Unpublished Disposition, 927 F.2d 608 (9th Cir. 1991)

MEMORANDUM^** 

Baha Asgari appeals pro se the district court's order denying his Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for relief from an order staying his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights action. Asgari alleges that several state prison officials violated his various constitutional rights, resulting in a loss of good-time credits and a reduction in prisoner status. We affirm.

FACTS

Plaintiff-appellant Baha Asgari is confined at the Old Folsom State Prison in Sacramento, California. Asgari alleges that in April and May of 1989, he was forced to work despite extreme pain. He further alleges that defendant Reid subsequently wrote a disciplinary report which falsely charged Asgari with refusing to work.

As a result of the allegedly false report, Asgari was subject to two hearings before prison officials. The hearings resulted in a 30-day reduction in Asgari's good-time credits, and a change in his prisoner status. Asgari filed a civil rights complaint in the district court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging due process and equal protection violations by prison officials. The complaint sought monetary damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief.

The district court stayed the civil rights action under Young v. Kenny, 907 F.2d 874, 875-76 (9th Cir. 1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ---- (Feb. 25, 1991), which states that habeas corpus is the exclusive remedy for prisoners challenging the fact or duration of confinement. Moreover, a habeas petitioner must exhaust state remedies, which Asgari had not done. Id.; see also Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 489-90, 93 S. Ct. 1827, 1836, 36 L. Ed. 2d 439 (1973).

Asgari moved for relief from the order staying his action under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). The district court denied the motion. Asgari now appeals the denial of his 60(b) motion.

JURISDICTION AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

Motions for relief from judgment pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) are reviewed for abuse of discretion. Thompson v. Housing Auth. of Los Angeles, 782 F.2d 829, 832 (9th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 829, 107 S. Ct. 112, 93 L. Ed. 2d 60 (1986).

DISCUSSION

Resolution of this dispute turns on whether the relief Asgari seeks amounts to an attack on the length of his sentence, so that a decision on his section 1983 action before he has exhausted his state remedies would have the impermissible effect of bypassing the exhaustion requirements of federal habeas corpus law. See Young v. Kenny, 907 F.2d at 875.

Although Asgari's complaint does have some characteristics of a straight civil rights action, at its heart is the fact that his prison term has been lengthened due to the alleged constitutional violations. As stated in Young, "habeas must be the exclusive federal remedy not just when a state prisoner requests the invalidation or reduction of his sentence, but whenever the requested relief requires as its predicate a determination that a sentence currently being served is invalid or unconstitutionally long." Young, 907 F.2d at 876.

Therefore, as in Young, the proper remedy is to stay the federal civil rights action so that the state is given the first opportunity to rule on the constitutionality of Asgari's confinement. See id. Asgari "may proceed further in the district court only after he has exhausted [state] remedies or is no longer serving a prison sentence capable of being reduced by the application of jail-time credits." Id. at 878; see also Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 489-90, 93 S. Ct. at 1836.

AFFIRMED.