Harden v. High Desert State Prison et al

Filing 15

ORDER regarding 4 Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and 5 Motion for Order to Show Cause filed by Harold D. Harden. IT IS ORDERED that Defendants shall provide Plaintiff Harold D. Harden with no less than six (6) hours of time to vie w his complete medical file by 9/10/15. Defendants are permitted to divide this time into smaller blocks; however, each block of time must be no shorter than one hour. Signed by Judge Richard F. Boulware, II on 9/3/15. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - PS)

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1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 5 *** 6 7 HAROLD D. HARDEN, 8 Plaintiff, 9 10 Case No. 2:15-cv-01168-RFB-CWH ORDER v. HIGH DESERT STATE PRISON, et al., 11 Defendants. 12 13 I. INTRODUCTION 14 This case is before the Court on two motions filed by Plaintiff Harold D. Harden: a Motion 15 for a Temporary Restraining Order and a Motion for Order to Show Cause for a Preliminary 16 Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order. ECF No. 4, 5. In its Screening Order, the Court 17 denied these motions to the extent they sought a temporary restraining order and set the matter for 18 a hearing on August 27, 2015 to determine whether a preliminary injunction should issue. ECF 19 No. 6. 20 A preliminary injunction is “an extraordinary remedy that may only be awarded upon a 21 clear showing that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief.” Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 22 555 U.S. 7, 22 (2008). To obtain a preliminary injunction, a plaintiff must establish four elements: 23 “(1) a likelihood of success on the merits, (2) that the plaintiff will likely suffer irreparable harm 24 in the absence of preliminary relief, (3) that the balance of equities tip in its favor, and (4) that the 25 public interest favors an injunction.” Wells Fargo & Co. v. ABD Ins. & Fin. Servs., Inc., 758 F.3d 26 1069, 1071 (9th Cir. 2014), as amended (Mar. 11, 2014) (citing Winter, 555 U.S. at 20). 27 The Ninth Circuit has also held that a preliminary injunction may issue under the “serious 28 questions” test. Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Cottrell, 632 F.3d 1127, 1134 (9th Cir. 2011). 1 According to this test, a plaintiff can obtain a preliminary injunction by showing “that serious 2 questions going to the merits were raised and the balance of hardships tips sharply in the plaintiff’s 3 favor.” Id. at 1134-35 (citation omitted). 4 Harden’s motions for a preliminary injunction seek three types of relief: First, Harden 5 requests that he be served double meal orders and a daily multivitamin. Second, Harden requests 6 that he be transferred for immediate surgery and given a second medical opinion as to his medical 7 condition. Third, Harden requests that he be allowed to view his medical records. Defendants filed 8 a response to Harden’s requests, but did not address his request for medical records. Moreover, 9 Defendants did not oppose that aspect of Harden’s motions at the hearing held on August 27, 2015. 10 At that August 27 hearing, and for the reasons stated on the record, the Court denied 11 Harden’s requests for double meals, a daily multivitamin, immediate transfer for surgery, and a 12 second medical opinion. However, the Court finds that Harden’s request for an Order to be able 13 view his medical records should be granted. This Order states the reasons for the Court’s grant of 14 injunctive relief. 15 First, the Court finds that Harden’s ability to litigate the claims in his Complaint, which 16 deal directly with the medical treatment he received at High Desert State Prison and Ely State 17 Prison, would be impaired without access to his medical records. Therefore, the Court need not 18 consider Harden’s likelihood of success on the merits of his claims. See Diamontiney v. Borg, 918 19 F.2d 793, 796 (9th Cir. 1990) (holding it was not an abuse of discretion for the district court not to 20 consider the merits of the underlying action where the practices challenged by the plaintiff affected 21 his ability to litigate and his access to the court). 22 Second, Harden would likely suffer irreparable harm if he were not permitted to view his 23 medical records. Harden has only until September 21, 2015 to amend his Complaint. Based upon 24 the Court’s review of Harden’s original Complaint, the claims in his Amended Complaint (should 25 he choose to file one) will require references to and support from his medical records. If Harden 26 were not allowed to view those records, he would face the risk of having one or more of his claims 27 dismissed. Thus, there is a clear risk of irreparable harm absent injunctive relief. 28 /// -2- 1 Third, the balance of equities is in Harden’s favor. As Defendants stated at the hearing, the 2 Nevada Department of Corrections is already required to provide inmates access to their medical 3 records at least once a year. NDOC Admin. Reg. 639.03. Therefore, the burden on Defendants of 4 being required to allow Harden additional access to his records is minimal. However, the burden 5 on Harden of being denied access to his records would be substantial, as this would hamper his 6 ability to amend his Complaint and to litigate his case effectively. This balance clearly favors 7 Harden. 8 Fourth, the limited injunctive relief at issue here does not implicate the public interest. 9 “When the reach of an injunction is narrow, limited only to the parties, and has no impact on non- 10 parties, the public interest will be at most a neutral factor in the analysis rather than one that 11 favor[s] [granting or] denying the preliminary injunction.” Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky, 586 F.3d 12 1109, 1138-39 (9th Cir. 2009) (alterations in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, 13 the injunctive relief granted by the Court does not involve non-parties other than the Nevada 14 Department of Corrections, who is Defendants’ employer. Further, the scope of the injunctive 15 relief in this case (granting Harden the ability to view his medical records) is narrow. Therefore, 16 the Court finds that this factor is a neutral one in its analysis. 17 18 Weighing the four Winter factors, the Court concludes that a preliminary injunction directing Defendants to ensure that Harden can view his medical records must be issued. 19 Therefore, 20 IT IS ORDERED that Defendants shall provide Plaintiff Harold D. Harden with no less 21 than six (6) hours of time to view his complete medical file by September 10, 2015. Defendants 22 are permitted to divide this time into smaller blocks; however, each block of time must be no 23 shorter than one hour. 24 25 DATED: September 3, 2015. 26 ____________________________ RICHARD F. BOULWARE, II United States District Judge 27 28 -3-

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