Owens v. Fogarty

Background

Kenneth Oliver Owens, proceeding without a lawyer, was a pretrial detainee at the San Mateo County Jail. He filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which allows a person to seek relief for violations of federal rights by someone acting under state law.

Owens alleged that, on July 7, 2023, he saw deputy sheriffs Martinez and Cardenas engaging in inappropriate touching that they did not intend him to see. He alleged that, after they realized he had seen them, they told him to move down and Martinez called him a racial slur. Owens also alleged that he submitted a grievance and that Deputy Sheriff Captain Fogarty did not investigate or process it.

Court’s Analysis

The court screened the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, which requires courts to review prisoner complaints against governmental entities or employees and dismiss those that are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim, or seek relief from an immune defendant.

The court held that Owens’s allegation that he saw the deputies touch each other did not amount to punishment or otherwise violate his constitutional rights. The court also concluded that the alleged conduct was not sufficiently extreme or outrageous to violate the Constitution.

The court further held that Martinez’s alleged racial insult did not state a Section 1983 claim because verbal harassment, even when racially motivated, does not by itself establish a constitutional violation. The court ruled that Fogarty’s failure to investigate or process Owens’s grievance also did not state a claim because prisoners have no constitutional right to a prison grievance or appeal system. The court noted that a separate action for unlawful retaliation could be brought based on later adverse conduct if the required facts could be shown, but it did not decide such a claim in this case.

Disposition

The complaint was dismissed under Section 1915A(b) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. The clerk was instructed to close the file and terminate as moot Owens’s remaining motions: a motion to move forward with the case and a motion to relieve a deputy sheriff. Judge Charles R. Breyer signed the order.