Shepard v. Wise, No. 13-15554 (9th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that a prison official retaliated against him for reporting a correctional officer and the officer's use of excessive force while escorting plaintiff to a holding cell. The district court granted the official's motion for summary judgment. The court rejected the official's claim that Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15, 3335(a) required him to transfer plaintiff to administrative segregation as soon as plaintiff alleged that the officer assaulted him. The court concluded that plaintiff has established a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the officer retaliated against him and that plaintiff has shown that the official is not entitled to qualified immunity at this stage. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. The court affirmed the jury verdict for the officer in a memorandum disposition filed concurrently with this opinion.
Court Description: Prisoner Civil Rights. The panel reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of a California corrections lieutenant in a California state prisoner’s section 1983 action alleging that he was transferred to administrative segregation in retaliation for reporting that a corrections officer used excessive force against him; and, in a memorandum disposition filed concurrently with the opinion, affirmed a jury verdict on his claim that the corrections officer used excessive force. Reversing the grant of summary judgment, the panel rejected Corrections Lieutenant Wise’s claim that California prison regulation Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15, § 3335(a), required him to transfer plaintiff to administrative segregation as soon as plaintiff alleged that he was assaulted by another corrections officer. The panel held that plaintiff established a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Wise retaliated against him. Plaintiff had also shown that Wise was not entitled to qualified immunity at this stage. In a memorandum disposition filed concurrently with its opinion, the panel affirmed a jury verdict in favor of corrections officer Quillen on plaintiff’s excessive force claim. Dissenting, Judge Tallman stated that Lieutenant Wise’s decision to transfer plaintiff into administrative segregation SHEPARD V. QUILLEN 3 fell squarely within the range of conduct that is protected by qualified immunity.
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