Richard W. Troyanos, Jr. v. Jim Coats

372 F. App'x 932
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 13, 2010
Docket09-15162
StatusUnpublished

This text of 372 F. App'x 932 (Richard W. Troyanos, Jr. v. Jim Coats) 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
Richard W. Troyanos, Jr. v. Jim Coats, 372 F. App'x 932 (11th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Richard W. Troyanos Jr. appeals the dismissal of the complaint filed on behalf of his father, Richard J. Troyanos, against Jim Coats, the Sheriff of Pinellas County, and Richard Miller and Raphaelita Simon-Robinson, members of the medical staff at the Pinellas County Jail. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Troyanos argues that the complaint stated a claim of deliberate indifference against Coats, Miller, and Simon-Robinson. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Richard J. Troyanos lived at the Boley Center for Behavioral Healthcare, which is a rehabilitation facility that provides residential and psychiatric services for mentally ill adults. Troyanos had a history of mental illness that included depression, bipolar disorder, and psychosis. Troyanos had attempted suicide on multiple occasions, and he had been committed involun *934 tarily for psychiatric treatment on at least six occasions, Fla. Stat § 394.467.

On November 6, 2006, officers of the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office arrested Troyanos for an incident of domestic violence against his girlfriend and transported Troyanos to the Pinellas County Jail. During the intake process, an officer observed “scars on both of [Troyanos’s] inner wrists from multiple self-inflicted wounds,” and the officer reported her findings to Troyanos’s screening nurse. Troyanos initially was calm and cooperative during the screening examination and the nurse recorded that Troyanos had a slight edema and eechymosis on his wrists.

Troyanos later became agitated and uncooperative. Staff at the jail handcuffed Troyanos and placed him in a holding cell to “deescalate.” Inside the cell, Troyanos banged his head violently against the wall.

Simon-Robinson evaluated Troyanos and recorded- that his forehead was red where he had hit his head on the wall of his cell. Simon-Robinson observed that Troyanos was “babbling,” “belligerent,” and experiencing an “alteration in mental status,” and Robinson concluded that Tro-yanos was “mentally challenged.” Simon-Robinson found no “contraindications to placement into security restraints or special accommodations,” and she instructed officers to restrain Troyanos in a “Pro-Straint Chair.” Robinson also placed Tro-yanos on “Close Observation Status,” which required that a detention officer observe Troyanos every 15 minutes.

After Troyanos was released from the chair three to four hours later, an evaluating nurse observed that Troyanos was extremely agitated, unable to focus, spoke in a rambling manner, and exhibited an altered thought process. Miller later evaluated Troyanos and observed that he was angry, agitated, nasty, hostile, uncooperative, and verbally abusive. Miller did not perform a mental health screening. Miller later received reports that Troyanos had become increasingly agitated and examined Troyanos a second time. Miller diagnosed Troyanos with a psychotic disorder and ordered him sedated.

On November 7, 2006, Troyanos was agitated, grabbed the reel to an IV extension cord and swung it above his head, jumped up and down, yelled, and banged his head against a window. Detention staff tackled and physically restrained Tro-yanos. Miller arrived later to evaluate Troyanos, but finding him asleep, Miller left.

The following day, jail staff checked Troyanos every 15 minutes. The staff observed Troyanos sitting on the floor of his cell with his head in his hands and upset apparently because he was unable to “contact his son by telephone.” Two inmates housed near Troyanos’s cell reported that Troyanos was crying and shaking the bars of his cell.

On November 9, 2006, jail staff continued to observe Troyanos every 15 minutes, but Troyanos alleged that deputies failed to check him between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Around 5:14 p.m., a staff member noticed that Troyanos was sitting with his back against the cell door. Troyanos failed to respond to inquiries.

Troyanos had committed suicide by strangling himself. A noose was found around his neck. Troyanos formed the noose from the elastic waistband of his inmate uniform pants, which he had cut using the sharp edge of a shredded plastic cup.

Troyanos’s son filed a complaint that alleged Coats, Simon-Robinson, and Miller had violated Troyanos’s civil rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and state law, Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16- 26. The first count of the complaint alleged that Coats had failed to train *935 or supervise his employees to “monitor, screen, assess, house, and/or protect mentally ill” detainees. The second and third counts of the complaint alleged that Coats had violated the Florida Wrongful Death Act. The fourth and fifth counts of the complaint alleged that Simon-Robinson and Miller had failed to assess and treat Troyanos as at risk of committing suicide.

Coats, Simon-Robinson, and Miller moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim, Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), and the district court granted that motion. The district court ruled that the conduct of Miller and Robinson fell “short of deliberate indifference” and the employees were entitled to qualified immunity. The district court also ruled that “[n]o basis exist[ed] for an inadequate training claim” against Coats based on Troyanos’s allegation of a “single incident” of suicide. The district court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the claims of wrongful death under Florida law.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We apply two standards of review in this appeal. We review de novo a dismissal for failure to state a claim. Jimenez v. Wellstar Health Sys., 596 F.3d 1304, 1308 (11th Cir.2010). We accept the allegations in the complaint as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of Troyanos. Id. “ ‘We review the district court’s decision not to exercise supplemental jurisdiction for abuse of discretion.’ ” Utopia Provider Sys., Inc. v. Pro-Med Clinical Sys., LLC, 596 F.3d 1313, 1328 (11th Cir.2010) (quoting Parker v. Scrap Metal Processors, Inc., 468 F.3d 733, 738 (11th Cir. 2006)).

III. DISCUSSION

Troyanos challenges the dismissal of his complaint. Troyanos argues that his complaint stated a claim of deliberate indifference against Simon-Robinson and Miller. Troyanos also argues that his complaint stated a claim of inadequate training against Coats, and Troyanos asks that we “order the [district] court to accept jurisdiction of’ the state law claims against Coats.

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372 F. App'x 932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richard-w-troyanos-jr-v-jim-coats-ca11-2010.