Marlin Wells v. Wallace

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California directs the Clerk to randomly assign a district judge in Marlin Wells’s civil-rights action against Wallace. The magistrate judge construes Wells’s request for litigation supplies and mail access as a motion for preliminary injunctive relief and recommends denying it because the complaint has not been screened and the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendant and other identified parties at this stage. The parties are given fourteen days to object to the Findings and Recommendations.

Holdings

1. A request for a court order requiring an institution to provide litigation supplies, copying, and mailing costs during the action is properly construed as a motion for preliminary injunctive relief.
2. The court could not grant the requested injunction because the complaint had not been screened, the action did not yet proceed on any cognizable claims, no defendant had been served or appeared, and the court therefore lacked personal jurisdiction over Wallace, other DSH-C staff, or DSH-C generally.
3. Plaintiff did not establish entitlement to preliminary injunctive relief.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff's motion for supplies and access to the mail delivery system should be construed as a motion for a preliminary injunction.
2. Whether the court could grant prospective injunctive relief before screening the complaint, identifying viable claims, serving a defendant, and establishing personal jurisdiction over the proposed defendant or other DSH-C personnel.
3. Whether Plaintiff satisfied the requirements for a preliminary injunction.

Disposition

other