Swanson v. Jiminez

Background

Nicholas Swanson filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against officers at Salinas Valley State Prison. He paid the filing fee and proceeded without a lawyer. Swanson alleged that, at about 4:00 a.m. on August 28, 2019, he tried to commit suicide by cutting his left arm. During a security check, he told Correctional Officer K. Jiminez that he had attempted suicide, showed Jiminez his heavily bleeding arm, and swallowed the piece of metal he had used to cut himself.

According to the complaint, Jiminez did not activate his alarm. Instead, Jiminez said he would notify the unit sergeant, apparently Sgt. R. Machuca, and walked away. Swanson repeatedly told Jiminez that he remained suicidal, needed medical attention, had lost substantial blood, and felt dizzy. Swanson later swallowed 30 pills in front of second-watch staff, who activated the alarm and sent him to the prison hospital. He was then sent to an outside hospital for treatment and transported to the California Men’s Colony for a crisis bed.

Screening and Claims

Federal law requires a district court to screen a prisoner’s complaint when the prisoner seeks relief from a government entity or officer. Screening is an early review to determine whether the complaint states a claim for relief or seeks money from an immune defendant. The court stated that a claim under § 1983 requires allegations showing both a violation of a federal right and action by a person acting under state law.

Liberally construing Swanson’s allegations, the court found that they were sufficient to state an Eighth Amendment deliberate-indifference claim against Jiminez and Machuca. Deliberate indifference means that an official was aware of and disregarded a substantial risk to a person’s health or safety. The court cited the claim as involving Swanson’s serious medical and mental-health needs.

Order

The court ordered the Clerk to send the defendants notice of the lawsuit, waiver-of-service forms, the complaint and attachments, and a copy of the order. The defendants were directed to file, no later than 91 days after the order was filed, a motion for summary judgment or another dispositive motion addressing the claims found cognizable. A dispositive motion is one that could resolve some or all of the claims. The order also set deadlines for Swanson’s opposition and the defendants’ reply and allowed discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The court denied Swanson’s motion for leave to proceed without paying the filing fee as moot because he had already paid the filing fee. The order terminated Docket No. 4. It did not decide whether Jiminez or Machuca ultimately violated Swanson’s constitutional rights or whether they were liable.