Opinion
No. 18-15650
10-29-2018
FREDERICK LEE JACKSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PHUC LAM, M.D.; L. HEDDEN, M.D., Defendants-Appellees.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
D.C. No. 5:17-cv-00526-NC MEMORANDUM Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Nathanael M. Cousins, Magistrate Judge, Presiding Before: SILVERMAN, GRABER, and GOULD, Circuit Judges.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
The parties consented to proceed before the magistrate judge. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).
California state prisoner Frederick Lee Jackson appeals pro se from the district court's summary judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo, Toguchi v. Chung, 391 F.3d 1051, 1056 (9th Cir. 2004), and we affirm.
The district court properly granted summary judgment because Jackson failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether defendants were deliberately indifferent to his knee pain. See id. at 1057-60 (a prison official is deliberately indifferent only if he or she knows of and disregards an excessive risk to an inmate's health; medical malpractice, negligence, or a difference of opinion concerning the course of treatment does not amount to deliberate indifference).
The district court did not abuse its discretion by denying leave to amend for Jackson to add a retaliation claim because amendment would be futile. See Chappel v. Lab. Corp. of Am., 232 F.3d 719, 725-26 (9th Cir. 2000) (setting forth standard of review and explaining that a district court "acts within its discretion to deny leave to amend when amendment would be futile").
We reject as unsupported by the record Jackson's contention concerning bias of the district court.
AFFIRMED.