Ramsey v. Southwest Correctional Medical Group, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 25, 2020
Docket1:18-cv-01845
StatusUnknown

This text of Ramsey v. Southwest Correctional Medical Group, Inc. (Ramsey v. Southwest Correctional Medical Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ramsey v. Southwest Correctional Medical Group, Inc., (D. Colo. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Judge William J. Martínez

Civil Action No. 18-cv-1845-WJM-KLM

BENJAMIN RAMSEY, by and through his guardian and next friend, Karla Ramsey,

Plaintiff,

v.

SOUTHWEST CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL GROUP, INC.; BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, COLORADO; SOUTHWEST CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL GROUP, PLLC; CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL GROUP COMPANIES, INC.; SOUTHWEST CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL GROUP, LLC; COLORADO CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL GROUP, PLLC; NURSE JENNIFER TRIMBLE, in her individual capacity; NURSE DEIMYS VIGIL, LPN, in her individual capacity; TIMOTHY G. MOSER, M.D., in his individual capacity; LINDSEY GYGER, RN, in her individual capacity;1 EMILY BARRON, RN, in her individual capacity; SOPHIA HELENE NIX, LPN, in her individual capacity; TINA HOLLAND, RN, in her individual capacity;2 KATHRYN DAVIDSON, LPN, in her individual capacity;3 JOAN M. CUNNINGHAM, RN, in her individual capacity; SHAURI N. KRON, LPN, in her individual capacity; and DAISHA WADE, LPN, in her individual capacity,4

Defendants.

1 Originally named as “Lindsey Geiger.” 2 Originally named as “Tina (Last Name Unknown).” 3 Originally named as “Kat (Last Name Unknown).” 4 Ramsey originally named “Deputy John Doe One” as a party, but does not list him on the proposed amended complaint at issue in this order. (See ECF No. 170-1 at 1–2.) The Court therefore deems Deputy John Doe One dismissed and removes him from the caption. ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO AMEND

Plaintiff Benjamin Ramsey (“Ramsey”), appearing through his mother in her role as legal guardian and next friend, alleges that the acts and omissions of numerous parties (collectively, “Defendants”) led to him being denied necessary medications while in pretrial detention at the Douglas County Detention Center (“Jail”), in turn leading to seizures and permanent brain damage. He alleges, among other things, violations of his Fourteenth Amendment right to adequate medical care in pretrial detention. By order dated July 19, 2019 (“Prior Order”), the Court dismissed a number of claims from Ramsey’s Second Amended Complaint (ECF No. 92), some with prejudice and some without. See Ramsey v. Sw. Corr. Med. Grp., Inc., 2019 WL 3252181 (D. Colo. July 19, 2019) (ECF No. 149). Currently before the Court is Ramsey’s “Partially Unopposed Motion for Leave to Amend Second Amended Complaint with Proposed Third Amended Complaint Attached” (ECF No. 170). The motion is “partially unopposed” because Defendant Board of County Commissioners “intends to file a motion to dismiss, but given the liberal standard for amendment and the early stage of this proceeding, [does] not oppose [the] motion for leave to amend.” (Id. at 1 (internal quotation marks omitted).) The remaining defendants, to which the Court will refer collectively as “Defendants,” have filed a response in opposition. (ECF No. 176.) For the reasons explained below, Ramsey’s motion is denied as to Defendant Timothy G. Moser, but is otherwise granted. I. BACKGROUND The Prior Order describes in detail the alleged conduct that, according to Ramsey, caused his injuries. See Ramsey, 2019 WL 3252181, at *2–6. For purposes of this order, the Court presumes familiarity with that background.

The Prior Order dismissed, without prejudice, claims against Defendants Trimble, Vigil, Moser, Barron, Nix, Holland, Davidson, Cunningham, Kron, and Wade (“Individual Defendants”) for deliberate indifference to Ramsey’s medical needs in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. at *11–12, *29. However, each of them remained a Defendant through the Court’s supplemental jurisdiction over Ramsey’s claim for common-law medical negligence (Moser is a physician and the others are nurses). See id. at *19 n.22. Ramsey’s proposed third amended complaint seeks to re-plead his Fourteenth Amendment deliberate indifference claim against these Defendants. (See ¶¶ 171–78.)5 As for the business entity Defendants (“Entity Defendants”)—i.e., those with

“Correctional Medical” in their name—the Court found in the Prior Order that Ramsey had plausibly pleaded a Monell claim, see Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 694 (1978), based on an alleged policy of failing to stock necessary medications. Ramsey, 2019 WL 3252181, at *14. Ramsey’s proposed third amended complaint seeks to plead additional theories of Monell liability against the Entity Defendants. (See ¶¶ 185–86.) The Court will provide details regarding Ramsey’s new allegations as they become relevant below.

5 All “¶” citations, without more, are to the proposed third amended complaint (ECF No. 170-1). II. LEGAL STANDARD Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a), a court should allow a party to amend its pleadings “when justice so requires.” “[T]he grant or denial of an opportunity to amend is within the discretion” of the Court, but an “outright refusal to grant [such]

leave without any justifying reason” is an abuse of discretion. Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962). Refusing leave to amend is generally only justified upon a showing of “undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, [or] futility of amendment.” Id. III. ANALYSIS A. Undue Prejudice Defendants first assert undue prejudice. (ECF No. 176 ¶¶ 15–17.) “Courts typically find prejudice only when the amendment unfairly affects the defendants in terms of preparing their defense to the amendment. Most often, this occurs when the

amended claims arise out of a subject matter different from what was set forth in the complaint and raise significant new factual issues.” Minter v. Prime Equip. Co., 451 F.3d 1196, 1208 (10th Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). If the proposed amendments “track the factual situations set forth in [previous or subsisting claims],” then prejudice is highly unlikely. Gillette v. Tansy, 17 F.3d 308, 313 (10th Cir. 1994). Here, Defendants’ only argument for prejudice is that their counsel “has expended considerable time, effort, and resources in preparing an answer and motion for partial dismissal in response to the Second Amended Complaint,” and “it is likely that another motion for partial dismissal will need to be filed in response to the proposed third amended complaint.” (ECF No. 176 ¶ 17.) This is not the sort of prejudice (much less undue prejudice) that would prevent amendment at this phase of the case. The Court therefore rejects Defendants’ undue prejudice argument. B. Undue Delay Defendants next assert undue delay. (Id. ¶¶ 18–21.) In the Tenth Circuit, the

undue delay analysis “focuses primarily on the reasons for the delay. . . . [D]enial of leave to amend is appropriate when the party filing the motion has no adequate explanation for the delay.” Minter, 451 F.3d at 1206. Ramsey explains in his motion that he seeks “to better frame the issues in accordance with [his] true position[] and reflective of [the Prior Order], as well as [in light of] new facts . . . discovered [since] the filing of the Second Amended Complaint.” (ECF No.

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Related

Foman v. Davis
371 U.S. 178 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Gohier v. Enright
186 F.3d 1216 (Tenth Circuit, 1999)
Watson Ex Rel. Watson v. Beckel
242 F.3d 1237 (Tenth Circuit, 2001)
Minter v. Prime Equipment Co.
451 F.3d 1196 (Tenth Circuit, 2006)

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Ramsey v. Southwest Correctional Medical Group, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramsey-v-southwest-correctional-medical-group-inc-cod-2020.