Court Opinion

ID: 9366676
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-27 18:01:08.651853+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:54.226775
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                          FILED
                     UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       JAN 27 2023
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                            FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

NOAH SCHRODER,                                  No. 22-35006

                 Plaintiff-Appellant,           D.C. No. 1:20-cv-00583-DCN

  v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
JAY CHRISTENSEN, Warden; BON JOVI,
Sergeant; BURRUS, Officer; TAYLOR,
Sergeant,

                 Defendants-Appellees,

and

RONA SIEGERT; REESE, PA; CHRIS
JOHNSON,

                 Defendants.

                    Appeal from the United States District Court
                              for the District of Idaho
                      David C. Nye, District Judge, Presiding

                            Submitted January 18, 2023**

Before:        GRABER, PAEZ, and NGUYEN, Circuit Judges.

          *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
          **
             The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
      Noah Schroder, an Idaho state prisoner, appeals pro se from the district

court’s summary judgment for failure to exhaust administrative remedies in his

42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging Eighth Amendment claims. We have jurisdiction

under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo. Albino v. Baca, 747 F.3d 1162,

1168 (9th Cir. 2014) (en banc). We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

      The district court properly granted summary judgment on Schroder’s claim

related to the May 1, 2020 injury because Schroder failed to exhaust his

administrative remedies and failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to

whether administrative remedies were effectively unavailable to him. See Ross v.

Blake, 578 U.S. 632, 642–44 (2016) (explaining that an inmate must exhaust such

administrative remedies as are available before bringing suit, and describing

limited circumstances in which administrative remedies are unavailable);

Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 90–91 (2006) (exhaustion requires compliance with

prison deadlines and other procedural rules).

      The district court also granted summary judgment on Schroder’s conditions-

of-confinement claim alleging that prison officials failed to remedy the flooding in

his cell in October 2020. The district court determined that although Schroder

fully exhausted his October grievance related to this claim, that grievance was

insufficient to exhaust his claim for damages because the grievance asked the

prison to fix the leak in his cell and did not seek damages. However, Schroder’s

                                          2                                     22-35006
October grievance was sufficient to put the prison on adequate notice of the

continued flooding in his cell, which is all that is required. See Griffin v. Arpaio,

557 F.3d 1117, 1120 (9th Cir. 2009) (the primary purpose of a grievance is to alert

the prison to a problem and facilitate its resolution, and a grievance suffices if it

alerts the prison to the nature of the wrong for which redress is sought); see also

Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 741 (2001) (requiring a prisoner to exhaust

administrative remedies even when the prisoner’s suit seeks monetary damages

that are unavailable through the prison’s grievance process). Because Schroder

exhausted his administrative remedies with respect to this claim, we reverse and

remand for further proceedings on this claim only.

      The parties will bear their own costs on appeal.

      AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED.

                                           3                                     22-35006