Estate of Susanne Burgaz v. Board of County Commissioners

30 F.4th 1181
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedApril 14, 2022
Docket21-1049
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 30 F.4th 1181 (Estate of Susanne Burgaz v. Board of County Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Susanne Burgaz v. Board of County Commissioners, 30 F.4th 1181 (10th Cir. 2022).

Opinion

Appellate Case: 21-1049 Document: 010110671118 Date Filed: 04/14/2022 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals PUBLISH Tenth Circuit

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS April 14, 2022

Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court _________________________________

THE ESTATE OF SUSANNE BURGAZ, by and through personal representatives Erika Zommer, Kristian Arnold, and Amelia Eudailey; ERIKA ZOMMER, individually; KRISTIAN ARNOLD, individually; AMELIA EUDAILEY, individually, No. 21-1049 Plaintiffs - Appellants,

v.

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY COLORADO; JEFF SHRADER, in his official capacity; PETRINA PESAPANE, individually; JOSEPH SCALISE, individually,

Defendants - Appellees. _________________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (D.C. No. 1:19-CV-01383-SKC) _________________________________

Zachary D. Warren, Highlands Law Firm, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Rebecca P. Klymkowsky, Assistant County Attorney, Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, Golden, Colorado (Rachel Bender, Assistant County Attorney, Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, Golden, Colorado, and Gordon Vaughan and David R. DeMuro, Vaughan & DeMuro, Denver, Colorado, with her on the brief) for Defendants-Appellees.

_________________________________ Appellate Case: 21-1049 Document: 010110671118 Date Filed: 04/14/2022 Page: 2

Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, HARTZ, and MATHESON, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge. _________________________________

Following Susanne Burgaz’s suicide in the Jefferson County Detention

Facility, Ms. Burgaz’s children and estate sued two individual Jefferson County

Sheriff’s deputies on duty the night she died, and various other County officials.

They argued the deputies were deliberately indifferent to her serious medical

needs and the County and sheriff negligently operated the jail.

The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint, and the district court

granted the motion. We agree with the district court that both individual deputies

are entitled to qualified immunity because the Estate failed to allege either deputy

violated Ms. Burgaz’s constitutional rights. The Monell claim against the sheriff

was also properly dismissed. And because all the claims arising under federal

law were properly dismissed, the district court correctly dismissed the remaining

state-law claims.

We therefore AFFIRM the dismissal of all the claims.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

Ms. Burgaz was arrested and booked into the Jefferson County Detention

Facility (JCDF) on August 30, 2017. At her booking, a deputy decided—based

on a variety of factors, including a previous suicide attempt at the same jail—to

place Ms. Burgaz in the Special Housing Unit (SHU), an area of the jail where

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detainees with special medical needs are placed. Deputies use the jail’s

information management system, named Tiburon, to view information about

inmates, including health information, criminal history, and prior incarcerations.

The Tiburon system noted Ms. Burgaz had significant medical needs including

the use of a walker, a history of self-harm, a drug addiction, and a previous

suicide attempt at the same jail. The complaint, however, does not allege that

Ms. Burgaz was placed on suicide watch at booking.

The day after Ms. Burgaz was booked, she attended a hearing about her

charges, and a judge ordered her released. After the hearing, Ms. Burgaz was

transported back to the jail and placed in the SHU dayroom while she awaited her

release. The dayroom is a small room, filled with only a book cart, a table,

chairs, and a mounted television. The dayroom’s only door has a frosted glass

pane, and the inside of the dayroom is only visible from the adjacent hallway

through a tiny, transparent slit on the frosted glass.

At about 9:02 p.m., Ms. Burgaz, who was alone in the dayroom, used her

walker to walk to the window and get the attention of a deputy. About a minute

later, Deputy Petrina Pesapane walked to the window and spoke to Ms. Burgaz.

Ms. Burgaz asked for an update about her release, at which point Deputy

Pesapane went to the control room and learned Ms. Burgaz had two outstanding

warrants in a different jurisdiction. Because of the warrants, Deputy Pesapane

informed Ms. Burgaz she would not be released that night. Deputy Pesapane then

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helped Ms. Burgaz gather some documents she had left in her cell and escorted

her back to the dayroom.

At about 9:09 p.m., Deputy Pesapane left Ms. Burgaz alone again in the

dayroom. At 9:17 p.m., Ms. Burgaz began to peer through the door’s viewing

pane and banging on the door, attempting to get a deputy’s attention. About a

minute later, she walked back to the table where she had been sitting. At about

9:22 p.m., Ms. Burgaz shuffled over to the wall-mounted television and began to

fashion a noose from the wires and cords.

Around that time, at 9:25 p.m., Deputy Joseph Scalise conducted a walk-

through of this portion of the jail. During the walk-through, Deputy Scalise

walked down the hallway and past the dayroom where Ms. Burgaz was attempting

to hang herself. Deputy Scalise did not look directly into the dayroom. Instead,

he walked briskly on the far side of the hallway. At 9:28 p.m., he finished his

walk-through.

From 9:22 p.m. to 9:29 p.m., Ms. Burgaz twice attempted to hang herself,

but the noose did not hold. On her third attempt, she hanged herself. Deputies

found her at about 10:00 p.m. Despite medical attention, she died two days later.

B. Procedural Background

Plaintiffs-Appellants (the Estate) sued Deputies Pesapane and Scalise in

their individual capacities, alleging they violated Ms. Burgaz’s Fourteenth

Amendment right to medical care in jail. The Estate sued the Board of County

Commissioners and Jefferson County Sheriff Shrader in his official capacity

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based on an entity liability theory for the alleged Fourteenth Amendment

violations under 42 U.S.C § 1983. 1

The Estate also pleaded two state-law violations. The first was for

negligence in the operation of a jail resulting in wrongful death against the Board

and Sheriff Shrader in his official capacity. The other was a survival claim

against the Board, Sheriff Shrader (in his official capacity), and Deputies

Pesapane and Scalise (in their individual capacities). 2

The defendants filed for dismissal for failure to state a claim based on

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The court granted the motion and

dismissed all the claims. The Estate appeals.

II. Discussion

The Estate contends the district court erred in (1) granting qualified

immunity to both individual deputies; and (2) dismissing the Monell and state-law

claims against Sheriff Shrader.

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