United States District Court, D. Nevada
ORDER RE: ECF NOS. 66, 66-1
William G. Cobb United States Magistrate Judge.
Plaintiff
has filed a motion for leave to amend the supplemental
complaint and file an amended supplemental complaint (ECF No.
66), along with a proposed first amended supplemental
complaint (ECF No. 66-1). Defendants filed a response. (ECF
No. 78.) Plaintiffs motion is granted in part and denied in
part.
I.
BACKGROUND
Plaintiff
is an inmate in the custody of the Nevada Department of
Corrections (NDOC), and has brought a civil rights action
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), for conduct
that occurred while he was housed at Northern Nevada
Correctional Center (NNCC) and High Desert State Prison
(HDSP).
A.
Original Complaint & Screening
Plaintiff
filed his original complaint, which the court screened. (ECF
Nos. 10, 11.) Plaintiff was allowed to proceed in Count I
with an Eighth Amendment claim for deliberate indifference to
a serious medical need based on allegations that defendants
Harris and Woods stopped providing treatment for a number of
his mental health disorders. The other claims were dismissed
with leave to amend. (ECF No. 10.)
B.
Amended Complaint & Screening
Plaintiff
filed an amended complaint, which the court also screened.
(ECF Nos. 15, 16.) Plaintiff was allowed to proceed with an
Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference to serious medical
needs claim against NNCC Psychiatrist Harris, NNCC
Psychologist Nathaniel Woods, NNCC Psychologist Kyle, and
(now former) Medical Director Romeo Aranas. He alleges that
these defendants stopped providing him treatment for
psychological issues. He alleges that he was previously
provided psychiatric services at Southern Nevada Adult Mental
Health Services (SNAMHS) prior to his incarceration in
Nevada, and then at HDSP, for long-term psychiatric issues
including paraphilia, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
(VA diagnosed), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), severe
chronic dysthymia, clinical depression and bipolar disorder.
Specifically, he claims he is being deprived of adequate
psychotherapy, counseling and rehabilitation, which causes
him physical and psychological suffering.
He was
also allowed to proceed with a claim under RLUTPA, based on
allegations that Woods, Kyle and Aranas would not allow him
to obtain therapy unless he cut his hair and beard, in
violation of his orthodox Jewish faith tenets.
C.
Supplemental Complaint
Plaintiff
subsequently moved to file a supplemental complaint. (ECF No.
26.) The court granted the motion, noting it would screen the
proposed supplemental complaint. (ECF No. 30.) The court
screened the supplemental complaint. (ECF No. 36.)
Plaintiff
was allowed to proceed with a retaliation claim in Count IV,
based on allegations that he learned in April of 2018 that an
October 2017 disciplinary charge received from psych nurse
Richards was a typical form of retribution by Richards. He
claims that Ownsby advised him that Kyle, Pence and Wing
created deliberate misdiagnoses after learning of grievances
and a lawsuit to evade the need for PTSD treatment, and
Plaintiff has been denied PTSD treatment because of this. He
alleged that Ownsby was in a position to prevent this, but
did nothing.
He also
alleged in Count IV, that he was put in the "hole"
by Does 1 and 2 and was threatened with a retaliatory
transfer to ESP over grievances and litigation. This claim
was dismissed without prejudice because Plaintiff did not
identify the particular defendants.
He was
allowed to proceed with Eighth Amendment and retaliation
claims in Count V against Woods and Kyle. These claims were
based on allegations that they restricted his access to
mental health services to only a male mental health personnel
to retaliate against him for filing grievances and lawsuit.
He alleges that they were trying to alter or suppress his
sexuality and to keep him from seeking mental health services
and to discourage litigation.
Finally,
Plaintiff asserted a retaliation claim against Does 1 and 2
in Count VI, which was dismissed without prejudice because
Plaintiff failed to identify the defendants. There, Plaintiff
alleged that on July 16, 2018, these defendants contrived a
need to send Plaintiff to Ely State Prison (ESP) as a
security risk and placed him in ad-seg based on an incorrect
classification score. In addition, they threatened a
retaliatory transfer for his complaints and grievances at
NNCC. He was then placed in a housing unit with less access
to calls, religious activities and yard time. This occurred
days after he refused a settlement offer.
///
D.
Current Status of Defendants
Harris
was dismissed without prejudice as Plaintiff failed to timely
serve him under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m). (ECF
No. 33.) District Judge Du issued a notice of intent to
dismiss Ownsby, who has yet to be served. (ECF No. 76.)
Therefore, currently the defendants are: Psychologist
Nathaniel Woods, Psychologist B. Kyle, (former) Medical
Director Romeo Aranas, Mental Health Social Worker Pence,
Psychologist Wing, and Psych Nurse Richards.
E.
Scheduling Order & Motion to
Re-Set Scheduling Order
Deadlines
A
scheduling order was issued on December 28, 2018, setting,
among other things, a deadline to add or join parties or ...