(PC) Asberry v. Biter ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 TONY ASBERRY, Case No. 1:16-cv-01741-JLT-HBK 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LAW LIBRARY ACCESS 13 v. (Doc. No. 245) 14 C. RELEVANTE, LOZOVOY, FERRIS, GODFREY, 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s pleading titled “Plaintiff’s Motion for Court 19 Assistance to Gain Access to The Law Library” filed May 2, 2022. (Doc. No. 245). Plaintiff, a 20 current state prisoner, is proceeding in forma pauperis on his pro-se civil rights complaint under 21 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This case is scheduled to commence trial on December 5, 2022. (Doc. No. 22 242). 23 In the motion sub judice, Plaintiff states he submitted a Priority Library User1 (“PLU”) 24 request on April 21, 2022, which was denied on April 26, 2022. (Doc. No. 45 at 3). Plaintiff 25 explains that his request was denied by the librarian because his next court deadline is not 26 1 Plaintiff’s motion uses the acronym PLU and states it stands for “Priority Library User;” however, the 27 California Code of Regulations states PLU stands for “priority legal user.” Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15 §§ 3122, 3123 (2022). Thus, the Court interprets PLU as used in Plaintiff’s motion to mean priority legal 28 user. 1 scheduled within thirty (30) days of his PLU request. (Id. at 4, 5). Plaintiff admits he did not file 2 an administrative appeal of the denial of his PLU request because the appeal process is lengthy 3 and will not reach a decision before is next court deadline. (Id. at 5). Plaintiff argues that 4 denying his PLU request is a violation of his access to the court. (Id.). A review of the docket 5 indicates the next Court-ordered deadline in Plaintiff’s case is not until October 31, 2022, when 6 the filing motions in limine are due. (Doc. No. 242). 7 As a prisoner, Plaintiff has a constitutionally protected right of access to courts guaranteed 8 by the Fourteenth Amendment. Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 821 (1977). Implicit within this 9 right of access to courts is the prisoner’s right to have access to adequate law libraries or legal 10 assistance from trained individuals. “[T]he fundamental constitutional right of access to the 11 courts requires prison authorities to assist inmates in the preparation and filing of meaningful 12 legal papers by providing prisoners with adequate law libraries or adequate assistance from 13 persons trained in the law.” Id. at 828 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted). Precedent “does not 14 dictate a minimum number of hours or any other requirement for satisfying the right of access.” 15 Witkin v. Swarthout, 2013 WL 6054451, at *2 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 15, 2013). “[T]he Constitution 16 does not guarantee a prisoner unlimited access to the law library; prison officials of necessity 17 must regulate the time, manner and place in which library facilities are used.” Harris v. Yates, 18 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3829, *4 (N.D. Cal. 2008) (citing Lindquist v. Idaho State Bd. Of 19 Corrections, 776 F.2d 851, 858 (9th Cir. 1985). “The fact that a prisoner must wait for a turn to 20 use the library does not necessarily mean that he has been denied meaningful access to the 21 courts.” Harris, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS at *4-5 (citing Lindquist, 776 F.2d at 858). Because 22 there is no established minimum requirement for satisfying the access requirement; “a reviewing 23 court should focus on whether the individual plaintiff before it has been denied meaningful 24 access.” Sands v. Lewis, 886 F.2d 1166, 1169 (9th Cir.1989) (internal quotations omitted). The 25 Ninth Circuit has held that for a prisoner to establish that his access to the courts was violated 26 “because of inadequate access to a law library [he] must establish two things: First, he must show 27 that the access was so limited as to be unreasonable. Second he must show that the inadequate 28 access caused him actual injury, i.e., show a ‘specific instance in which [he] was actually denied 1 access to the courts.’” Vandelft v. Moses, 31 F.3d 794, 797 (9th Cir. 1994) (citing Sands v. Lewis, 2 886 F.2d 1166, 1171 (9th Cir. 1989). 3 California law has further codified inmates’ library access. All inmates are entitled to 4 physical law library access. Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15 § 3123 (2022). Inmates fall into one of two 5 categories: priority legal user (“PLU”) or general legal user (“GLU”). Id.; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15 6 § 3122 (2022). “Inmates on PLU status may receive 4 hours per calendar week of requested 7 physical law library access as resources are available and shall be given higher priority to the law 8 library resources” whereas inmates on GLU status receive a minimum of two hours per calendar 9 week of requested law library access. Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15 § 3123(b) (2022). “An inmate may 10 receive PLU status within 30 calendar days of his or her established court deadline unless the 11 inmate can demonstrate need for a longer period of PLU status based on extraordinary 12 circumstances beyond the inmate’s control.” Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15 § 3122(b)(6) (2022). 13 As noted supra, Plaintiff’s next Court-ordered deadline is over five months from the date 14 of this Order. While the Court is sympathetic to the difficulties pro-se litigants encounter, 15 Plaintiff still has access to his institution’s law library under a GLU status, which at a minimum, 16 is only two hours less per calendar week then the minimum access under a PLU status. See Cal. 17 Code Regs. tit. 15 §§ 3122, 3123 (2022). Furthermore, Plaintiff does not claim that he is denied 18 all access of the law library. (See generally Doc. No. 245). While Plaintiff cites the challenges 19 he has preparing for trial because he is not a lawyer, Plaintiff does not provide evidence of actual 20 harm he will experience if he is not immediately granted PLU status. (See generally id.). 21 Plaintiff’s institution followed the reasonable guidelines governing law library access set forth in 22 the California Code of Regulations. See Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15 §§ 3122, 3123 (2022). At a 23 minimum, Plaintiff can still request PLU status within thirty calendar days of his next Court- 24 ordered deadline. See Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15 § 3122(b)(6) (2022); (see also Doc. No. 242). 25 Further, this Court does not interject itself into the day-to-day operations of penal institutions. 26 Plaintiff should comply with his institution’s procedures for gaining access to the law library. 27 And, when appropriate, Plaintiff should alert staff to his court-ordered deadlines to gain PLU 28 access. 1 Accordingly, it is ORDERED: 2 Plaintiff's motion for court assistance to gain access to the law library (Doc. No. 245) is 3 | DENIED. 4 > | Dated: _ May 10, 2022 Mihaw. Th. Doareh Zacks 6 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA 4 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28