Walter White v. Charles Lee

MEMORANDUM

Walter White, an inmate at the California-run Salinas Valley State Prison, has suffered from knee pain due, in part, to a Baker’s cyst in his right knee. White brought a § 1983 suit against four of his treating physicians, Drs. Pompan, Lee, Wong, and Safran. The district court dismissed White’s suit as to claims brought against Drs. Pompan and Lee on the grounds that he did not exhaust his administrative remedies, and granted Drs. Wong and Safran’s motion for summary judgment on White’s claims against them. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

White failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with regards to Drs. Pompan and Lee, and therefore cannot initiate a federal civil rights action against these defendants under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 88-85 , 126 S.Ct. 2378 , 165 L.Ed.2d 868 (2006). White’s prison appeal was submitted before the complained-of actions by these physicians occurred, and failed to reference what decisions or actions by Drs. Pompan or Lee adversely impacted White; see CaLCode Regs. tit. 15, § 3084.1 (asserting that “identified grievances” are exhausted only when…