Daniels v. Monroe/Lienberger Detention Centers et al
Filing
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FINDINGS and RECOMMENDATIONS signed by Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney on 12/13/16 RECOMMENDING that defendants motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 30 ) be granted and this case closed. Referred to Judge Kimberly J. Mueller; Objections to F&R due within 14 days.(Dillon, M)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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LANDRY DANIELS,
Plaintiff,
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No. 2:14-cv-2176 KJM CKD P
v.
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
MONROE/LIENBERGER DETENTION
CENTERS, et al.,
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Defendants.
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I. Introduction
Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed this civil rights action pursuant to 42
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U.S.C. § 1983. This action proceeds against defendants Torres, Garcia, Galey, and Gall on the
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complaint filed September 19, 2014, in which plaintiff claims defendants used excessive force
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against him in 2013, when he was a county jail inmate. (ECF No. 1; see ECF Nos. 4 & 28.)
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Before the court is defendants’ motion for summary judgment. (ECF No. 30.) Plaintiff has filed
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an opposition, and defendants have replied. (ECF Nos. 35 & 36.)
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Defendants argue that (1) plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies for his claims,
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(2) plaintiff’s claims are barred under Heck v. Humphrey, and (3) defendants are entitled to
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summary judgment on the merits. As set forth below, the undersigned concludes that defendants’
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motion should be granted.
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II. Legal Standards
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A. Summary Judgment
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Summary judgment is appropriate when it is demonstrated that there “is no genuine
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dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.
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Civ. P. 56(a). A party asserting that a fact cannot be disputed must support the assertion by
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“citing to particular parts of materials in the record, including depositions, documents,
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electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations (including those made for
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purposes of the motion only), admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials. . .” Fed. R.
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Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(A).
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In the endeavor to establish the existence of a factual dispute, the opposing party need not
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establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its favor. It is sufficient that “the claimed factual
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dispute be shown to require a jury or judge to resolve the parties’ differing versions of the truth at
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trial.” T.W. Elec. Serv., 809 F.2d at 631. All reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the
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facts placed before the court must be drawn in favor of the opposing party. See Matsushita, 475
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U.S. at 587.
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In a summary judgment motion for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, the
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defendants have the initial burden to prove “that there was an available administrative remedy,
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and that the prisoner did not exhaust that available remedy.” Albino, 747 F.3d at 1172. If the
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defendants carry that burden, “the burden shifts to the prisoner to come forward with evidence
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showing that there is something in his particular case that made the existing and generally
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available administrative remedies effectively unavailable to him.” Id. The ultimate burden of
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proof remains with defendants, however. Id. “If material facts are disputed, summary judgment
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should be denied, and the district judge rather than a jury should determine the facts.” Id. at
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1166.
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B. Exhaustion Requirement
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Section 1997(e)(a) of Title 42 of the United States Code provides that “[n]o action shall be
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brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, . . . until such
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administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997(e)(a) (also known as
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the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”)). A prisoner must exhaust his administrative
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remedies before he commences suit. McKinney v. Carey, 311 F.3d 1198, 1199–1201 (9th Cir.
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2002). Failure to comply with the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement is an affirmative defense that
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must be raised and proved by the defendant. Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 216 (2007). In the
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Ninth Circuit, a defendant may raise the issue of administrative exhaustion in either (1) a motion
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to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), in the rare event the failure to exhaust is clear on the face of
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the complaint, or (2) a motion for summary judgment. Albino v. Baca, 747 F.3d 1162, 1169 (9th
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Cir. 2014) (en banc).
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An untimely or otherwise procedurally defective appeal will not satisfy the exhaustion
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requirement. Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 84 (2006). When an inmate’s administrative
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grievance is improperly rejected on procedural grounds, however, exhaustion may be excused as
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“effectively unavailable.” Sapp v. Kimbrell, 623 F.3d 813, 823 (9th Cir. 2010); see also Nunez v.
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Duncan, 591 F.3d 1217, 1224–26 (9th Cir. 2010) (warden’s mistake rendered prisoner’s
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administrative remedies “effectively unavailable”); Ward v. Chavez, 678 F.3d 1042, 1045 (9th
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Cir. 2012) (exhaustion excused where futile); Brown v. Valoff, 422 F.3d 926, 940 (9th Cir. 2005)
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(plaintiff not required to proceed to third level where appeal granted at second level and no
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further relief was available).
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III. Facts
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In a verified complaint, plaintiff alleges that, on June 17, 2013, defendants Torres,
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Garcia, Galey, and Gall used excessive force against him while he was in a holding cell at the
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Yolo County Courthouse before a court hearing. (ECF No. 1 at 5-6.)
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The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted1:
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On September 19, 2012, plaintiff was booked into the Monroe Detention Center, Yolo
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County’s Main Jail (“Monroe”), for violating the terms of his parole. (DUF 1.) The following
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month his parole was revoked, and the Board of Parole Hearings ordered him detained for 120
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days for this violation. (DUF 2.)
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See Defs.’ Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (ECF No. 30-4) & Defs.’ Reply to Plaintiff’s
Responses to Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (ECF No. 36-1).
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On May 17, 2013, while still detained at Monroe, plaintiff was scheduled for a court
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appearance. Defendant Deputies Torres and Garcia were assigned with transporting plaintiff
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from Monroe to the courthouse. (DUF 3.) They escorted him out of his cell in a wheelchair and
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drove him to the courthouse. (DUF 3-8.) Plaintiff, who was dressed in boxer shorts and a t-shirt
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and was having stomach problems, urinated in the back seat of the car. (DUF 5-7; ECF No. 1 at
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5.)
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When they arrived at the courthouse, Torres and Garcia escorted plaintiff to a holding cell
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to allow him to change into a clean jumpsuit. (DUF 8.) When Torres took off plaintiff’s left
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handcuff, plaintiff turned violently to his right, shouting “you motherfuckers” and raised his left
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arm in a threatening manner toward Deputy Garcia. (DUF 11.) Deputies Torres, Garcia, and
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another officer used force to take plaintiff to the ground and restrain him in handcuffs. (DUF 12-
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14.) Plaintiff alleges that he was placed in a chokehold, his arm was twisted behind his back, and
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his shoulder, legs, right ankle, and head were injured in the incident, which he contends was an
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excessive use of force under the Eighth Amendment. (ECF No. 1 at 5-6.) Plaintiff sustained
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abrasions to his shoulders, arms, and knee. (DUF 16.) Defendant Torres received medical
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attention for a four-inch laceration on his left forearm. (DUF 14.)
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On May 21, 2013, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint
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in the superior court charging plaintiff with a violation of Cal. Penal Code § 69, Resisting
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Executive Officer By Means of Threats, Force or Violence, for the assault on Deputy Torres.
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(DUF 18.) Additional counts were added and, on October 9, 2013, a jury found plaintiff guilty of
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two counts of violating Cal. Penal Code § 69 for his assault on Deputies Torres and Garcia.
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(DUF 19-21.) On November 14, 2013, the court sentenced plaintiff to a prison term of 25 years
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to life. (DUF 22.) The next day, plaintiff was transferred out of Monroe to begin serving his
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prison sentence. (DUF 23.)
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Monroe has a grievance procedure to allow inmates to redress conditions related to
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confinement, used in conjunction with an inmate grievance form. (DUF 24.) The grievance
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procedure is described in Monroe’s Inmate Handbook, which is provided to all incoming inmates
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and also is available on request. (DUF 25.) Inmate grievances are assigned log numbers,
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documented, and reviewed in a three-level process, with review by the Jail Commander the final
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administrative remedy available to inmates. (DUF 26-27.)
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During plaintiff’s 14-month period of incarceration at Monroe, he submitted at least two
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dozen grievances on Monroe’s official Inmate Grievance Form. (DUF 29.) In a sworn
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declaration, Yolo County Correctional Lieutenant Mike Castaneda states that, of the twenty-four
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grievances plaintiff submitted while at Monroe, twenty-one were submitted after the May 17,
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2013 incident of alleged excessive force, yet none of them made any mention of the events of
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May 17, 2013. (Castaneda Supp. Decl., ECF No. 36-2, ¶ 3.)
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In his opposition, plaintiff states that he
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filed at least 30 grievances or more about incidents, claims, and
treatment at [Monroe], and never received a response for more than
five. My cell was repeatedly searched and trashed, and I was
targeted by certain correctional officers, with no assistance from my
attorney/public defender. I had to wait until I was finally
transferred to DVI/Tracy to file another grievance asking for a
response to my claim. That grievance was also still never returned
with a reply to exhaust any remedies.
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(ECF No. 35 at 2.) On March 10, 2014, four months after he was transferred from Monroe to a
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state prison, plaintiff drafted a grievance about the May 17, 2013 incident, which he submitted
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with his federal complaint. (ECF No. 1 at 5-6.)
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and it is unclear from the record how, when, or at what institution he submitted this document for
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review by correctional officials. Monroe has no record of this purported grievance except as a
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document attached to the complaint in this action. (DUF 30.)
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IV. Analysis
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Plaintiff did not use an official grievance form,
Based on the above record, defendants have met their initial burden to prove that there
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was an available administrative remedy, and that plaintiff did not exhaust that remedy for the
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events giving rise to this action. Monroe had an established inmate grievance procedure, and
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plaintiff himself filed two dozen grievances while housed there. However, none of these
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grievances concerned defendants’ use of force on May 17, 2013.
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Turning to plaintiff’s burden, plaintiff’s statements that his cell was “searched and
trashed” and that he only received responses to a handful of his grievances at Monroe do not
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suffice to show that administrative remedies were effectively unavailable. The fact that plaintiff
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filed numerous grievances between May 2013 and his November 2013 transfer suggests a belief
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that administrative remedies were available at the jail. Plaintiff does not explain why he
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attempted to seek such remedies for many other issues, but not the incident that is the subject of
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this action. While plaintiff apparently attempted to submit a grievance to officials at Monroe ten
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months after the May 2013 incident, this does not show that such remedies were effectively
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unavailable. See Woodford, 548 U.S. at 84 (an untimely or otherwise procedurally defective
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appeal will not satisfy the exhaustion requirement).
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The undersigned concludes that there is no genuine dispute of fact that plaintiff failed to
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exhaust administrative remedies as to his federal claims, obviating the need to reach defendants’
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other arguments for summary judgment. Based on the foregoing, the undersigned will
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recommend that defendants’ motion be granted.
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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY RECOMMENDED that defendants’ motion for summary
judgment (ECF No. 30) be granted and this case closed.
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These findings and recommendations are submitted to the United States District Judge
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assigned to the case, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(l). Within fourteen days
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after being served with these findings and recommendations, any party may file written
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objections with the court and serve a copy on all parties. Such a document should be captioned
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“Objections to Magistrate Judge’s Findings and Recommendations.” The parties are
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advised that failure to file objections within the specified time may waive the right to appeal the
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District Court’s order. Martinez v. Ylst, 951 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir. 1991).
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Dated: December 13, 2016
_____________________________________
CAROLYN K. DELANEY
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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