Gomez

California state prison warden James Gomez and other prison officials appeal the district court’s denial of their motion for summary judgment. Inmates Frank Clement, Arturo Chavez and Larry Caballero sued the officials for violating their Eighth Amendment rights, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . The inmates asserted two claims of cruel and unusual punishment arising out of an incident in 1995 when the officials used pepper spray to quell a fight between two other prisoners, and the pepper spray vapors drifted into the plaintiff inmates’ cells. These claims alleged that the officials (1) used excessive force in applying the pepper spray, even after the fight had allegedly subsided; and (2) were deliberately indifferent to the medical needs of the neighboring inmates who allegedly suffered harmful effects from migrating pepper spray vapors.

We have jurisdiction over the officials’ interlocutory appeal from the denial of qualified immunity, see Billington v. Smith, 292 F.3d 1177, 1183 (9th Cir.2002), and review de novo. We affirm in part and reverse in part. The district court properly denied summary judgment on the deliberate indifference claim. The prison officials are…