Sergio Cortez Benitez v. County of Maricopa

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff Sergio Cortez Benitez appeals from the district court’s order dismissing his Americans with Disabilities Act claim. We have jurisdiction and we affirm.

Benitez brought this action against the County of Maricopa alleging that prison officers unlawfully denied him the use of his cane and that he was injured as a result. Before filing suit, he lodged an inmate grievance with the prison and was granted an ADA accommodation. Benitez subsequently filed an internal appeal in an attempt to secure follow-up medical care. Although he was not satisfied with the results of that appeal, he failed to file an external appeal form, and thus, did not complete the final stage of the prison’s administrative grievance process. The district court dismissed Benitez’s ADA claim pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), based on his failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

Benitez’s first contention is that because the prison granted his request for an ADA accommodation, he had no obligation to appeal from the satisfactory resolution of his ADA grievance. But the Supreme Court has held that a prisoner is required to “exhaust administrative…