GARR M. KING, District Judge.
Plaintiff is currently an inmate incarcerated at Snake River Correctional Institution ("SRCI"), but he was incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary ("OSP") during the events alleged in his Amended Complaint. The following motions are pending before me: defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [35], plaintiff's Motion for Leave to File Amended Complaint/Petition [54], plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction [57], and plaintiff's Emergency Motion for Injunctive Relief [58]. For the following reasons, I grant defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment and I deny all of plaintiff's motions.
In his operative pleading-the Amended Complaint filed on March 18, 2014-plaintiff alleges Superintendent Jeff Premo, Dennis Long, Carrie Coffey, and Janet (Birdie) Worley, all employees at OSP, violated various constitutional and statutory rights. He contends, for example, that Superintendent Premo was deliberately indifferent to his medical needs, has subjected him to contaminated water and air, has violated his religious rights by requiring him to shower and use the toilet in front of female correctional officers, and has failed to protect him from assaults. The earliest event plaintiff complains about occurred on July 5, 2013.
Defendants seek judgment dismissing this case on the basis that plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies as to any of the claims he alleges in his Amended Complaint.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA") states: "[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted." 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). In other words, "[t]he [PLRA] requires that a prisoner exhaust available administrative remedies before bringing a federal action concerning prison conditions."
It is the defendants' burden "to prove there was an available administrative remedy, and that the prisoner did not exhaust that available remedy."
ODOC Grievance Coordinator at OSP, Brent Eriksen, located only two grievances submitted by plaintiff during the relevant time period. Neither of those grievances relates to the events or claims alleged by plaintiff in his operative pleading. Further, plaintiff did not appeal any of the responses to his grievances.
The central question raised by plaintiff is whether any administrative remedies were "unavailable" to him. Specifically, OAR 291-109-0140(3)(h) precludes an inmate from grieving a claim or issue for which the inmate has filed a Notice of Tort with the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, Risk Management Division. Because plaintiff's response [46] to defendants' summary judgment was largely unresponsive, I permitted him to file a supplemental response. I specifically instructed him to provide evidence of any tort claims notice he had submitted and any grievances he had filed so I could assess the availability of administrative remedies.
Plaintiff now provides three grievance forms he submitted after he initiated this litigation. Ex. 10 (4/4/2014); Ex. 11 (5/1/2014); Ex. 12 (5/6/2014). However, "a prisoner does not comply with the exhaustion requirement by exhausting available remedies during the course of the litigation."
The only grievance plaintiff offers which he submitted prior to the litigation, dated August 7, 2013, does not directly relate to the claims he alleges in his Amended Complaint. In any event, to the extent the grievance reflects plaintiff's general concern about his safety at OSP, the grievance was either resolved or plaintiff failed to grieve the resolution. Specifically, plaintiff represents that the Grievance Coordinator at OSP did not process his grievance in the normal fashion; rather, plaintiff was interviewed by "someone from the Inspector General's Office . . . who determined the matter was resolved because plaintiff had been moved[.]" Pl.'s Notice to the Court 2 [51]. Plaintiff does not indicate that he attempted to further grieve this resolution.
In sum, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, plaintiff failed to exhaust his available administrative remedies and defendants are entitled to summary judgment.
Plaintiff moves to amend his complaint a second time to add what appears to be claims related to plaintiff's transfer from OSP to SRCI.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) provides, in part, as follows:
Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2).
Whether to grant or deny a motion to amend pleadings is a matter of the court's discretion.
I deny plaintiff's motion to amend his complaint on grounds that he has amended once already, that the new claims relate to actions taken by other individuals at a different prison, and that plaintiff has not exhausted his administrative remedies. On this last point, I note plaintiff alleges he exhausted "pursuant to OAR 291-109-0160(4)(5). Plaintiff filed a Notice of Tort Claim on March 14, 2014, and on May 1, 2014." Proposed Second Am. Compl. ¶ 2.
The regulation plaintiff cites, OAR 291-109-0160(4), provides:
From plaintiff's citation to this regulation, I conclude plaintiff believes he can render the grievance process "unavailable" to him by purposefully filing a notice of tort claim. Plaintiff is wrong. As an initial matter, compliance with the Oregon Tort Claims Act is not a prerequisite to bringing a federal claim against a state public agency or employee of a state public agency in federal court, so his filing of a tort claim in this circumstance is suspect. Further, plaintiff makes no showing that he even attempted to take advantage of administrative remedies prior to asking to add claims to this case. Accordingly, because plaintiff is unable to show he properly attempted to grieve and appeal the newly proposed claims, his proposed amendments would be futile.
I have previously denied multiple requests for injunctive relief. Plaintiff has again sought injunctive relief, seeking a remedy for acts perpetrated by individuals not named and claims not alleged in his operative pleading. As a result, even if I did not dismiss plaintiff's lawsuit for his failure to exhaust administrative remedies, I would deny his requests for injunctive relief because he cannot demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits.
Based on the foregoing, defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [35] is granted. Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to File Amended Complaint/Petition [54], plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction [57], and plaintiff's Emergency Motion for Injunctive Relief [58] are denied. This case is dismissed without prejudice.
IT IS SO ORDERED.