Hubbs v. Alamao

• Decision Date: 14 February 2005
• Docket Number: No. CV 04-10215-RGK(RC).,CV 04-10215-RGK(RC).
• Parties: Norman HUBBS, Plaintiff, v. Patricia ALAMAO, Wendy Weiss, Ph.D., Dee Shafer, Ph.D., Steven Mayberg, Director of the Department of Mental Health, Diane Imrem, Psy. D., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California

360 F.Supp.2d 1073

Norman HUBBS, Plaintiff, v. Patricia ALAMAO, Wendy Weiss, Ph.D., Dee Shafer, Ph.D., Steven Mayberg, Director of the Department of Mental Health, Diane Imrem, Psy. D., Defendants.

No. CV 04-10215-RGK(RC).

United States District Court, C.D. California.

February 14, 2005.

Norman Hubbs, pro se.

Felicity A. Senoski, Deputy Attorney General, San Diego, for Defendants.

ORDER ADOPTING FINAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

KLAUSNER, District Judge.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 636, the Court has reviewed the Complaint and other papers along with the attached Final Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Rosalyn M. Chapman, as well as plaintiff's objections, and has made a de novo determination.

IT IS ORDERED that (1) the Final Report and Recommendation is approved and adopted; (2) Judgment shall be entered dismissing the second cause of action for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted; and (3) Judgment shall be entered dismissing without prejudice the first, third, fourth and fifth causes of action.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk shall serve copies of this Order, and the Magistrate Judge's Final Report and Recommendation by the United States mail on the parties.

FINAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF A UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

CHAPMAN, United States Magistrate Judge.

This Final Report and Recommendation is submitted to the Honorable R. Gary Klausner, United States District Judge, by Magistrate Judge Rosalyn M. Chapman, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636 and General Order 01-13 of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

BACKGROUND

I

On December 28, 2004, plaintiff Norman Hubbs, a civil committee confined as a sexually violent predator ("SVP") at Atascadero State Hospital ("ASH"), who is proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, filed a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants Patricia Alamao, Wendy Weiss, Ph.D., Dee Shafer, Ph.D., Steven Mayberg, and Diane Imrem, Ph.D., in their individual and official capacities, raising five causes of action: (1) Plaintiff was denied his "right to truth in evidence"; (2) defendant Mayberg violated plaintiff's "right to privacy of medical records" under 42 C.F.R. § 482.13 by allowing the other defendants access to plaintiff's medical files;¹ (3) the defendants violated the California Constitution, Article 1, § 1, by accessing plaintiff's protected medical records; (4) defendant Mayberg violated plaintiff's right to equal protection of law by establishing arbitrary rules and regulations; and (5) plaintiff's Fourth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when defendants created "false or misleading forensic documents used in judicial and government agency proceedings to civilly commit [plaintiff] and to label him as a sexually violent predator." Plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages and declaratory and injunctive relief.

II

On July 29, 1999, in San Bernardino County Superior Court case no. FBABS05997, the San Bernardino District Attorney's Office filed a petition to civilly commit plaintiff as an SVP under the Sexually Violent Predator Act ("Act"), California Welfare & Institutions Code ("W.I.C.") §§ 6600, et seq. Clerk's Transcript ("CT") 4-51.² On October 11, 2000, the Superior Court found probable cause to believe plaintiff meets the criteria under the Act, and remanded plaintiff to ASH under the custody of the California Department of Mental Health ("DMH"). CT 4, 193-94. On July 1, 2003, a jury found plaintiff is an SVP, and plaintiff was committed to ASH for a period of two years. CT 604, 606-10.

III

On January 20, 2005, this Court filed a Report and Recommendation, and on February 7, 2005, plaintiff filed objections to the Report and Recommendation. This Final Report and Recommendation addresses plaintiff's objections.

DISCUSSION

IV

When a plaintiff is proceeding in forma pauperis, this Court is required to dismiss a case at any time it determines an action is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B); Anderson v. Angelone, 123 F.3d 1197, 1199 (9th Cir.1997); Marks v. Solcum, 98 F.3d 494, 495 (9th Cir.1996) (per curiam); see also McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114 F.3d 601, 608-09 (6th Cir.1997) (holding 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) applies to all complaints brought by plaintiffs proceeding in forma pauperis, not just prisoners).

Moreover, "[i]f a complaint is accompanied by attached documents, the court is not limited by the allegations contained in the complaint. These documents are part of the complaint and may be considered in determining whether the plaintiff can prove any set of facts in support of the claim." Roth v. Garcia Marquez, 942 F.2d 617, 625 n. 1 (9th Cir.1991) (citations and internal punctuation omitted); Cooper v. Pickett, 137 F.3d 616, 622-23 (9th Cir.1998).

V

The Sexually Violent Predators Act ("Act"), which took effect January 1, 1996, "reflects the Legislature's determination of the importance of identifying and controlling persons whose criminal history and mental state render them sexually violent predators." Albertson v. Superior Court, 25 Cal.4th 796, 801, 107 Cal.Rptr.2d 381, 386, 23 P.3d 611 (2001); Hubbart v. Superior Court, 19 Cal.4th 1138, 1143-44, 81 Cal.Rptr.2d 492, 495, 969 P.2d 584 (1999). The Act "provides a court process by which certain convicted violent sex offenders, whose current mental disorders make them likely to reoffend if free, may be committed, at the end of their prison terms, for successive two-year periods of state hospital confinement and treatment as long as the disorder-related danger persists." People v. Superior Court (Ghilotti), 27 Cal.4th 888, 893, 119 Cal.Rptr.2d 1, 5, 44 P.3d 949 (2002); People v. Williams, 31 Cal.4th 757, 764, 3 Cal.Rptr.3d 684, 689-90, 74 P.3d 779 (2003), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 1189, 124 S.Ct. 1431, 158 L.Ed.2d 98 (2004). An SVP is defined as "a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense³ against two or more victims and who has a diagnosed mental disorder⁴ that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior." W.I.C. § 6600(a) (footnotes added). As the California Supreme Court has noted:

No restriction is placed on the time at which a prior qualifying crime must have occurred. The definition of a "sexually violent offense" includes acts "committed on, before, or after the effective date" of the Act. However, prior crimes play a limited role in the SVP determination. "Conviction of one or more [sexually violent offenses] shall constitute evidence that may support a court or jury determination that a person is a sexually violent predator, but shall not be the sole basis for the determination.... Jurors shall be admonished that they may not find a person a sexually violent predator based on prior offenses absent relevant evidence of a currently diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior."

Hubbart, 19 Cal.4th at 1145, 81 Cal.Rptr.2d at 496, 969 P.2d 584 (quoting W.I.C. § 6600(a)(3); other citation omitted); People v. Otto, 26 Cal.4th 200, 205-06, 109 Cal.Rptr.2d 327, 331, 26 P.3d 1061 (2001).

The process for determining whether a convicted sex offender qualifies as an SVP "takes place in several stages, both administrative and judicial." Hubbart, 19 Cal.4th at 1145, 81 Cal.Rptr.2d at 496, 969 P.2d 584. This procedure has been described as follows:

Under [W.I.C.] § 6601, whenever the Director of Corrections determines that a defendant serving a prison term may be a sexually violent predator, the Department of Corrections and the Board of Prison Terms undertake an initial screening "based on whether the person has committed a sexually violent predatory offense and on a review of the person's social, criminal, and institutional history." The screening is conducted in accord with a protocol developed by the state Department of Mental Health. If that screening leads to a determination that the defendant is likely to be a sexually violent predator, the defendant is referred to the Department of Mental Health for an evaluation by two psychiatrists or psychologists. If both find that the defendant "has a diagnosed mental disorder so that he or she is likely to engage in acts of sexual violence without appropriate treatment and custody", the department forwards a petition for commitment to the county of the defendant's last conviction. If the county's designated counsel concurs with the recommendation he or she files a petition for commitment in the superior court.

People v. Torres, 25 Cal.4th 680, 682-83, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d 824, 825, 22 P.3d 871 (2001) (citations omitted); People v. Hurtado, 28 Cal.4th 1179, 1182-83, 124 Cal.Rptr.2d 186, 188-89, 52 P.3d 116 (2002), cert. denied, 538 U.S. 963, 123 S.Ct. 1753, 155 L.Ed.2d 516 (2003); W.I.C. § 6601.

"Once the petition has been filed, it is reviewed by a superior court judge to determine whether it `states or contains sufficient facts that, if true, would constitute probable cause to believe that the individual named in the petition is likely to engage in sexually violent predatory criminal behavior upon his or her release.'" Cooley v. Superior Court (Marentez), 29 Cal.4th 228, 244-45, 127 Cal.Rptr.2d 177, 189, 57 P.3d 654 (2002) (quoting W.I.C. § 6601.5). "If the judge determines that the petition, on its face, supports a finding of probable cause, the judge shall order that the person be detained in a secure facility"⁵ until a probable cause hearing is held. W.I.C. § 6601.5; Cooley, 29 Cal.4th at 245, 127 Cal.Rptr.2d at 189, 57 P.3d 654.

"The next step is a probable cause hearing in ...