Vega v. United States

• Decision Date: 07 February 2018
• Docket Number: No. 13-35311,13-35311
• Citation: 881 F.3d 1146
• Parties: Juan D. VEGA, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America; Pioneer Human Services, DBA Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, AKA Pioneer Industries Inc., a WA Corporation ; Heather McIntyre, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Bernadette Mathis, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Kristen Cortez, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Stephanie Jones, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Donald Jackson, in his official capacity as Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center Home Confinement Coordinator/Center Discipline Committee Chairperson, and in his individual capacity; William Brown, in his official capacity as Manager of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Community Corrections Office in Seattle, Washington, and in his individual capacity; Kevin Straight, in his official capacity as employee in the Federal Bureau of Prisons Community Corrections Manager's Office in Seattle, Washington, and in his individual capacity; Oranda Phillips, in her official capacity as employee in the Federal Bureau of Prisons Community Corrections Manager's Office in Seattle, Washington, and in her individual capacity, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

881 F.3d 1146

Juan D. VEGA, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.UNITED STATES of America; Pioneer Human Services, DBA Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, AKA Pioneer Industries Inc., a WA Corporation ; Heather McIntyre, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Bernadette Mathis, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Kristen Cortez, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Stephanie Jones, in her official capacity as Counselor of Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center, and in her individual capacity; Donald Jackson, in his official capacity as Pioneer Fellowship House Residential Reentry Center Home Confinement Coordinator/Center Discipline Committee Chairperson, and in his individual capacity; William Brown, in his official capacity as Manager of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Community Corrections Office in Seattle, Washington, and in his individual capacity; Kevin Straight, in his official capacity as employee in the Federal Bureau of Prisons Community Corrections Manager's Office in Seattle, Washington, and in his individual capacity; Oranda Phillips, in her official capacity as employee in the Federal Bureau of Prisons Community Corrections Manager's Office in Seattle, Washington, and in her individual capacity, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 13-35311

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted December 4, 2017, Seattle, Washington

Filed February 7, 2018

Nicole A. W. Abercrbomie (argued) and Jon W. Monson, Cable Huston LLP, Portland, Oregon, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Teal Luthy Miller (argued), Assistant United States Attorney; Annette L. Hayes, United States Attorney; United States Attorney's Office, Seattle, Washington; for Defendant-Appellee United States William Brown, Kevin Straight, and Oranda Phillips.

Robert L. Bowman (argued) and William F. Knowles, Cozen O'Connor, Seattle, Washington, for Defendant-Appellee Pioneer Human Services.

Before: Richard C. Tallman and Paul J. Watford, Circuit Judges, and Richard F. Boulware II,^* District Judge.

TALLMAN, Circuit Judge

Juan Vega, Jr. was transferred from federal prison to a Seattle non-profit residential reentry center to complete the remainder of his prison sentence. There, he alleged that federal and private employees conspired to remove him from the halfway house known as Pioneer House, ostensibly based on his race and for asserting his First Amendment rights, by filing a false incident report. After his return to a federal detention center based on that incident report, the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("FBOP") reversed the sanction and returned Vega to a reentry program. Vega filed suit alleging violations of his First and Fifth Amendment rights under the implied cause of action theory adopted by the Supreme Court in Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents , 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), as well as state law claims. The district court refused to allow Vega to amend his complaint a second time and subsequently dismissed all of his claims.

On appeal, Vega contends that the district court erred by (1) dismissing his Bivens claims against the federal defendants on qualified immunity grounds, (2) dismissing his Bivens claims against the private defendants based on the Supreme Court's holding in Minneci v. Pollard , 565 U.S. 118, 120, 132 S.Ct. 617, 181 L.Ed.2d 606 (2012), (3) dismissing his state law claims, and (4) not permitting him to amend his complaint for a second time. In a memorandum disposition, we address all of Vega's arguments except for whether Bivens should be expanded to include access to courts and procedural due process claims against private defendants under the First and Fifth Amendments, respectively. In this opinion we hold that Bivens should not be so expanded, and affirm the district court's dismissal.

I

On August 20, 2008, Juan Vega, Jr. was transferred from a federal prison in Oregon to Pioneer House to complete the remainder of his 63-month sentence for misrepresenting a Social Security number and to participate in a community-based, residential drug treatment program. Pioneer House is operated by Pioneer Human Services, a non-profit FBOP contractor, and prisoners assigned to this type of reentry program technically remain in the custody of the FBOP. 18 U.S.C. §§ 3621, 3624(c) ; 28 C.F.R. § 570.22. Once there, Vega met with Pioneer House Counselor Bernadette Mathis to discuss the reentry center's policies, including the requirement of seeking employment. Vega alleged that he then told Mathis that he had been "medically unassigned and not required to work at any type of job" at his previous place of incarceration.

Vega further alleged that he told Mathis at that meeting that he had five pending pro se civil court cases and would be submitting requests to leave Pioneer House to go to the law library of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit or the King County Superior Court. According to Vega, Mathis told him that it was against FBOP and Pioneer House policy to authorize prisoner absences for the purpose of going to a library, including a law library.¹ Vega also asserted that he requested visits from two attorneys whom he had contacted about Pioneer House's refusal to authorize him to visit the two law libraries. Mathis allegedly told him that attorneys are not allowed to visit prisoners at Pioneer House.

On September 3, 2008, Mathis prepared a document detailing Vega's individual program plan and goals, which stated that Vega was in the process of seeking a medical waiver from employment. Vega asserted that neither this document, nor a subsequent case note on September 17, indicated that "he was unwilling to obtain employment due to his medical conditions." On September 20, 2008, Vega secured a job at Pioneer Food Services.

On September 17, 2008, Mathis met with Vega and provided a case note document for him to sign. Vega refused. He alleged that on September 24, Mathis told him that if he did not sign the resident case note, she would write him up for "failure to program." Vega then signed the case note, with a notation by his signature that he was signing "under duress." The next day, Vega participated in a telephone conference call with William Brown, Jr., the FBOP Community Corrections Manager, and Pioneer House staff to discuss the incident in which Vega had allegedly refused to sign the case note.

During that conference call, Vega alleged that Mathis and Pioneer House Director Heather McIntyre informed Brown that signing case notes was a program requirement. Vega contended that he was merely attempting to exercise his rights and review a copy of the applicable regulation. According to Vega, Brown stated that he "gave very little weight to" his request for information "because of [Vega's] status as a convicted felon." Brown then told Vega to "follow the rules and program" and warned him not to cause any more problems while at Pioneer House. On October 8, 2008, Vega received a "level advancement" from Pioneer House, which acknowledged that he had complied with all work requirements, paid subsistence, complied with the necessary drug abuse treatment requirements, and was free of any incident write-ups in the past thirty days.

Vega next alleged that on October 16, 2008, Mathis and McIntyre met with FBOP employees Brown, Kevin Straight, and Oranda Phillips. He asserted, "[a]t that meeting, the aforementioned Defendants, were determine[d] to make an example out of Plaintiff, who is a black male, for his continuous legal actions against the [FBOP] in Seattle, Washington, and [the Pioneer House] in Seattle, Washington, by any means." Vega alleged that "the Defendants designed a plan for [his] removal by writing up a false Incident Report," which "Counselor Mathis was designated as the staff person to write-up[.]" Later that day, Vega received an incident report stating that he had violated a condition of a community program by refusing to obtain employment due to a medical condition. Vega's complaint also alleged that in the incident report, Mathis said that despite prior warnings from Brown to "follow the rules, and work with his counselor to complete necessary programming," on October 16, 2008, "[s]taff became aware that ... Vega [was] pursuing an active case with the Department of Labor and Industries and [was] scheduled to go to trial this Friday, October 17, 2008." Vega strongly disputes these alleged violations.

On October 17, 2008, two deputy United States marshals removed Vega from Pioneer House and transferred him back to federal prison at the SeaTac Federal Detention Center ("FDC"). At no point prior to this transfer was Vega provided with any opportunity for investigation or a hearing. Five days after the incident and four days after Vega was removed from Pioneer House, Pioneer Human Services employee Donald Jackson notified FBOP that Vega's hearing was postponed to allow for the continuing investigation into the incident report and in light of Vega's transfer to FDC-SeaTac. On October 21, Pioneer House staff conducted an investigation of the incident report, concluded that Vega had committed a prohibited act of violating a condition of a community program, and recommended that Vega be removed from Pioneer House as a sanction. No evidence was apparently cited in the investigation report. On October 23, Jackson conducted a disciplinary committee hearing.

Jackson's hearing report found that Vega had "committed the prohibited act of Violating a condition of a community program (Code 309). My findings [are] based on the written account of the reporting staff member, which indicated on October 16, 2008 at 1030 hrs. [Pioneer House] staff became aware that [Vega was] pursuing an active case with the ...