Kaeo-Tomaselli v. Women's Community Correctional Center et al

Filing 22

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS DEFENDANT ABBY MEDRANO IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AND GIVING PLAINTIFF LEAVE TO FILE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT 18 - Signed by CHIEF JUDGE SUSAN OKI MOLLWAY on 5/7/12. -- " The court gives Kaeo-Tomaselli leave to file a Second Amended Complaint no later than June 12, 2013. The court stresses that claims for money damages against state employees sued only in their official capacities may not be reasserted." " T he Clerk of Court is directed to send Kaeo-Tomaselli two more copies of the "Prisoner Civil Rights Complaint" form for her use." (emt, )CERTIFICATE OF SERVICEParticipants registered to receive electronic notifications received this document electronically at the e-mail address listed on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF). A copy of this order, along with two copies of the court's "Prisoner Civil Rights Complaint" form and instructions were served to Dion'e Kaeo-Tomaselli at the address of record on May 7, 2012.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII
DION`E KAEO-TOMASELLI,
Plaintiff,
vs.
WOMEN’S COMMUNITY
CORRECTIONAL CENTER, et al.,
Defendants.
_____________________________

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CIV. NO. 11-00669 SOM/RLP
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND
DENYING IN PART MOTION TO
DISMISS DEFENDANT ABBY
MEDRANO IN HER OFFICIAL
CAPACITY AND GIVING PLAINTIFF
LEAVE TO FILE SECOND AMENDED
COMPLAINT

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS
DEFENDANT ABBY MEDRANO IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AND GIVING
PLAINTIFF LEAVE TO FILE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT
Plaintiff Dion'e Kaeo-Tomaselli is a State of Hawaii
prisoner who asserts that her federal rights have been violated
by prison personnel's denial of medical care to her.
Tomasellil is proceeding pro se.

Kaeo-

This court earlier dismissed

Kaeo-Tomaselli's complaint as part of its screening process and
gave her leave to file an amended complaint, which she did.
On March 8, 2012, Defendant Abby Medrano filed a Motion
To Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure.

This court entered a minute order the next day,

setting a deadline of April 23, 2012, for Kaeo-Tomaselli to file
any opposition.
memorandum.

This court has received no opposition

The court now removes the matter from the hearing

calendar and, without a hearing, grants in part and denies in
part the Motion To Dismiss.

The court also gives Kaeo-Tomaselli

leave to file a Second Amended Complaint no later than June 12,
2012.
Despite having received no written opposition from
Kaeo-Tomaselli, the court does not automatically grant the Motion
To Dismiss.

Instead, the court reviews the Motion To Dismiss to

determine whether the moving party has met her burden of
establishing that Kaeo-Tomaselli fails to state a claim on which
relief can be granted.
The Motion To Dismiss argues that Medrano, as a State
of Hawaii employee, cannot be sued for money damages in her
official capacity.

As explained on the court form that Kaeo-

Tomaselli used for her First Amended Complaint, Medrano is
correct.

Money damages are recoverable from a State of Hawaii

employee only when that employee is sued in her individual
capacity.

See Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S.

58, 70-71 (1989) (noting that a state cannot be sued under 28
U.S.C. § 1983 for money damages arising from a federal
constitutional violation, that "a suit against a state official
in his or her official capacity is not a suit against the
official but rather is a suit against the official's office," and
that a suit against a state official in his or her official
capacity is therefore "no different from a suit against the State
itself"); Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663 (1974).
Notwithstanding the clear statement on the court form, and

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notwithstanding the further statement on the court form allowing
Kaeo-Tomaselli to sue Medrano in both her official and individual
capacities, Kaeo-Tomaselli sued Medrano in her official capacity
only and seeks, among other relief, money damages from her.

To

the extent Kaeo-Tomaselli sues Medrano in her official capacity
for money damages, the Motion To Dismiss is granted.

All of

Kaeo-Tomaselli's claims for money damages against Medrano, in her
official capacity, are dismissed.
However, as Medrano herself concedes in the Motion To
Dismiss, and as set forth on the court form that Kaeo-Tomaselli
used in filing her First Amended Complaint, a claimant may sue a
state employee in her official capacity for injunctive relief.
See Pennhurst State School & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89,
102-03 (1984).

Unlike Medrano, the court, reading Kaeo-

Tomaselli's First Amended Complaint liberally, discerns a request
for injunctive relief in the First Amended Complaint.
For example, in Count IV, Kaeo-Tomaselli asserts that
in 2011 she was referred by prison doctors to different
specialists to treat her throat and an ingrown toenail.

She says

that Medrano denied her the treatment the doctors set forth: "I
was denied all specialist referred treatment by Abby[,] violating
my 8th Amendment to competent medical care to be denied treatment
by specialist and recommendation from outside physicians."
Tomasellil appears to be alleging that Medrano's denial

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Kaeo-

continues, as Kaeo-Tomaselli asserts, "The ingrown toenail still
in pain and has not been removed even til this very day.
throat is constantly in pain and hurts when I talk."

My

The

"Request for Relief" section of the First Amended Complaint seeks
"perpetual care upon release and for the duration of life."

Even

though care "upon release" would not be care by Medrano, the very
existence of a request for care "upon release" suggests that
Kaeo-Tomaselli is alleging that she requires care even now, while
incarcerated.

Thus, this court reads the First Amended Complaint

as including a request for injunctive relief and denies the
Motion To Dismiss to the extent it seeks dismissal of Count IV's
request for injunctive relief.

It is not clear to the court

whether injunctive relief is requested in other counts against
Medrano in her official capacity.
The court gives Kaeo-Tomaselli leave to file a Second
Amended Complaint no later than June 12, 2013.

The court

stresses that claims for money damages against state employees
sued only in their official capacities may not be reasserted.
In light of correspondence from the Department of
Public Safety stating that it does not accept service on behalf
of "Tina Doe" and "Eric Doe," the court also reminds KaeoTomaselli that service of any pleading on persons named only as
Does is problematic.

Kaeo-Tomaselli may conduct discovery that

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she thinks may be helpful in that or any other permissible
regard.
The Clerk of Court is directed to send Kaeo-Tomaselli
two more copies of the "Prisoner Civil Rights Complaint" form for
her use.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, May 7, 2012.

/s/ Susan Oki Mollway
Susan Oki Mollway
Chief United States District Judge

Dion`e Kaeo-Tomaselli v. Women’s Community Correctional Center;
CIV. NO. 11-00669 SOM/RLP; ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN
PART MOTION TO DISMISS DEFENDANT ABBY MEDRANO IN HER OFFICIAL
CAPACITY AND GIVING PLAINTIFF LEAVE TO FILE SECOND AMENDED
COMPLAINT

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