Owens v. Reed

Background

Claude Owens, identified as a California prisoner, filed a civil-rights complaint without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against J. Reed, an official at the California Training Facility. The opinion identifies Reed as a lieutenant. Owens alleged that Reed retaliated against him for filing a grievance by finding him guilty of violating prison rules. He also alleged that Reed did not allow him to call witnesses at the disciplinary hearing.

Screening and claims

The court explained that it must screen prisoner complaints against government officials and dismiss claims that are frivolous, malicious, inadequately pleaded, or seek money from an immune defendant. Applying the rule that self-represented pleadings should be read liberally, the court concluded that Owens’s allegations stated viable claims for First Amendment retaliation and denial of due process.

Ruling and case status

The court ordered service of the complaint on Lieutenant J. Reed through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s electronic-service process. It directed Reed to file a jurisdiction-consent form and an answer, and—unless she informed the court that the case could not be resolved that way—to file a summary-judgment or other dispositive motion no later than 91 days after the order was issued. The order also set deadlines for Owens’s opposition and Reed’s reply and allowed discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The court did not resolve the ultimate merits of Owens’s claims. The judge is not clearly identifiable from the supplied signature text.