hazle’s constitutional rights. It is undisputed that Westcare was the regional Substance Abuse Services Coordination Agency in the relevant part of California, and that, in that capacity, Westcare “contracts with the State of California to create a network of treatment facilities for parolees with drug-related convictions, and coordinates with the State to place parolees in these programs.” Westcare concedes that it does not have in its network any facilities that provide non-religious treatment options; rather, Westcare 26 HAZLE V. CROFOOT admits that it “continues to contract solely with residential providers that use the 12-step program ‘in some form or fashion.’” We think it obvious that a foreseeable result of Westcare’s actions in providing only religion-based programs for parolees is that some California prisoners will be required to submit to religious treatment programs despite their objections. Our case law requires no more to establish proximate causation. In Crowe v. Cnty. of San Diego, for example, we found police officers to be the proximate cause of a Miranda violation, even though they did not commit the ultimate act that completed the constitutional violation. 608 F.3d 406, 430–31 (9th Cir. 2010). We held that liability for a constitutional violation requires only that the defendant “‘set[] in motion a series of acts by others which the [defendant] knows or reasonably should know would cause others to inflict the constitutional injury.’” Id. at 430 (quoting Johnson v. Duffy, 588 F.2d 740, 743–44 (9th Cir. 1978)). Our conclusion is buttressed by our 2007 holding in Inouye, in which we concluded that a parolee’s right to be free from coerced participation in a religious treatment program was a matter of “uncommonly well-settled case law” that was “enough for us to hold that the law was clearly established, sufficient to give notice to a reasonable parole officer, in 2001.” 504 F.3d at 716. Inouye leaves little room for Westcare to argue that constitutional injuries of the sort suffered by Hazle were not a foreseeable result of its actions. Westcare suggests that, standing alone, its failure to provide Hazle a non-religious alternative was not sufficient to hold it liable for violating his constitutional rights. It HAZLE V. CROFOOT 27 argues that it had no part in the decision to assign Hazle to a Westcare facility—the decision that, Westcare contends, was the true cause of Hazle’s constitutional violation. To the extent that Westcare suggests that the state should have known and accommodated the fact that all of Westcare’s treatment facilities would violate the First Amendment rights of non-religious parolees, we are doubtful that such an argument may serve as a defense to liability, particularly given Westcare’s special role as the state-contracted Substance Abuse Services Coordination Agency for the region involved. It appears from the record that there were no other entities that provided the service that Westcare did in the region of California that it served under its contract with the state. It also appears that state officials were not free, either before or after Hazle arrived at one of the facilities in Westcare’s network, to place him in a treatment facility outside Westcare’s network. Westcare itself concedes that it “coordinates with the State to place parolees in” the Westcare network of treatment programs, all of which are religion based. We thus find that Hazle has, at least, created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Westcare’s policy of contracting solely with religious facilities was a proximate cause of his constitutional injuries.12 12 Westcare in fact “acknowledges its obligation to ensure that the residential facilities it contracts with do not require [parolee] participants to attend religious events or participate in religious events.” Indeed, its standard contract specifically forbids the treatment facilities it contracts with from requiring parolees to “attend religious events or participate in religious activities.” The actual cause of Westcare’s potential constitutional violation appears to be its too-narrow construction of the word “religious,” in that it “interprets the word ‘religious’ in its contractual provision to mean ‘attending church or prayer services’ and does not consider the 12-step process to be ‘religious.’” We cannot explain its continued adherence to this position in light of our decision in 28 HAZLE V. CROFOOT In any event, Hazle has grounds other than Westcare’s policy of contracting exclusively with religious facilities that create a triable issue of fact regarding whether Westcare caused his constitutional injury. Viewed in the light most favorable to Hazle, Westcare was intimately involved in the process that led Hazle to be placed in a religion-based facility. A declaration provided by Hazle describes Westcare’s involvement in selecting a treatment facility for him: “Prior to my release on parole, I had notified correctional authorities and representatives of Westcare California, Inc. (“Westcare”) of my Atheism, and requested placement in a treatment facility that did not contain religious components. In response, a Westcare representative told me I should ask to be assigned to Empire.” This is consistent with Westcare’s own admissions, which suggest that it has a significant role in determining the treatment facility to which parolees will be assigned. Westcare stated that it “finds available programs that meet the parolee’s parole term conditions and relays such information to the transitional coordinator inside the prison.” It further stated that “if the parolee does not already have a specific provider request, Westcare will provide the name(s) of available providers to the transitional coordinator to relay to the parolee. In the case of CDCR Norco, [the prison in which Hazle was incarcerated,] Westcare coordinators discuss available treatment facilities with transitional coordinators who work for Mental Health Systems, Inc., within the prison.” Westcare’s own records regarding Hazle confirm that he met with a Westcare representative numerous times before he was Inouye that “reverence for ‘a higher power’ is a substantial component of the AA/NA program” and that forced participation in such 12-step programs “strikes at the core of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.” 504 F.3d at 712. HAZLE V. CROFOOT 29 released from prison and specifically “discussed aftercare and relapse prevention.” Thus, Westcare’s suggestion that it had no part in forming the conditions of Hazle’s parole is contradicted by the record, which, viewed in the light most favorable to Hazle, supports an inference that Westcare was responsible for Hazle’s being referred to the religious treatment facility where his First Amendment rights were violated. We thus find that, when the evidence is taken in the light most favorable to Hazle, a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Westcare’s actions constituted a proximate cause of the violation of Hazle’s constitutional rights when it (1) contracted only with treatment facilities offering solely religious based programs or services, and (2) counseled and arranged for Hazle to attend a religion-based facility as a part of his state-imposed parole program, despite having been informed that he was an atheist and that he objected to such religious programming. We accordingly reverse the district judge’s grant of summary judgment to Westcare, and remand for further proceedings.13