Eaton v. Blewett

Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, prisoners must exhaust “such administrative remedies as are available” before bringing a claim to federal court. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). However, if a claim is not barred if a remedy is effectively unavailable. McBride v. Lopez, 807 F.3d 982, 986 (9th Cir. 2015).

Petitioner appealed from summary judgment for Defendants arising from a claim in which Petitioner was unable to file a grievance regarding a mail issue. Petitioner assigned error to the court’s holding that he had not exhausted the administrative remedies as required under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Petitioner argued that he did not have meaningful access to the administrative process for his mail grievance. In response, Defendants argued that Eaton did not withdraw one of his active grievances in order to access the administrative process. Under the PLRA, prisoners must exhaust “such administrative remedies as are available” before bringing a claim to federal court. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). However, if a claim is not barred if a remedy is effectively unavailable. McBride v. Lopez, 807 F.3d 982, 986 (9th Cir. 2015). The Court reasoned that the administrative remedies were unavailable to Petitioner because Defendants had not followed their own grievance timelines, had not given Petitioner the information he requested in order to withdraw a grievance and refile the mail grievance, and even if he had refiled, the grievance coordinator was permitted to deny the refiling. Accordingly, the Court held that summary judgement was not appropriate. Vacated and remanded.