Wolfe v. Brown et al, No. 6:2021cv00192 - Document 15 (D. Or. 2021)
Court Description: Opinion and Order: For the reasons stated in this opinion and order, the Court grants Defendants' Motion 14 to Stay, and stays this action pending resolution of class certification in the Maney case. Signed on 8/10/2021 by Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman.(Deposited in outgoing mail to pro se party on 8/10/2021.) (cw)
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Wolfe v. Brown et al Doc. 15 Case 6:21-cv-00192-SB Document 15 Filed 08/10/21 Page 1 of 5 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON RYAN WOLFE, Case No. 6:21-cv-00192-SB OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiff, v. KATE BROWN et al., Defendants. BECKERMAN, U.S. Magistrate Judge. Ryan Wolfe (“Wolfe”), a self-represented litigant in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections (“ODOC”), filed this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“Section 1983”) against Governor Kate Brown (“Governor Brown”), Colette Peters, Kimberly Hendricks, and ODOC (together, “Defendants”), alleging violations of his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. This matter comes before the Court on Defendants’ motion to stay this litigation. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants Defendants’ motion to stay. BACKGROUND Wolfe is currently housed at Santiam Correctional Institution. On March 24, 2021, Wolfe filed an amended complaint, alleging that Defendants’ failure adequately to respond to COVIDPAGE 1 – OPINION AND ORDER Dockets.Justia.com Case 6:21-cv-00192-SB Document 15 Filed 08/10/21 Page 2 of 5 19 violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. (First Am. Compl. (“FAC”), ECF No. 5.) On April 6, 2020, seven AICs (the “Maney Plaintiffs”) housed at four ODOC institutions filed a civil rights action under Section 1983 against Governor Brown and several ODOC officials (together, the “Maney Defendants”). (Defs.’ Mot. to Stay at 3, ECF No. 14; Maney et al. v. Brown et al., 6:20-cv-00570-SB (“Maney”), ECF No. 1.) The Maney Plaintiffs allege that the Maney Defendants acted with deliberate indifference to their health and safety by failing adequately to protect them from COVID-19 through social distancing, testing, sanitizing, medical treatment, masking, and vaccines. (See Maney Fourth Am. Compl. (“FAC”), ECF No. 223.) The Maney Plaintiffs assert allegations on behalf of a class of similarly situated AICs, and propose three classes: (1) the “Damages Class”; (2); the “Vaccine Class”; and (3) the “Wrongful Death Class.” (Maney FAC ¶¶ 24-26.) On January 21, 2021, the Maney Plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction requiring ODOC to offer all AICs housed in ODOC facilities a COVID-19 vaccine, and sought provisional class certification of the Vaccine Class, which includes: “All adults in custody housed at Oregon Department of Corrections facilities (ODOC) who have not been offered COVID-19 vaccinations.” (Maney Pls.’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 156; Maney Pls.’ Mot. to Certify Class at 2, ECF No. 154.) On February 2, 2021, this Court granted the Maney Plaintiffs’ motion for provisional class certification of the Vaccine Class and motion for a preliminary injunction. (Maney Op. & Order at 34, ECF No. 178.) On July 23, 2021, Defendants filed a motion to stay this matter pending resolution of the motion for class certification in Maney. (Defs.’ Mot. to Stay at 1.) The Maney Plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification on May 3, 2021. (ECF No. 203.) PAGE 2 – OPINION AND ORDER Case 6:21-cv-00192-SB Document 15 Filed 08/10/21 Page 3 of 5 DISCUSSION I. APPLICABLE LAW “District courts have the discretion to stay proceedings pending before them.” Patton v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., No. 19-cv-00081, 2019 WL 851933, at *3 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 21, 2019) (citing Landis v. N.A. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254-55 (1936), and Lockyer v. Mirant Corp., 398 F.3d 1098, 1109 (9th Cir. 2005)); see also Confederated Tribes & Bands of Yakama Nation v. Airgas USA, LLC, 435 F. Supp. 3d 1103, 1127 (D. Or. 2019) (“This court has the inherent power to control its docket to ‘promote economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.’”) (citation omitted). In deciding whether to grant a party’s motion to stay, courts in this circuit typically consider the following three factors: “‘(1) [the] potential prejudice to the nonmoving party; (2) [the] hardship and inequity to the moving party if the action is not stayed; and (3) the judicial resources that would be saved by avoiding duplicative litigation[.]’” Patton, 2019 WL 851933, at *3 (quoting Rivers v. Walt Disney Co., 980 F. Supp. 1358, 1360 (C.D. Cal. 1997)). II. ANALYSIS The Court finds that on balance, the relevant factors weigh in favor of staying this action pending resolution of class certification in Maney. First, there is substantial overlap between the parties and legal issues to resolve in the Maney case and this case, as both actions include Eighth Amendment claims alleging that ODOC officials failed adequately to protect them from COVID-19. (Maney FAC ¶ 101; FAC at 1-2.) A stay will conserve judicial resources by avoiding duplicative litigation. Furthermore, although it is unclear from the factual allegations included in Wolfe’s complaint, it appears that Wolfe may be a member of the Damages Class composed of PAGE 3 – OPINION AND ORDER Case 6:21-cv-00192-SB Document 15 Filed 08/10/21 Page 4 of 5 individuals who have been continuously housed in ODOC facilities since February 1, 2020, and have contracted COVID-19. (FAC at 1-2; Maney FAC ¶ 24.) A stay in this case will not result in significant delay, as the motion for class certification in Maney is currently pending. (ECF No. 203.) If the Court grants the Maney Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, Wolfe may elect to proceed as a member of the Damages Class, or he may opt out and litigate his case separately. See McDaniels v. Stewart, No. 15-CV-05943-BHS-DWC, 2017 WL 132454, at *2 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 13, 2017) (granting stay pending class certification and noting that “Plaintiff may elect to be a member of the class if it is certified, or opt-out and proceed with his own case”). On the other hand, if the Court denies class certification, Wolfe faces only a brief delay in this matter. For these reasons, the Court concludes that staying this litigation will conserve judicial resources by avoiding duplicative litigation, and a stay will not unduly prejudice Wolfe. See McDaniels, 2017 WL 132454, at *2 (granting stay because “staying this action pending resolution of class certification . . . promotes judicial economy and does not prejudice Defendants”); see also Hilario Pankim v. Barr, No. 20-cv-02941-JSC, 2020 WL 2542022, at *11 (N.D. Cal. May 19, 2020) (staying habeas petition pending adjudication in separate class action because “[t]he potential relief available to [the petitioner]—immediate release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conditions of confinement at the Yuba County [Jail], and his medical vulnerabilities—is the same substantive relief sought in this action and is based on the same underlying facts” and therefore “a stay pending adjudication of [the class action] is warranted”); Duong v. Jennings, No. 20-cv-02864-RMI, 2020 WL 2524252, at *2 (N.D. Cal. May 18, 2020) (same); Calderon v. Barr, No. 2:20-cv-00891 KJM GGH, 2020 WL 2394287, at *4-5 (E.D. Cal. May 12, 2020) (same). PAGE 4 – OPINION AND ORDER Case 6:21-cv-00192-SB Document 15 Filed 08/10/21 Page 5 of 5 CONCLUSION For the reasons stated, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ motion to stay (ECF No. 14), and STAYS this action pending resolution of class certification in the Maney case. IT IS SO ORDERED. DATED this 10th day of August, 2021. HON. STACIE F. BECKERMAN United States Magistrate Judge PAGE 5 – OPINION AND ORDER
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