Bess v. Peffley

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California partially grants and partially denies the defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a prisoner civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The court grants summary judgment on the retaliation theory based on the plaintiff’s refusal to act as an informant, but finds triable issues concerning retaliation for expressing an intent to file a grievance and concerning the Eighth Amendment claim. The court also grants leave to file a sur-reply and refers the stayed case to the court’s Prisoner Mediation Program.

Holdings

1. Plaintiff's grievance adequately exhausted his Eighth Amendment claim because it described Defendant's attempt to force him to provide information by threatening significant harm, even though it did not use the terms 'Eighth Amendment' or 'deliberate indifference.'
2. Plaintiff's refusal to become a snitch was not constitutionally protected conduct for purposes of a First Amendment retaliation claim, so Defendant was entitled to summary judgment on that theory.
3. Summary judgment was denied because triable issues existed as to whether Defendant took adverse action against Plaintiff because Plaintiff expressed an intent to file a grievance.
4. Defendant was not entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiff's Eighth Amendment claim because, viewing the evidence in Plaintiff's favor, pressuring him to become a snitch by threatening significant harm implicated a clearly established right to be free from deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff exhausted administrative remedies for his Eighth Amendment claim.
2. Whether the evidence created triable issues on Plaintiff's First Amendment retaliation claim based on his refusal to become a snitch.
3. Whether the evidence created triable issues on Plaintiff's First Amendment retaliation claim based on his expressed intent to file a grievance.
4. Whether Defendant was entitled to qualified immunity on the Eighth Amendment claim and the surviving retaliation theory.

Disposition

other