Hypolite v. California Department of Corrections

MEMORANDUM

California state prisoner Steven Hypol-ite appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment on his damages claims alleging violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”). The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants, including the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections, the Warden of the California Medical Facility prison, and numerous other prison officials, on Hypolite’s official capacity claims because of the defendants’ Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity. It also granted summary judgment to the defendants on Hypolite’s individual capacity claims for money damages, reasoning that RLUIPA does not create a cause of action for such claims.

On appeal, Hypolite contends that the defendants waived sovereign immunity by extensively litigating his claims. Thus, Hypolite argues that the district court erred when it granted summary judgment to the defendants based on their sovereign immunity. Hypolite also contends that the district court erred when it held that RLUIPA does not authorize money damages for individual capacity claims.

The “test for determining whether a State has waived its…