Coleman v. Brown

• Citation: 938 F.Supp.2d 955
• Decision Date: 05 April 2013
• Docket Number: No. CIV. S–90–520 LKK/JFM (PC).,CIV. S–90–520 LKK/JFM (PC).
• Parties: Ralph COLEMAN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Edmund G. BROWN, Jr., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California

938 F.Supp.2d 955

Ralph COLEMAN, et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
Edmund G. BROWN, Jr., et al., Defendants.

No. CIV. S–90–520 LKK/JFM (PC).

United States District Court,
E.D. California.

April 5, 2013.

[938 F.Supp.2d 958]

Edward P. Sangster, Raymond E. Loughrey, Jeffrey L. Bornstein, K & L Gates, LLP, Gay Crosthwait Grunfeld, Lisa Adrienne Ells, Aaron Joseph Fischer, Blake Thompson, Ernest Galvan, Jane E. Kahn, Kenneth M. Walczak, Laura Barbara Boysen–Aragon, Lori Rifkin, Michael Bien, Michael Louis Freedman, Thomas Bengt Nolan, Rosen Bien Galvan and Grunfeld LLP, Claudia B. Center, Legal Aid Society, Amy Whelan, National Center for Lesbian Rights, San Francisco, CA, Fred D. Heather, Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP, Los Angeles, CA, Donald Specter, Rebekah B. Evenson, Prison Law Office, Berkeley, CA, for Plaintiff.

Danielle Felice O'Bannon, Rochelle C. East, Kyle Anthony Lewis, Patrick R. McKinney, Jay Craig Russell, Maneesh Sharma, Neah Huynh, Thomas Stuart Patterson, Attorney General's Office for the State of California, Samantha Derin Wolff, Hanson Bridgett, LLP, San Francisco, CA, Paul B. Mello, Hanson Bridgett LLP, Walnut Creek, CA, Debbie Jean Vorous, David Eugene Brice, William H. Downer, Attorney General's Office for the State of California, Department of Justice, Sacramento, CA, Michael R. Capizzi, Law Office

[938 F.Supp.2d 959]

of Michael R. Capizzi, Santa Ana, CA, for Defendants.

Kimberly Hall Barlow, Jones & Mayer, Fullerton, CA.

ORDER
LAWRENCE K. KARLTON, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiffs are a class of prisoners with serious mental disorders confined in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”). In 1995, this court found defendants in violation of their Eighth Amendment obligation to provide class members with access to adequate mental health care. Coleman v. Wilson, 912 F.Supp. 1282 (E.D.Cal.1995). To remedy the gross systemic failures in the delivery of mental health care, the court appointed a Special Master to work with defendants to develop a plan to remedy the violations and, thereafter, to monitor defendants' implementation of that remedial plan. See Order of Reference, filed December 11, 1995 (Dkt. No. 640). That remedial process has been ongoing for over seventeen years.

This matter is before the court on defendants' motion pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b) and Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(5) to “terminate all relief in this action, vacate the Court's judgment and orders and dismiss the case.” Notice of Motion and Motion to Terminate Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act [18 U.S.C. § 3626(b) ] and Vacate the Court's Judgement and Orders Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(5), filed January 7, 2013 (“Notice of Motion”) (ECF No. 4275) at 1.¹ The court heard oral argument on the motion on March 27, 2013.

I. Motion to Terminate Under 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)

Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b), defendants seek termination of all prospective relief and dismissal of this action. Defendants contend that they have remedied the six core constitutional deficiencies identified in the court's 1995 order, that they provide timely access to mental health care, and that they are not deliberately indifferent to the serious needs of class members for mental health care.

A. General Legal Standards

Section 3626(b) of Title 18 of the United States Code, enacted as part of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PLRA”), provides in relevant part that “prospective relief” ordered in “any civil action with respect to prison conditions” is “terminable upon the motion of any party—2 years after the date the court granted or approved the prospective relief.” 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)(1)(i). However, “[p]rospective

[938 F.Supp.2d 960]

relief shall not terminate if the court makes written findings based on the record that prospective relief remains necessary to correct a current and ongoing violation of the Federal right, extends no further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right, and that the prospective relief is narrowly drawn and the least intrusive means to correct the violation.” 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)(3).

As the moving party, defendants have the burden of demonstrating “that there are no ongoing constitutional violations, that the relief ordered exceeds what is necessary to correct an ongoing constitutional violation, or both.” Graves v. Arpaio, 623 F.3d 1043, 1048 (9th Cir.2010) ( citing Gilmore v. California, 220 F.3d 987, 1007–08 (9th Cir.2000)). Plaintiffs do not, as defendants contend, have the burden of proving either of those two elements of defendants' termination motion. “[N]othing in the termination provisions [of 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b) ] can be said to shift the burden of proof from the party seeking to terminate the prospective relief.” Gilmore, 220 F.3d at 1007. Defendants argue that the court is somehow free to disregard the specific holdings in Gilmore and Graves that defendants bear the burden of proof on this motion, holdings that are, after all, consistent with the ordinary rule that the party seeking an order bears the burden of proof. ² It is not.

The record on which this motion is decided must reflect “ ‘conditions as of the time termination is sought.’ ” Gilmore, 220 F.3d at 1010 (quoting Benjamin v. Jacobson, 172 F.3d 144, 166 (2nd Cir.1999)). “Because the PLRA directs a district court to look to current conditions, and because the existing record at the time the motion for termination is filed will often be inadequate for purposes of this determination, the party opposing termination must be given the opportunity to submit additional evidence in an effort to show current and ongoing constitutional violations.” Hadix v. Johnson, 228 F.3d 662, 671–72 (6th Cir.2000) (emphasis in text) (and cases cited therein) (emphasis in original).

[938 F.Supp.2d 961]

Defendants' motion, filed January 7, 2013, is supported by two declarations of staff with the CDCR Division of Correctional Health Care Services and declarations from the former Chief of the Health Care Placement Oversight Program, the Acting Statewide Mental Health Deputy Director for CDCR, and the Director of the Facility Planning, Construction and Management Division for the CDCR, as well as two expert reports, one of which is a joint report by three experts and one of which is a solo report. With the exception of evidence of planned and ongoing construction, the evidentiary material tendered by defendants with their motion covers the period through the end of 2012.

On January 18, 2013, pursuant to court order, the Special Master filed his Twenty–Fifth Round Monitoring Report (“Twenty–Fifth Round Report”) (ECF No. 4298). It was circulated to the parties on December 28, 2012. It is the Special Master's twenty-fifth report to the court on defendants' compliance with the remedial plan in this action, currently referred to as the Revised Program Guide. It covers the period from May 1, 2012 through September 11, 2012, and is based on visits by the Special Master and his monitoring team to twenty-three prison institutions and document reviews for the remaining institutions. Twenty–Fifth Round Monitoring Report (ECF No. 4298) at 10. ³

In opposition to defendants' termination motion, plaintiffs filed five expert declarations totaling over 400 pages and accompanied by numerous exhibits, as well as three declarations of counsel with over one hundred additional exhibits. Plaintiffs have also tendered numerous depositions of defendants' declarants, experts, and other witnesses. In reply to plaintiffs' opposition, defendants have filed fifty-four declarations and a declaration of counsel to which are attached numerous additional exhibits.

The PLRA requires that the court “promptly rule on any motion to modify or terminate prospective relief,” 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)(1), and an automatic stay goes into effect not later than ninety days after the motion is filed unless the court timely rules on the motion. See18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)(2). As discussed above, defendants have the burden of proof on the motion at bar, and the motion is resolved with reference to prison conditions at the time the motion is filed. As part of meeting their burden, defendants must first meet their burden of producing evidence that they are in constitutional compliance and that all prospective relief should be terminated.

The reply declarations filed by defendants are apparently intended to raise factual and credibility disputes with plaintiffs' evidence. The task of resolving these disputes,

[938 F.Supp.2d 962]

especially those involving credibility determinations, would normally be accomplished through an evidentiary hearing. However, as in any motion, the court need not address disputes and credibility issues that are not material and can have no effect on the outcome of the motion.⁴ Moreover, in accordance with the allocation of the burdens of production and proof, unless defendants meet their initial burden of production, their motion must be denied. There would, in that case, be no reason to consider the evidence produced by plaintiffs, except to the degree necessary to protect their due process rights, and no need to consider brand new evidence produced In the absence of the required initial showing by defendants, the subsequent disputes are rendered immaterial.

In accordance with the above, except where due process requires otherwise, see Hadix, supra, the court has focused on the evidence tendered by defendants with their motion and the Special Master's most recent monitoring report.⁵ As discussed infra, this evidence is analyzed with reference to key issues identified in the court's August 30, 2012 order to determine whether there are ongoing constitutional violations in the delivery of mental health care to seriously mentally ill prisoners in California.⁶

B. Defendants' Expert Reports

Before turning to the merits of defendants' motion, the court must address serious concerns raised in connection with two expert reports filed by...