Kunhart

MEMORANDUM **

Robert Bruce Kunhart, a California state prisoner previously incarcerated in Nevada, appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment dismissing for failure to exhaust administrative remedies his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging defendants used excessive force during his arrest and subsequently acted with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs during his incarceration. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review a district court’s determination that a prisoner failed to exhaust administrative remedies de novo, and factual determinations for clear error. Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F.3d 1108, 1117 (9th Cir.2003). We reverse and remand.

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) requires a prisoner to exhaust “such administrative remedies as are available” before filing a federal action. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). However, the PLRA does not impose a pleading requirement; “defendants have the burden of raising and proving the absence of exhaustion.” See Wyatt, 315 F.3d at 1119 .

In support of its motion to dismiss this action for failure to exhaust under the PLRA, defendant Prison Health Services argued that Kunhart failed to comply with the grievance…