Wilkins-Jones v. Cnty. of Alameda

SHAWNA WILKINS-JONES, Plaintiff,

v.COUNTY OF ALAMEDA, et al., Defendants.

No. C-08-1485 EMC

Docket No. 216

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Dated: March 14, 2012

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND

DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS

I. INTRODUCTION

Shawna Wilkins-Jones filed suit against the County of Alameda ("County") on March 18, 2008, for violations of the California Disabled Persons Act ("CDPA") and the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). She alleged that she was denied access to jail policies and facilities for disabled persons when she was arrested and detained on April 13, 2007, for six days. Compl. ¶¶ 1-2. The Court granted summary judgment in favor the County as to all of Plaintiff's claims. See Docket Nos. 169, 204. However, the Court granted Plaintiff leave to amend to add Defendants Prison Health Services (now known as Corizon), a for-profit business contracting with the County to provide medical services to inmates, and its employees Melissa Brown, Martha Campos, and Bill Wilson. Docket No. 204.

Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint now brings claims against Defendants under the ADA, CDPA, and the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Docket No. 206. Defendants' motion to dismiss the FAC is pending before the Court. Docket No. 216. After considering the parties' submissions and oralargument, and for the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Defendants' motion to dismiss.

II. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Shawna Wilkins-Jones suffers from systemic lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. FAC ¶ 2. She has had hip and knee replacements, and rheumatoid arthritis has left her hands deformed. Id. ¶ 25. She has limited mobility as a result of her disabilities. Id. ¶ 9. Her doctor describes her as "semiambulatory." Docket No. 134, ¶ 16. She takes several medications to manage her symptoms. FAC ¶¶2, 25.

Plaintiff was arrested on April 13, 2007, on the basis of a four-year-old misdemeanor warrant. Id. ¶ 2. Police took her to Santa Rita Jail because it was the only disability-accessible facility. Id. Plaintiff notified Defendants and jail staff of her disabilities repeatedly during her time at Santa Rita. Id. However, despite noting that she "would have difficulty with handrails and stairs" and that her hands were deformed, Defendants failed to provide her with any accommodations for her disabilities. Id. ¶¶ 2, 25. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to take into account the mitigating effects of her medication in assessing her disability, and therefore failed to properly classify her as someone in need of accommodation. Id. ¶ 23. Defendants also failed to properly complete their own procedures by, e.g., leaving certain form questions blank such as, "is the inmate's mobility restricted in any way?" Id. ¶ 24.

Defendant PHS/Corizon is a private corporation that contracts with the County to provide assessments of incoming prisoners and medical care to inmates at Santa Rita Jail. Its employees, including Defendants Brown, Campos, and Wilson, are responsible "for establishing and enforcing policies regarding the processing of inmates being brought into the jail, classification and housing needs of inmates as well as identification and treatment of inmates with disabilities, including provision of reasonable accommodations." Id. ¶ 11. Defendant Brown, a nurse, performed Plaintiff's intake assessment. Defendant Campos supervised the nursing staff. Id. ¶ 13. Defendant Wilson is the PHS/Corizon Health Services Administrator, responsible for setting policies regarding the identification and treatment of persons with disabilities. Id. Plaintiff has named other employees as Does because she does not know their identities.

As a result of Defendants' evaluation and recommendations to the County, Plaintiff was forced to stay in an inaccessible holding cell for three days, where she "had to stand for hours at a time, sleep on a cement floor, and painfully hold her excretory bodily functions." Id. ¶ 2. She was later transferred to other housing and holding cells, also inaccessible, where she continued to have trouble accessing the toilets, showers, and other facilities. Id. ¶¶ 2, 37. "She was forced to stand for long periods at a time, forced to walk long distances within the jail and to the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility and Wiley Manuel Court House, and prevented from sitting or lying down, causing her great pain and discomfort." Id. Specifically, Plaintiff suffered from "circulatory problems that led to major pain and swelling in her joints, swelling in her legs that became so bad that her skin broke into deep cysts that would not heal, back pain and injury, dehydration, headaches, nausea, and injury to her excretory system." Id.

Plaintiff alleges that Defendants, through their policies and practices, discriminated against her on the basis of her disabilities. She alleges that they acted in violation of the California Disabled Persons Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 54; the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51 and 52; and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12131. Plaintiff seeks damages, fees, and costs.

Plaintiff originally filed her complaint against the County, but the Court per Judge Patel granted two summary judgment motions in favor of the County resolving all of Plaintiff's claims. Docket No. 169, 204. Plaintiff then amended her complaint (with the Court's permission) to allege similar claims against the current Defendants. Docket No. 206. Defendants now move to dismiss these claims. Docket No. 216.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Legal Standard

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a party may move to dismiss based on the failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). A motion to dismiss based on Rule 12(b)(6) challenges the legal sufficiency of the claims alleged. See Parks Sch. of Bus. v. Symington, 51 F.3d 1480, 1484 (9th Cir. 1995). In considering such a motion, a court must take all allegations of material fact as true and construe them in the light most favorable to thenonmoving party, although "conclusory allegations of law and unwarranted inferences are insufficient to avoid a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal." Cousins v. Lockyer, 568 F.3d 1063, 1067 (9th Cir. 2009). While "a complaint need not contain detailed factual allegations ... it must plead 'enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' " Id. "A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009); see also Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556 (2007). "The plausibility standard is not akin to a 'probability requirement,' but it asks for more than sheer possibility that a defendant acted unlawfully." Id.

B. Statute of Limitations

Defendants state that they plan to file a motion for reconsideration of this Court's prior ruling that Plaintiff's claims related back to her original complaint. See Mot. at 2; Order of August 19, 2011, Docket No. 204, at 13-20. However, Defendants have not actually filed such a motion, nor do they make any argument as to why the Court should reconsider its prior order. Accordingly, the Court declines to address any issue related to the statute of limitations as it has not been properly raised.

C. Title II - ADA

Title II of the ADA states: "No qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason, of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity." 42 U.S.C. § 12132. The ADA's proscription against such discrimination was modeled after Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which states: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." 29 U.S.C. § 794(a). However, Title II applies to public entities whereas Section 504 applies to recipient of federal funds.

An ADA violation is established where a plaintiff proves that: "(1) he is a 'qualified individual with a disability'; (2) he was either excluded from participation in or denied the benefitsof a public entity's services, programs, or activities, or was otherwise discriminated against by the public entity; and (3) such exclusion, denial of benefits, or discrimination was by reason of his disability." Duvall v. County of Kitsap, 260 F.3d 1124, 1135 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing Weinreich v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transp. Auth., 114 F.3d 976, 978 (9th Cir. 1997)). In a disability action seeking monetary relief, a plaintiff must additionally prove intentional discrimination as defined by the "deliberate indifference" standard. Duvall, 260 F.3d at 1138. "Deliberate indifference requires both knowledge that a harm to a federally protected right is substantially likely, and a failure to act upon that likelihood." Id. at 1139 (citing City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 389 (1988)).

Defendants argue that Plaintiff fails to state a claim under Title II of the ADA because (1) Defendant PHS/Corizon is not a public entity; (2) Title II does not permit claims against individual defendants; (3) Judge Patel has already ruled that Defendants did not act with deliberate indifference; and (4) deficient medical care cannot give rise to an ADA claim. I will address each in turn.

1. Public Entities

Defendants argue that Plaintiff's Title II claim fails because PHS/Corizon is not a public entity. Title II provides for liability only against public entities, which it defines as: "(A) any State or local government; (B) any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or...