Dragasits v. Yu, et al
Filing
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ORDER denying Plaintiff's 30 Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Signed by Judge Cynthia Bashant on 2/14/2018. (All non-registered users served via U.S. Mail Service) (jah)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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STEPHEN DRAGASITS,
Plaintiff,
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Case No. 16-cv-01998-BAS-JLB
ORDER DENYING MOTION
FOR PRELIMINARY
INJUNCTION
v.
[ECF No. 30]
J. YU, et al.
Defendants.
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Presently before the Court is a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by
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Plaintiff Stephen Dragasits, a California state prisoner incarcerated at the Richard
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Donovan Correctional Facility (“RJD”). (ECF No. 30.) Plaintiff alleges that the
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Defendants violated his Eighth Amendment rights by being deliberately indifferent
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to his medical needs when he was given top bunk accommodations, which posed a
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risk of harm to him. (ECF No. 27.) Plaintiff alleges that he fell off the top bunk on
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three occasions in fall 2015 despite making multiple requests for a lower bunk
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assignment. (Id.) Although Defendants have provided Plaintiff with a permanent
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lower bunk assignment (ECF No. 38), Plaintiff requests that the Court grant
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injunctive relief requiring Defendants to provide him an assignment that is not
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subject to yearly reevaluation. (Id. at 6.) For the reasons herein, the Court DENIES
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Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
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I.
LEGAL STANDARD
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A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary relief and drastic remedy and “one
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that should not be granted unless the movant, by a clear showing, carries the burden
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of persuasion.” Mazurek v. Armstrong, 520 U.S. 968, 972 (1997). An injunction
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may be granted only where the movant shows that “he is likely to succeed on the
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merits, that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief,
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that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and that an injunction is in the public
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interest.” Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008); Am.
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Trucking Ass'ns, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, 559 F.3d 1046, 1052 (9th Cir. 2009).
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The movant has the burden of proof on each element of the test. Envtl. Council of
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Sacramento v. Slater, 184 F. Supp. 2d 1016, 1027 (E.D. Cal. 2000).
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The Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) imposes additional requirements
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on prisoner litigants who seek preliminary injunctive relief against prison officials.
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“Preliminary injunctive relief must be narrowly drawn, extend no further than
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necessary to correct the harm the court finds requires preliminary relief, and be the
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least intrusive means necessary to correct that harm.” 18 U.S.C. §3626(a)(2). As the
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Ninth Circuit has previously observed, the PLRA places significant limits upon a
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court’s power to grant preliminary injunctive relief to inmates, and “operates
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simultaneously to restrict the equity jurisdiction of federal courts and to protect the
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bargaining power of prison administrators—no longer may courts grant or approve
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relief that binds prison administrators to do more than the constitutional minimum.”
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Gilmore v. People of the State of California, 220 F.3d 987, 998-99 (9th Cir. 2000).
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II.
DISCUSSION
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A.
The Request for Injunctive Relief is Not Moot
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First, the Court addresses Defendants’ argument that Plaintiff’s request for
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injunctive relief is moot. Defendants provide evidence showing that Plaintiff was
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provided a lower bunk assignment on December 31, 2015. (ECF No. 38 at 6.) They
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also provide evidence showing that Plaintiff “has a permanent lower bunk chrono
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with an expiration date of December 31, 9999.” (Id. at 5 (citing Decl. of T. Johnson
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¶¶3–4, Exs. A–B).) Defendants do not provide evidence showing that the permanent
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lower bunk chrono is not subject to reevaluation, which is the basis of Plaintiff’s
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request for injunctive relief. (ECF No. 30 at 6.) The absence of this evidence
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prevents the Court from concluding that Plaintiff’s motion is in fact moot. Cf.
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Williams v. Chau, No. 3:17-cv-00517-CAB-KSC, 2018 WL 558987, at *7 (S.D. Cal.
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Jan. 24, 2018) (preliminary injunction request for permanent lower bunk chrono
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without reevaluation was moot because plaintiff had received accommodation with
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expiration date of 12/31/9999 not subject to reevaluation). Because Plaintiff’s
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request is not moot, the Court proceeds to assess whether Plaintiff has shown that he
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is entitled to preliminary injunctive relief.
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B.
Plaintiff Has Failed to Show Irreparable Harm Necessary for
Issuance of a Preliminary Injunction
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The Court finds that the issue of whether Plaintiff is entitled to a preliminary
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injunction at this stage of the proceedings begins and ends with his failure to show
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irreparable harm.
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Irreparable harm has been described as “[p]erhaps the single most important
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prerequisite for the issuance of a preliminary injunction.” See 11A Wright & Miller,
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FED. PRAC. & PROC. §2948.1 (3d ed.). When a plaintiff fails to demonstrate a
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likelihood of irreparable harm without preliminary relief, the court need not address
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the remaining elements of the preliminary injunction standard. See Center for Food
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Safety v. Vilsack, 636 F.3d 1166, 1174 (9th Cir. 2011). Because the conduct at issue
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in this case concerns alleged past violations of the law by government actors, Plaintiff
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is required to establish the threat of future or repeated injury that is both “real and
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immediate,” not merely “conjectural” or “hypothetical.” City of Los Angeles v.
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Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 102 (1983). The Plaintiff must show “that a credible threat exists
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that [he] will again be subject to the specific injury for which [he] seek[s] injunctive
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or declaratory relief.” Sample v. Johnson, 771 F.2d 1335, 1340 (9th Cir. 1985). The
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Ninth Circuit has repeatedly admonished that “[s]peculative injury does not
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constitute irreparable injury sufficient to warrant granting a preliminary injunction.”
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Carribean Marine Servs. Co. v. Baldrige, 844 F.2d 668, 674 (9th Cir. 1988); Goldie’s
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Bookstore, Inc. v. Superior Court, 739 F.2d 466, 472 (9th Cir. 1984).
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The Court finds that Plaintiff’s request for injunctive relief is based on
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speculative future injury that is insufficient to constitute irreparable injury. The
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incidents at issue in Plaintiff’s amended complaint occurred on August 3, August 21,
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and December 27, 2015. (ECF No. 30 at 2.) Even if these incidents resulted in
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violations of Plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment rights, those past violations which
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occurred nearly two years before the filing of the motion for preliminary injunctive
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relief do not establish that he is subject to ongoing harm or faces an immediate threat
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of irreparable harm. See Midgett v. Tri-Cty. Metro. Transp. Dist., 254 F.3d 846, 850
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(9th Cir. 2001); see also Cohea v. Patzloff, No. 10cv0437 IEG (RBB), 2010 WL
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1200342, at *6 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 23, 2010) (finding no irreparable harm because, inter
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alia, the allegations concerned incidents that occurred several years ago). Plaintiff
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must provide specific facts which clearly show a credible threat of future injury. FED.
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R. CIV. P. 65(b); see also, e.g., Wallace v. Sosa, No. 16-cv-01501-BAS-BGS, 2017
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WL 469140, at *4 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 3, 2017). Plaintiff has not done so.
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Plaintiff concedes that he was provided a permanent lower bunk chrono on
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December 28, 2015—a mere one day after his final fall. (ECF No. 27 ¶132.)
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Defendants have also provided evidence of Plaintiff’s permanent lower bunk chrono.
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(ECF No. 38 Ex. B.) Although the Court has found that this evidence does not moot
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Plaintiff’s claim for injunctive relief for a permanent lower back chrono not subject
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to reevaluation, the evidence does undermine Plaintiff’s speculative assertions about
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future injury simply because the chrono is subject to future review. See, e.g.,
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Wallace, No. 2017 WL 469140, at *4 (no showing of irreparable harm to support
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injunctive request for single cell status pending release date where plaintiff was
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placed in single cell status subject to review at a later point). At this point, Plaintiff
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has a lower bunk assignment with a permanent status. Plaintiff merely asserts that
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there is a future “risk of being placed on the upper bunk again years later” due to
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yearly review of his permanent lower bunk chrono, which in turn leads to a
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“substantial serious risk of falling, and causing serious physical injury again.” (ECF
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No. 30 at 4.) However, the possibility of some remote future injury is insufficient to
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warrant injunctive relief. See Winter, 555 U.S. at 20. This is particularly true when,
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as here, the threat of injury is contingent on a series of speculative occurrences. The
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Court would need to assume that review of Plaintiff’s permanent lower bunk
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assignment would result its rescission at some indeterminate point, Plaintiff would
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be placed on a top bunk, Plaintiff would fall off the top bunk at some indeterminate
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point thereafter, and Plaintiff would sustain physical injuries. The issuance of a
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preliminary injunction is not appropriate to mitigate against these mere possibilities
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and assumptions.
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III.
CONCLUSION & ORDER
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Because Plaintiff has received a permanent lower bunk assignment and has
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failed to show he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the future simply because the
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assignment is subject to review at a later date, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion
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for a preliminary injunction. (ECF No. 30.)
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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DATED: February 14, 2018
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