Amick v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

521 F. App'x 354
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMarch 27, 2013
Docket12-3515
StatusUnpublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 521 F. App'x 354 (Amick v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amick v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction, 521 F. App'x 354 (6th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge.

This case stems from the death of Harry J. Amick while incarcerated in an Ohio prison. The decedent’s estate brought suit against various corrections entities and employees, asserting claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deliberate indifference to serious medical needs and failure to protect. The district court dismissed all claims under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Plaintiffs contend the district court improperly failed to construe the facts alleged in their favor. For the reasons that follow, the district court’s ruling is affirmed in part and reversed in part.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 1

Harry J. Amick was forty-seven years old at the time of his death while imprisoned on September 18, 2008. He had suffered from schizoaffective disorder for most of his life, for which he had been prescribed psychotropic medications by various mental health professionals. During the last months of his life, while incarcerated, these medications were withdrawn. This may have contributed to manifestation of increasing symptoms, which may have played a role in his death at the hands of another inmate.

On November 7, 2007, Amick was taken into custody at the Cuyohoga County Corrections Center. There psychotropic medications were prescribed, specifically zy-prexa and depakote. On April 8, 2008, Amick was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and ordered to remain on his psychotropic medications.

Amick was transferred to a state prison facility, Lorain Correctional Institution, on April 14, 2008. There Amick was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and his prescription for zyprexa and depakote was maintained. However, it was determined that Amick did not need mental health services and administration of his medications was tapered. As a result, Amick *356 stopped receiving zyprexa on April 28, 2008. On April 29, 2008, he was transferred to another correctional facility, Madison Correctional Institution. Amick was again diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and depakote was prescribed, but Amick was deemed not to need mental health services and he no longer received depakote after May 1, 2008.

Amick was transferred to Belmont Correctional Institution on June 3, 2008, where he was diagnosed with schizoaffec-tive disorder, but no medications were prescribed and mental health services were deemed unnecessary. Three months later, Amick began to experience delusions and hallucinations and his behavior became more aggressive. On September 17, 2008, Amick visited the mental health department at Belmont seeking help. He was seen by a social worker on September 18, who concluded Amick was only “med seeking,” but she referred him to a physician, a psychiatrist, who likewise examined Amick and determined that medications were unnecessary.

Amick was then assigned to a cell with an inmate named Vonquez Henderson. This was allegedly contrary to an order to place Amick in a single cell due to his involvement in altercations with other prisoners. Within several hours after being placed in the cell with Henderson, in the afternoon on September 18, the two men began fighting. Although inmates reportedly “yelled, screamed, and made lots of noise to try to summon a corrections officer for help,” some thirty minutes elapsed before help arrived. By the time officers reached the cell, Henderson had Amick in a choke hold. Amick was not breathing and did not have a pulse. He was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

This action was commenced on September 16, 2009 by Amick’s mother Carmella L. Amick, Administratrix of the Estate, and by Amick’s wife Michelle Amick, on her own behalf and on behalf of their minor children, Harry and Ashley. The district court permitted the filing of an amended complaint on April 15, 2011. The first amended complaint asserts claims against twenty-four individual defendants, including Vonquez Henderson and twenty-three individuals who were involved in Am-ick’s custody and care while imprisoned. 2 Also named as defendants are .three corporate entities who had contracted with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to provide mental health services for inmates. 3

The amended complaint asserts fourteen causes of action, including claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of Amick’s constitutional right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, and numerous state law claims. The twenty-three individual defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The district court granted the motion, dismissing all claims. On appeal, plaintiffs challenge only the dismissal of their § 1983 claims; specifically, their claims that defendants were deliberately indifferent to Amick’s serious medical needs; that defendants were deliberately indifferent to Amick’s need for protection from violent attacks by inmates; and that defendants’ deliberate indifference to Amick’s serious medical needs was the product of a policy or custom of deficient training and supervision. Plaintiffs contend the district court applied an erroneous legal standard in as *357 sessing the sufficiency of their fact allegations.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standard of Review

The district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims for failure to state a claim for relief is reviewed de novo. Frank v. Dana Corp., 646 F.3d 954, 958 (6th Cir.2011). Under Rule 12(b)(6), the complaint is viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, the allegations in the complaint are accepted as true, and all reasonable inferences are drawn in favor of plaintiffs. Bassett v. Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 528 F.3d 426, 430 (6th Cir.2008). However, “a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation” need not be accepted as true. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Plaintiffs’ obligation to provide the “grounds” for their claimed entitlement to relief “requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Id. The factual allegations must “raise the right to relief above the speculative level.” Id. The complaint must state a claim that is plausible on its face, i.e., the court must be able to draw a “reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

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Bluebook (online)
521 F. App'x 354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amick-v-ohio-department-of-rehabilitation-correction-ca6-2013.