Michael Holmberg v. Christine Gregoire

MEMORANDUM

Michael A. Holmberg, a Washington state prisoner, appeals pro se from the district court’s summary judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging that de fendants denied him access to his Mandatory Savings Account (“MSA”) to pay for court fees in retaliation for his ongoing litigation activities. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo a grant of summary judgment. Bruce v. Ylst, 351 F.3d 1283, 1287 (9th Cir.2003). We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

The district court properly granted summary judgment to defendant Vail because Holmberg failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether Vail personally participated in the decision to deny Holmberg MSA access. See Taylor v. List, 880 F.2d 1040, 1045 (9th Cir.1989) (a supervisor is only liable where he “participated in or directed the violations, or knew of the violations and failed to act to prevent them”).

The district court granted summary judgment to defendants Van Boening and Fitzpatrick after concluding that they denied Holmberg MSA access because of a Department of Corrections policy that only allows access in the case of an emergency. However, in opposition to…