Johnson v. Diaz CA5

Filed 4/9/21 Johnson v. Diaz CA5 Received after posting hours on 4/12/21

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

ANTHONY L. JOHNSON, F081664 Plaintiff and Appellant, (Super. Ct. No. CV62993) v.

RALPH DIAZ, as Secretary of the Department of OPINION Corrections and Rehabilitation, etc.,

Defendant and Respondent.

THE COURT* APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Tuolumne County. Kevin M. Seibert, Judge. Anthony L. Johnson, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Monica N. Anderson, Assistant Attorney General, Misha D. Igra and Jaime M. Ganson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Defendant and Respondent. -ooOoo-

* Before Poochigian, Acting P.J., Meehan, J. and Snauffer, J.

1

Anthony L. Johnson, a self-represented inmate in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), appeals from a judgment entered after the trial court sustained a demurrer without leave to amend. As explained below, defendant Ralph Diaz, the Secretary of CDCR, is immune from liability for the injuries suffered by Johnson during an assault by another inmate. (See Gov. Code, §§ 820.2, 820.8, 844.6, subd. (a).)1 As a result of this immunity, the demurrer was properly sustained without leave to amend and we need not address whether Johnson properly complied with the claim presentation requirements of the Government Claims Act. (§ 810 et seq.) We therefore affirm the judgment. FACTS Johnson is an inmate in the custody of CDCR. In 2015, CDCR created the sensitive needs yard to house inmates away from the general population for their safety. Johnson was assigned to this yard. With a new policy, CDCR introduced non-designated programming facilities. In May 2019, Johnson was notified his status had been changed and he would be placed in a non-designated programming facility. Johnson notified his correctional counselor and contacted staff at the ombudsman’s office, explaining his fear of being attacked because of the nature of his criminal offenses. Despite the notice Johnson provided to CDCR officials about his safety concerns, he was transferred to the non-designated programming facility at Sierra Conservation Center in May 2019. In July 2019, Johnson’s physical fitness training coach, Jordan Curasi, informed Johnson that he could no longer work in the gym office around female physical fitness training coaches Fisher and Dwyer. Subsequently, Fisher and Dwyer shared Johnson’s confidential criminal case information with two inmates, Catlett and