Cineus v. Florida Department of Corrections.

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedSeptember 23, 2022
Docket8:21-cv-01659
StatusUnknown

This text of Cineus v. Florida Department of Corrections. (Cineus v. Florida Department of Corrections.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cineus v. Florida Department of Corrections., (M.D. Fla. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TAMPA DIVISION

THERESA CINEUS,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 8:21-cv-1659-MSS-SPF

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, et al.,

Defendants. ____________________________________/

O R D E R

Cineus, on behalf of the Estate of Gamaliel Cineus, sues the Florida Department of Corrections, Centurion of Florida, LLC, and V. Gonzalez for federal civil rights violations. (Doc. 30) The Department of Corrections moves to dismiss a negligent supervision claim (Count Three) in Cineus’s third amended complaint and asserts that Cineus fails to state a claim. (Doc. 31) Centurion moves to dismiss a deliberate indifference claim (Count One), asserts that medical records refute the claim, and asserts that Cineus fails to allege liability under Monell v. Dep’t of Social Servs. of City of New York, 436 U.S. 658 (1978). (Doc. 20) In her third amended complaint, Cineus alleges that her son, Gamaliel, suffered shortness of breath, weakness, abdominal pain, chest pain, and other health problems while he was an inmate at Polk County Correctional Institution. (Doc. 30 at 9) The Department of Corrections contracts with Centurion to provide medical care at the prison. (Doc. 30 at 3) Gamaliel requested medical care but Centurion staff at the prison refused to perform testing to determine the cause of his health problems and refused to refer him to healthcare providers outside the prison for evaluation and treatment. (Doc. 30 at 10) Gamaliel told his family about his health problems and expressed concern that Centurion staff were not providing adequate care. (Doc. 30 at 10) Prison staff accused Gamaliel of feigning illness and threatened to punish him if he continued to request medical care. (Doc. 30 at 10) Cineus contacted the warden and Centurion staff at the prison about her

son’s health problems and informed them that Gamaliel may suffer from blood clots because she took medication to prevent blood clots and other family members suffered from blood clots. (Doc. 30 at 10) Centurion staff refused to perform testing or refer Gamaliel to a healthcare provider outside the prison. (Doc. 30 at 10) Between May 6, 2018 and October 23, 2018, Gamaliel visited the prison clinic ten times and complained about health problems including shortness of breath, chest pain, abdominal pain, severe headaches, a bloody nose, and a small lump under his skin. (Doc. 30 at 10–12) On May 14, 2018, Centurion staff prescribed over-the-counter medication for pain from the small round lump under his skin. (Doc. 30 at 11) On August 27, 2018, Centurion staff performed an X-ray after Gamaliel complained about pain in his rib cage and stomach.

(Doc. 30 at 12) Centurion staff did not receive results from the X-ray until two months later. (Doc. 30 at 12) Otherwise, during this four-and-a-half months, Centurion staff performed no further testing and provided no further treatment. Between October 30, 2018 and December 21, 2018, Gamaliel visited the prison clinic another seven times and complained about shortness of breath, heartburn, abdominal pain, pain under his ribs, and weakness. (Doc. 30 at 13–15) Each visit, V. Gonzalez, a nurse, attended to Gamaliel. (Doc. 30 at 13–15) On December 19, 2018, Gonzalez prescribed Gamaliel Pepcid. (Doc. 30 at 14) Otherwise, during these two months, Gonzalez performed no further testing and provided no further treatment. On December 23, 2018, Gamaliel visited the prison clinic and complained about shortness of breath and burning in his chest. (Doc. 30 at 15) A nurse directed Gamaliel to continue taking antacids. (Doc. 30 at 15) The next day, while feeling weak, Gamaliel “blacked out” in the prison cafeteria, and two nurses examined him and only referred him to a doctor

for a follow up. (Doc. 30 at 15) Two days later, Gamaliel collapsed in his prison cell. (Doc. 30 at 15) Centurion staff did not immediately summon emergency services, and Gamaliel died later that day. (Doc. 30 at 15–16) A medical examiner opined that the cause of death was a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs. (Doc. 30 at 16) Cineus alleges that Centurion has a persistent and widespread practice of refusing to provide constitutionally adequate medical care in prison to increase the company’s profits and asserts that Centurion’s practice caused Gamaliel’s death. (Doc. 30 at 9) She identifies other inmates in Florida prisons who received constitutionally deficient medical care because of Centurion’s cost-saving practice. (Doc. 30 at 16–18) Also, she identifies inmates in prisons in other states who received constitutionally deficient medical care because of the same cost-

saving practice by subsidiaries of Centurion’s parent corporation. (Doc. 30 at 4–6) STANDARD OF REVIEW “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citation omitted). “While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679. ANALYSIS Department of Corrections’ Motion to Dismiss Negligent Supervision Claim The Department moves to dismiss a negligent supervision claim (Count Three) and contends that Cineus fails to allege that (1) the Department had a duty to supervise

Centurion’s staff, that (2) the Department knew that Centurion’s staff were not qualified to provide medical care, and that (3) an employee or agent of the Department acted outside the scope of his employment. (Doc. 31 at 3–4) Even though the Department moves to dismiss the “third amended complaint,” the Department cites and refers only to the amended complaint at Docket Entry 12. (Doc. 31 at 3–4) An earlier order struck Cineus’s amended complaint at Docket Entry 12 because Cineus failed to move for leave to file the amended complaint. (Doc. 14) The operative complaint is Cineus’s third amended complaint at Docket Entry 30. Because the Department presents argument based on citations to the earlier stricken complaint, the motion is meritless.

Even so, in the third amended complaint, Cineus alleges that the Department delegated the treatment of inmates to Centurion by contracting with Centurion to provide medical services. (Doc. 30 at 33) She contends that the Department owed a duty to all inmates, including Gamaliel, to supervise Centurion’s medical services. (Doc. 30 at 33) She asserts that the Department breached that duty when she informed the warden that Gamaliel was suffering from serious medical problems and was receiving grossly inadequate medical care, and the Department did not ensure that Centurion provided Gamaliel constitutionally adequate medical care. (Doc. 30 at 10, 22, 33–34) She asserts that the Department’s breach was a direct and proximate cause of Gamaliel’s death. (Doc. 30 at 34–35) “Florida follows the general rule that the employer of an independent contractor is not liable for the contractor’s negligence because the employer has no control over the manner in which the work is done . . . .” McCall v. Alabama Bruno’s Inc., 647 So. 2d 175, 177 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). “[I]t also recognizes exceptions to the general rule which may generally be

divided into three categories: (1) negligence in selecting, instructing, or supervising the contractor; (2) non-delegable duties arising out of some relation toward the public or the particular plaintiff; and (3) work which is specially, peculiarly, or ‘inherently’ dangerous.” Id.

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