Valdez v. Diaz
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Bernard G. Skomal (author)
Analysis
The court reviewed a petition for writ of habeas corpus filed by a state prisoner who had been transferred to a new facility. The court sua sponte ordered the substitution of the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as the respondent in place of the previous warden.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Substitution of Ralph Diaz, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as Respondent in place of Raymond Madden.“the Court hereby sua sponte ORDERS the substitution of Ralph Diaz, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as Respondent in place of “Raymond Madden.”” | agree with court The decision follows directly from the procedural requirements of Rule 2(a) of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases, which requires that the proper custodian be named as respondent. Since the petitioner's place of custody changed, the specific warden was no longer the correct respondent. Naming the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is a standard and accepted practice in the Ninth Circuit to avoid the need for repeated substitutions if the prisoner is transferred again. The court correctly identified the change in custody based on the notice of change of address and applied the appropriate procedural rule. |
The order itself: sound — The order is procedurally correct and cites the appropriate statutory and circuit authority to support the substitution of the respondent. It clearly states the factual basis for the change (transfer of custody) and the legal basis (Rule 2(a) and Ortiz-Sandoval). There are no gaps in the reasoning for this specific procedural motion.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JOSE LUIS VALDEZ, Case No.: 18cv0734 LAB (BGS)
12 Petitioner, ORDER SUA SPONTE 13 v. SUBSTITUTING RESPONDENT 14 RALPH DIAZ, Secretary, et al., 15 Respondents. 16 17 On April 13, 2018, Petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 18 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (ECF No. 1.) At the time of filing, Petitioner was apparently housed 19 at Centinela State Prison and thus named Raymond Madden, Warden, as Respondent. 20 Based on the notice of change of address Petitioner submitted to the Court on February 7, 21 2020, it appears Petitioner is no longer housed at Centinela State Prison; rather, it appears 22 he is presently incarcerated at Chuckawlla Valley State Prison in Blythe, California. 23 A writ of habeas corpus acts upon the custodian of the state prisoner. See 28 24 U.S.C. § 2242; Rule 2(a), 28 U.S.C. foll. § 2254. Because Petitioner’s place of custody 25 has changed, so has his custodian. Accordingly, in order to conform with the 26 requirements of Rule 2(a) of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases and to avoid changing 27 the Respondent again if Petitioner is transferred to another prison or paroled, the Court 28 hereby sua sponte ORDERS the substitution of Ralph Diaz, Secretary of the California 1 || Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as Respondent in place of “Raymond 2 Madden.” See Ortiz-Sandoval v. Gomez, 81 F.3d 891, 894 (9th Cir. 1996) (stating that 3 || the respondent in § 2254 proceedings may be the chief officer in charge of state penal 4 |/institutions). The Clerk of the Court shall modify the docket to reflect “Ralph Diaz, 5 || Secretary” as respondent in place of “Raymond Madden.” 6 Dated: February 19, 2020 7 2 p / / on. Bernard G. Skomal 8 United States Magistrate Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28