Joseph Rodriguez v. v. Elmore

MEMORANDUM

Joseph Arthur Rodriguez, a California state prisoner, appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging that prison officials subjected him to excessive force and were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo both summary judgment and an order dismissing a claim. Cousins v. Lockyer, 568 F.3d 1063, 1067 (9th Cir.2009); Jones v. Blanas, 393 F.3d 918, 926 (9th Cir.2004). We affirm.

The district court properly granted summary judgment on the excessive force claim because Rodriguez failed to raise a triable issue as to whether prison officials “acted maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm” by using pepper spray after Rodriguez and his cellmate repeatedly refused to comply with orders to exit them cell and be handcuffed so that prison officials could search their cell for a missing metal object. Clement v. Gomez, 298 F.3d 898, 903-04 (9th Cir.2002) (evidence that prison official administered second pepper spray after coughing and gagging was heard from cell “does not lead to the inference that…