Joshua Tolsma v. King County

MEMORANDUM

Joshua Tolsma appeals from the district court’s summary judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging constitutional violations and a state negligence claim arising from an assault against him by a fellow pretrial detainee at the King County Correctional Facility. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo, Sch. Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah Cnty., Or. v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1258 (9th Cir.1993), and we affirm.

The district court properly granted summary judgment as to Tolsma’s claims against the Doe officers because Tolsma failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether the officers knew of and disregarded a risk to his health or safety. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837 , 114 S.Ct. 1970 , 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994)(a prison official cannot be found liable for failing to protect one inmate from another “unless the official knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate health or safety”); Cousins v. Lockyer, 568 F.3d 1063, 1070-71 (9th Cir.2009) (explaining that a violation of a prison regulation does not establish a constitutional violation, and concluding that further discovery on Doe defendants’ identities would be…