Gates V. Gomez

This case originated as a civil rights class action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 29 U.S.C. § 794 challenging medical care, psychiatric care, and conditions of confinement at the California Medical Facility and Main Northern Reception Center ("CMF") in Vacaville, California.*fn1 The suit also challenged the care and confinement of a subclass of HIV-infected inmates. The case went to trial in September, 1989. After plaintiffs rested their case, settlement negotiations culminated in a consent decree which was approved March 8, 1990. The operation of the consent decree has thus far given rise to two published appellate opinions: Gates v. Rowland, 39 F.3d 1439 (9th Cir. 1994), and Gates v. Deukmejian, 987 F.2d 1392 (9th Cir. 1993). This opinion is the third.