Kekai Watanabe v. Estela Derr

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

KEKAI WATANABE, No. 23-15605

Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 1:22-cv-00168- v. JAO-RT

ESTELA DERR; K. ROBL, Mr.; NIELSEN, Nurse; KWON, Dr., OPINION

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii Jill Otake, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 14, 2024 University of Hawaii Manoa

Filed September 6, 2024

Before: Richard A. Paez, Milan D. Smith, Jr., and Lucy H. Koh, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Paez; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge M. Smith SUMMARY *

Bivens

The panel reversed the district court’s dismissal of a Bivens action brought by Kekai Watanabe, incarcerated at Federal Detention Center, who alleged that his Eighth Amendment rights were violated when the medical staff were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs. Watanabe alleged that after he sustained severe injuries from an assault, the prison nurse treated him with over-the- counter medication for his pain instead of…