Case: Gamez v. Ryan

2:10-cv-02070 | U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

Filed Date: Sept. 27, 2010

Closed Date: 2012

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Case Summary

On September 27, 2010, an Arizona prisoner, Robert Gamez, brought this suit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Arizona against the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC), under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The plaintiff, filing pro se, asked for both declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging that the ADOC violated his Fourteenth and Eighth Amendment rights by failing to provide adequate mental health services or sufficiently trained staff to deal with prisoners with mental health issues.The…

The District Court (Judge Frederick Martone) dismissed the original complaint with leave to amend for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Each of the first two amended complaints were also dismissed with leave to amend for the same reason.

On March 6, 2012, eighteen months after the original complaint was filed, Gamez filed a third amended complaint. The plaintiff, now represented by the ACLU National Prison Project, expanded the suit to include a class. New allegations included that the prison deprived prisoners of general health care, that prisoners did not receive adequate treatment even when they could receive care and that the defendants subjected prisoners in isolation to unconstitutional conditions.

However, in a ruling on March 21, 2012, Judge Martone dismissed the suit. He found that the sudden expansion of the case to include thirteen new plaintiffs and seeking class treatment was not "within the contemplation of the court" when it allowed for a third amended complaint. This, along with the 18-month complaint phase, led him to dismiss the case without prejudice.

On March 22, 2012, a team of lawyers from the ACLU, the Prison Law Office and private practice filed a lawsuit alleging similar claims against the ADOC. The case was filed as Parsons v. Ryan, with docket number CV12-0601-PHX-NVW. See related cases for more information.

	Document
2:10-cv-02070	Docket	March 21, 2012	March 21, 2012 Docket
1 2:10-cv-02070	Civil Rights Complaint by a Prisoner	Sept. 27, 2010	Sept. 27, 2010 Complaint
15 2:10-cv-02070	Order [Dismissing Complaint and Granting Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis]	Jan. 26, 2011	Jan. 26, 2011 Order/Opinion
18 2:10-cv-02070	Civil Rights Complaint by a Prisoner [First Amended Complaint]	March 22, 2011	March 22, 2011 Complaint
28 2:10-cv-02070	Civil Rights Complaint by a Prisoner [Second Amended Complaint]	July 28, 2011	July 28, 2011 Complaint
30 2:10-cv-02070	Order [Dismissing Second Amended Complaint]	Feb. 29, 2012	Feb. 29, 2012 Order/Opinion
31 2:10-cv-02070	Third Amended Class Action Complaint for Injunctive and Declartatory Relief	March 6, 2012	March 6, 2012 Complaint
42 2:10-cv-02070	Order [Reassigning Case]	March 7, 2012	March 7, 2012 Order/Opinion
51 2:10-cv-02070	Order [Dismissing Case]	March 21, 2012	March 21, 2012 Order/Opinion

Case: Gamez v. Ryan

2:10-cv-02070 | U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

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