Sherry Luckert v. Dodge County

684 F.3d 808, 2012 WL 2360879, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 12790
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJune 22, 2012
Docket11-1178
StatusPublished
Cited by242 cases

This text of 684 F.3d 808 (Sherry Luckert v. Dodge County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sherry Luckert v. Dodge County, 684 F.3d 808, 2012 WL 2360879, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 12790 (8th Cir. 2012).

Opinions

RILEY, Chief Judge.

Troy Sampson committed suicide while detained at the Dodge County Jail (DCJ) in Fremont, Nebraska. Sampson’s mother, Sherry Luckert, acting as the personal representative of Sampson’s estate, sued Dodge County and jail officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming they were deliberately indifferent to Sampson’s medical needs, violating his due process rights. A jury found Dodge County and DCJ’s director and nurse (collectively, appellants) liable and awarded Luckert actual and punitive damages. The district court denied the appellants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law, entered judgment in favor of Luckert, and awarded her attorney fees and costs. We reverse the denial of judgment as a matter of law and vacate the awards of damages and attorney fees and costs for Luckert.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts1

1. Dodge County Jail

On August 10, 2006, Troy Sampson committed suicide in his DCJ cell. DCJ, which is now closed, held up to 42 inmates, all of whom either had not yet been convicted of a crime or who were serving a sentence of less than one year. Sampson was the third DCJ inmate to commit suicide and the twenty-first attempting to commit suicide since 2000.

Appellant Doug Campbell, appointed in 1995, was the director of DCJ at the time of Sampson’s suicide. Among other responsibilities, Campbell was in charge of training and scheduling staff and making sure the staff followed DCJ’s policies.

To provide for the inmates’ medical needs, DCJ contracted with local physicians, including Dr. Mohammad Shoaib, a Fremont area psychiatrist. DCJ also employed a nurse, who, according to Campbell, served as the gatekeeper between the inmates and the doctors. The nurse coordinated the inmates’ medical care, ensured inmates received prescribed medications, and directed the jail staff concerning medical and suicide watches. In July 2006, approximately one month before Sampson was detained there, DCJ hired appellant Cynthia Julian, a registered nurse since 1996, to be DCJ’s full-time permanent nurse.

At the time of Sampson’s suicide, Dodge County’s Corrections Policy & Procedure Manual included a written Suicide Intervention Policy (Policy 12.4). Implemented in December 1994, Policy 12.4 had not been revised before Sampson’s suicide. At trial, Campbell and Julian acknowledged DCJ did not follow aspects of Policy 12.4, including its identification of three suicide levels: (1) Alert, which required close observation of the inmate and placement in the safety cell; (2) Warning, which required visual checks of the inmate in intervals no longer than ten minutes (ten-minute watch); and (3) Watch, which required visual checks of the inmate in intervals no longer than twenty minutes (twenty-minute watch).

Campbell testified DCJ instructed employees about Policy 12.4 during orientation, but certain provisions of the policy, such as keeping a suicide notebook and [813]*813recording daily assessments, were not followed. Julian had not yet gone through new employee orientation, or any formal suicide training, at the time of Sampson’s suicide. Julian testified she could not remember whether she knew of Policy 12.4 at that time. Julian also testified DCJ’s practice was to put inmates displaying suicidal tendencies on either a fifteen-, twenty-, or thirty-minute watch.

2. Sampson’s Detention at DCJ

When DCJ admitted Sampson on Sunday, July 30, 2006, Sampson answered no when asked if he had ever attempted suicide or was thinking about committing suicide. Luckert called DCJ and reported Sampson had attempted suicide two weeks earlier by trying to hang himself. DCJ also learned Sampson was on anti-psychotic medication. In light of this information, and because Sampson seemed mentally unstable, DCJ kept Sampson in the booking area overnight and put him on a twenty-minute suicide watch.

Julian met with Sampson the next day. Julian noted Sampson complained of post-traumatic distress disorder, depression, anxiety attacks, and psychosis. Julian observed Sampson was “very anxious,” “tearful,” and had “flight of ideas,” meaning he changed topics often. Julian testified Sampson denied he was suicidal, and Julian did not believe Sampson was a danger to himself or others.

That same day, Julian contacted Sampson’s psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen O’Neill, who worked at the Norfolk Regional Center. Julian’s notes indicate Dr. O’Neill saw Sampson about a week prior and had prescribed Klonopin and Cymbalta for Sampson. Dr. O’Neill advised DCJ to put Sampson on suicide watch until he was “medically/psychologically stable [and] back on [medication].” Julian kept Sampson on suicide watch, but downgraded it from a twenty-minute watch to a thirty-minute watch. Sampson officially remained on a thirty-minute suicide watch until he committed suicide. DCJ records indicate jail staff missed multiple watches during Sampson’s detention.2 Throughout Julian’s work day, she periodically observed Sampson.

On July 31, Julian faxed information concerning Sampson to DCJ’s contract psychiatrist, Dr. Shoaib. Julian advised Dr. Shoaib of Sampson’s current medications and “long psychiatric history from the Norfolk Regional Center.”3 Julian received and reviewed Sampson’s medical records from the Norfolk Regional Center and advised Dr. Shoaib she had requested that the Norfolk Regional Center forward Sampson’s medical history to him. Julian requested Dr. Shoaib review the material [814]*814and advise her what medications Sampson should take and “what you feel would be best for this patient.”

On Tuesday, August 1, Dr. O’Neill prescribed medications for Sampson. That same day, at Julian’s direction, DCJ moved Sampson out of the holding area and into its general population. Julian testified she did so in part because she “didn’t want him laying on the concrete floor,” and because she “wanted him in general population to be around other people.” DCJ moved Sampson to a different cell on August 3 and again on August 5. At least one of these moves appears to be at Sampson’s request.

Dr. Shoaib saw Sampson on Thursday, August 3. Dr. Shoaib testified Sampson “was very, very anxious, very agitated, psychotic” and “bizarre and unpredictable.” Dr. Shoaib said that Sampson denied being suicidal, but Dr. Shoaib recommended DCJ “keep [Sampson] on suicide watch until his behaviors settle[d] down and he became less agitated.” Indicating Sampson was not suicidal or homicidal, Dr. Shoaib changed Sampson’s prescriptions.

Julian next saw Sampson on Monday, August 7, in response to two Requests for Medical Care Sampson made on August 3 and August 6.4 Julian testified she did not see Sampson’s written requests until August 7, when she returned to the office from a weekend off. Julian testified Sampson appeared “kind of glassy-eyed, foggy, [and] overmedicated.” Julian advised Sampson he was taking the medications Dr. Shoaib prescribed and that it would take one or two weeks before the side effects disappeared. That same day, Julian contacted Dr. Shoaib and reported her observations of Sampson. Dr. Shoaib ordered a reduction in the dosage of Sampson’s medication.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
684 F.3d 808, 2012 WL 2360879, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 12790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sherry-luckert-v-dodge-county-ca8-2012.