Revilla v. Glanz

8 F. Supp. 3d 1336, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39080, 2014 WL 1234701
District Court, N.D. Oklahoma·Decided March 25, 2014·No. Case No. 13-CV-315-JED-TLW·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JOHN E. DOWDELL, District Judge.

Before the Court are the Motions to Dismiss and Sever (Doc. 21), filed by defendants, Correctional Healthcare Companies, Inc. (“CHC”), Andrew Adusei, M.D., Phillip Washburn, M.D., and Christina Rogers, R.N. (collectively the “Healthcare Defendants”). Plaintiffs responded (Doc. 34), and the Healthcare Defendants have replied (Doc. 38).

I. Motion to Sever

The Healthcare Defendants argue that the plaintiffs are mis-joined and that the Court should sever the plaintiffs. The Court previously addressed the same arguments, which were asserted in Sheriff Glanz’s dismissal motion. (See Doc. 42 at 3-5). For the same reasons set forth in that Opinion and Order, the Healthcare Defendants’ Motion to Sever is denied at this time, without prejudice to any party reasserting a request for severance prior to trial.

II. Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim

A. Under Color of Law

The Healthcare Defendants assert that the Amended Complaint does not allege facts sufficient to show that they acted under color of law. They argue that the Amended Complaint does not show that they exerted influence over a state entity, substituted their judgment for a state entity, or participated in the decisions leading to the alleged deprivations of constitutional rights. (See Doc. 21 at 6-8).

In West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 108 S.Ct. 2250, 101 L.Ed.2d 40 (1988), an inmate brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that he was given constitutionally deficient medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The district court granted summary judgment to the physician on that court’s determination that the physician was not acting under color of state law when he treated the inmate’s injury. 487 U.S. at 45-46, 108 S.Ct. 2250. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, en banc, affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the inmate’s complaint. That determination conflicted with Eleventh Circuit decisions, which had concluded that “a physician who contracts with the State to provide medical care to prison inmates, even if employed by a private entity, acts [1338]*1338under color of state law for purposes of § 1983.” See id. at 47, 108 S.Ct. 2250. In light of the conflict, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve the conflict between the Circuits. The Supreme Court reversed the Fourth Circuit’s en banc determination in West, concluding that the physician acted under color of law:

We now make explicit what was implicit in our holding in Estelle [v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976) ]: Respondent, as a physician employed by North Carolina to provide medical services to state prison inmates, acted under color of state law for purposes of § 1983 when undertaking his duties in treating petitioner’s injury. Such conduct is fairly attributable to the State.
The Court recognized in Estelle: “An inmate must rely on prison authorities to treat his medical needs; if the authorities fail to do so, those needs will not be met.” 429 U.S., at 103, 97 S.Ct., at 290. In light of this, the Court held that the State has a constitutional obligation, under the Eighth Amendment, to provide adequate medical care to those whom it has incarcerated. Id., at 104, 97 S.Ct., at 291.... It is only those physicians authorized by the State to whom the inmate may turn. Under state law, the only medical care West could receive for his injury was that provided by the State. If Doctor Atkins misused his power by demonstrating deliberate indifference to West’s serious medical needs, the resultant deprivation was caused, in the sense relevant for state-action inquiry, by the State’s exercise of its right to punish West by incarceration and to deny him a venue independent of the State to obtain needed medical care.... [W]e conclude that respondent’s delivery of medical treatment to West was state action fairly attributable to the State, and that respondent therefore acted under color of state law for purposes of § 1983.

487 U.S. at 54-57, 108 S.Ct. 2250 (internal footnotes omitted). The Tenth Circuit has applied the reasoning in West in determining that a doctor under contract with the State was acting under color of law in a § 1983 equal protection and free expression case. Nieto v. Kapoor, 268 F.3d 1208, 1216 (10th Cir.2001).

Wesf seems to be directly on point, and plaintiffs cite the case in their Response, yet the Healthcare Defendants do not mention, much less attempt to distinguish, the case, its holding, or its analysis. Rather, they argue only generally that the plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint does not adequately allege that the defendants “exerted influence over a state entity, substituted their judgment for a state entity, or participated in the decisions leading to the alleged deprivations of rights.” (Doc. 38 at 3). The Court disagrees, and finds that the plaintiffs have plausibly averred “conduct [by each of the Healthcare Defendants that] is fairly attributable to the State” for purposes of § 1983. See West, 487 U.S. at 54, 108 S.Ct. 2250. For example, plaintiffs expressly allege that CHC was “acting under color of state law,” was “endowed by Tulsa County with powers or functions governmental in nature, such that CHC ... became an instrumentality of the State and subject to its constitutional limitations.” (Doc. 4 at ¶¶ 114-116, 149-151, 185-187, 222-224). They also allege that CHC was responsible for providing medical services at the Jail and responsible, in part, for “creating and implementing policies, practices and protocols that govern the provision of medical and mental health care to inmates at the Tulsa County Jail, and for training and supervising its employees.” (Id. at ¶ 12). As to the individual Healthcare Defendants, plaintiffs assert that each was an employee or agent [1339]*1339of CHC and each assumed some “respon-sib[ility] for overseeing and treating” one or more of the plaintiffs during the time that they were incarcerated at the Jail. {Id. at ¶¶ 14-16). It is asserted that Drs. Adusei and Washburn were at relevant times the “Medical Director at the Jail” {id. at ¶¶ 14-15), and that nurse Rogers was the Health Services Administrator at the Jail {id. at ¶ 16). These allegations of the Amended Complaint plausibly allege that each of the Healthcare Defendants was acting under color of state law in providing medical care to Jail inmates.

B. Municipal Liability Theory as to CHC

CHC also argues that plaintiffs cannot maintain a § 1983 claim against CHC under a municipal liability theory. (Doc. 21 at 8). Municipal employers cannot be held liable under § 1988 on a respondeat superior theory. Monell v. New York City Dept. of Soe. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 691-92, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Revilla v. Glanz, 8 F. Supp. 3d 1336, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39080, 2014 WL 1234701 (N.D. Okla. 2014).

8 F. Supp. 3d 1336 (Revilla v. Glanz) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Lucas v. Turn Key Health Clinics
58 F.4th 1127 (Tenth Circuit, 2023)
Knighten v. Ramsey
N.D. Oklahoma, 2022
Sanders ex rel. Ray v. Glanz
138 F. Supp. 3d 1248 (N.D. Oklahoma, 2015)