James Parsons, III v. Sheriff of Jefferson County, Alabama

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 20, 2023
Docket22-13521
StatusUnpublished

This text of James Parsons, III v. Sheriff of Jefferson County, Alabama (James Parsons, III v. Sheriff of Jefferson County, Alabama) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James Parsons, III v. Sheriff of Jefferson County, Alabama, (11th Cir. 2023).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 22-13521 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/20/2023 Page: 1 of 17

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 22-13521 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________

JAMES W. PARSONS, III, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus SHERIFF OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA, ADVANCED CORRECTIONAL HEALTHCARE, INC,

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 2:20-cv-00806-AMM USCA11 Case: 22-13521 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/20/2023 Page: 2 of 17

2 Opinion of the Court 22-13521

Before JORDAN, BRANCH, and LUCK, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: In this civil rights case arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, James Parsons, III, appeals the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Sheriff Mark Pettway, who operates the Jeffer- son County Jail in Alabama, and Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc. (“ACH”), the medical services provider at the Jail. Mr. Parsons, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, sued Sheriff Pettway and ACH for cruel and unusual punishment because he was deprived of his medications during the two periods he was in- carcerated at the Jail in 2018 and 2019. The district court denied Mr. Parsons’ claims primarily because he failed to establish that any medication was withheld when he was incarcerated in 2018, and he conceded during his deposition that he was not alleging any dam- ages for his incarceration in 2019. After review of the parties’ briefs and the record, we affirm. I We review de novo a district court’s grant of summary judg- ment and apply the same standards used by the district court. See Acevedo v. First Union Nat’l Bank, 357 F.3d 1244, 1246–47 (11th Cir. 2004). We draw all inferences and review all evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Rodriguez v. City of Doral, 863 F.3d 1343, 1349 (11th Cir. 2017). Summary judgment should be granted only if the moving party demonstrates “that USCA11 Case: 22-13521 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/20/2023 Page: 3 of 17

22-13521 Opinion of the Court 3

there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A genuine issue of material fact exists if “the nonmoving party has produced evidence such that a reasonable factfinder could return a verdict in its favor.” Waddell v. Valley Forge Dental Assoc., Inc., 276 F.3d 1275, 1279 (11th Cir. 2001). II A Mr. Parsons was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in approx- imately 2008. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and progressive neu- rologic illness that physically manifests in lesions on the brain.1 On June 7, 2018, Mr. Parsons was incarcerated at the Jeffer- son County Jail in Alabama. A few days later, on June 11, 2018, he was seen at the Jail’s clinic by Dr. Pritchett for hypertension and multiple sclerosis. Mr. Parsons complained that he had burned the bottom of his feet when running on asphalt, but his “biggest con- cern” was his multiple sclerosis. Dr. Pritchett noted during this visit that Mr. Parsons took Lemtrada—an intravenous medication that is administered over the course of several days every twelve months—for his multiple sclerosis. Dr. Pritchett observed that Mr. Parsons was administered his last dosage of Lemtrada around September of 2017. Based on the manufacturer’s instructions, Lemtrada should be administered

1 A letter from Mr. Parsons’ neurologist, Dr. Diethelm, confirms that Mr. Par- sons suffered from multiple sclerosis and was treated with Lemtrada. USCA11 Case: 22-13521 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/20/2023 Page: 4 of 17

4 Opinion of the Court 22-13521

no earlier than twelve months after the last dosage of the prior treatment cycle. Mr. Parsons, therefore, was not eligible for his next dose of Lemtrada until September of 2018. Following his visit with Dr. Pritchett, Mr. Parsons was started on Bactrim to prevent an infection in his feet, as well as Prednisone, a steroid, for multiple sclerosis and ocular neuritis in the left eye. Dr. Pritchett also prescribed Tylenol for pain and Norvasc for blood pressure management. The Jail Medication Ad- ministration Record reflects that Mr. Parsons was given these med- ications as prescribed by Dr. Pritchett. B When Mr. Parsons was incarcerated in 2018, he submitted one grievance. Specifically, on June 24, 2018, Mr. Parsons com- plained that he was a multiple sclerosis patient and that his request to rinse himself after a bathroom accident was ignored. A few days later, on June 29, 2018, Mr. Parsons “bonded out” of the jail, and he was remanded to his home with an electronic ankle bracelet. That same day, however, Mr. Parsons was admitted to the hospital due to a possible multiple sclerosis relapse. Dr. Diethelm, who had treated Mr. Parsons since 2015, noted that Mr. Parsons “presented to [him] with complaints of worsening numbness, tin- gling, weakness in the bilateral lower extremities as well as left eye vision loss.” At the hospital, Mr. Parsons was started on Solu- Medrol, a medicine similar to the steroid he had received orally at the jail. An MRI of the brain and C-spine, both with and without contrast, was administered, but it revealed “no enhancing lesion.” USCA11 Case: 22-13521 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/20/2023 Page: 5 of 17

22-13521 Opinion of the Court 5

The medication of Solu-Medrol was then stopped, and Mr. Parsons was discharged from the hospital. Mr. Parsons received various medications when he was discharged—Amlodipine, Norco, To- radol, Omeprazole, Imitrex, and Effexor—but none of those med- ications were needed to further treat his multiple sclerosis. In 2019, Mr. Parsons violated his bond conditions, so he re- turned to the Jefferson County Jail for approximately seven months. During his incarceration in 2019, Mr. Parsons submitted twenty-three grievances. Two of those grievances were related to withheld medications, and two were related more generally to his multiple sclerosis condition. The rest of his grievances were not medically related. Of note, in the grievance Mr. Parsons submitted on August 28, 2019, he complained that his “medicine was brought up [ ] by [his] mother,” but he had not “gotten it.” The medications pro- vided by Mr. Parsons’ mother were Ajovy, Amlodipine, Metopro- lol, Omeprazole, Trazadone, and Norco. Although Mr. Parsons claimed that his mother supplied his medications to Jail officials, who rejected them, none of the medications supplied by Mr. Par- sons’ mother included “any medication for the daily treatment of [multiple sclerosis].” Mr. Parsons was subsequently released during the COVID- 19 pandemic and is no longer incarcerated. C In 2020, Mr. Parsons filed a four-count class action complaint under § 1983 against Sheriff Pettway and ACH for damages and USCA11 Case: 22-13521 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/20/2023 Page: 6 of 17

6 Opinion of the Court 22-13521

injunctive relief because they withheld his multiple sclerosis medi- cation. Counts I and II sought damages and injunctive relief from Sheriff Pettway, while Counts III and IV sought the same relief from ACH. Mr.

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James Parsons, III v. Sheriff of Jefferson County, Alabama, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-parsons-iii-v-sheriff-of-jefferson-county-alabama-ca11-2023.