United States Ninth Circuit

In an action brought under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 by a California state prisoner who alleged that he was denied constitutionally adequate medical care when members of the prison's medical staff denied him effective pain medication, the district court's judgment is affirmed over claims of erroneous jury instructions where: 1) when a pro se civil litigant fails to object to a jury instruction, the court should review the instruction under the ordinary standard of review, rather than for plain error; and 2) the deference instruction should not ordinarily be given in Eighth Amendment medical care cases brought by prisoners.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/25/2015
• Published 06/25/2015

Judges

• Fletcher

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel