WEREB v. Maui County

727 F. Supp. 2d 898, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76405, 2010 WL 2985622
CourtDistrict Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedJuly 28, 2010
DocketCivil 09-00198 JMS/LEK
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 727 F. Supp. 2d 898 (WEREB v. Maui County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
WEREB v. Maui County, 727 F. Supp. 2d 898, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76405, 2010 WL 2985622 (D. Haw. 2010).

Opinion

ORDER (1) GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS HANKINS, BURGESS, LEE, GOMES, AMANO, ALVAREZ, MAWAE, AND KIA’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND (2) DENYING DEFENDANT MAUI COUNTY’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

J. MICHAEL SEABRIGHT, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs Elmer Stephen Wereb and Betty Wereb (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) filed this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 following the in-custody death of their son, Dennis Wereb (“Wereb”). Beginning on September 26, 2008, Wereb was detained at the two-cell Lahaina Police Station in Maui County. On September 28, 2010 at 5:36 a.m. or sometime shortly thereafter, Wereb died of complications relating to alcoholism. 1

Plaintiffs allege that during Wereb’s confinement, Maui Police Department (“MPD”) employees William Hankins (“Hankins”), Randall Burgess (“Burgess”), Dennis Lee (“Lee”), Donna Gomes (“Gomes”), Gregory Amano (“Amano”), Emiterio Alvarez (“Alvarez”), Kamuela Mawae (“Mawae”), and Jennifer Kia (“Kia”) (collectively, “Individual Defendants”) were deliberately indifferent to Wereb’s medical needs and liable for Wereb’s wrongful death. Plaintiffs also allege that Defendant Maui County was deliberately indifferent to Wereb’s medical needs and liable for his wrongful death as a result of Maui County’s failure to train its employees in sufficient monitoring techniques. During Wereb’s confinement, Individual Defendants did not follow MPD protocols requiring in-person visual checks of detainees and instead surveyed Wereb primarily through video monitoring. Despite purportedly monitoring Wereb every fifteen minutes via video, MPD employees discovered Wereb’s lifeless body on September 29, 2010 around 9:00 a.m. — more than twenty-seven hours after Wereb’s last recorded movement.

On May 4, 2009, Plaintiffs filed suit against Individual Defendants and Defendant Maui County. Individual Defendants and Maui County (collectively, “Defendants”) now bring Motions for Summary Judgment. Defendants contend that no *904 constitutional violations occurred and that qualified immunity applies. Maui County further contends that there is no evidence of an unconstitutional custom or policy. The court finds that a reasonable factfinder could conclude that Mawae, Burgess, and Gomes are liable for deliberate indifference to Wereb’s serious medical needs. The court further finds that a reasonable factfinder could conclude that Maui County is liable for its failure to train its employees to monitor detainees to determine if they require medical care. For these reasons, and based on the following, the court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Individual Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment and DENIES Maui County’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background on Wereb
1. Wereb’s Arrest and Intake Processing

On Friday September 26, 2008, 2 Mawae, an MPD police officer, arrested Wereb for Terroristic Threatening in the First Degree after MPD received a report that a man matching Wereb’s description had shown a knife to juveniles while riding the bus. Lutey Decl. 3 Ex. M, Mawae Deck ¶¶ 2, 3. Mawae observed that Wereb was untidy and disheveled. Defs.’ Suppl. Ex. GG, Mawae Dep. at 8:9-23. 4 He also found a bottle of vodka in Wereb’s bag and observed that he was intoxicated. Id. at 18:21-22; Defs.’ Ex. A at 1. Mawae concluded, however, that Wereb could comprehend his questions and respond appropriately. Defs.’ Suppl. Ex. GG, Mawae Dep. at 18:11-18; Defs.’ Ex. M, Mawae Deck ¶ 4.

At the time of Wereb’s arrest, Mawae also observed that Wereb had a “slow, choppy gait” and that he required assistance when standing up from a seated position. Defs.’ Ex. M, Mawae Deck ¶¶ 6, 7. Mawae believed that Wereb’s feet were swollen due to infection, but could not see Wereb’s feet and did not ask Wereb why they were swollen. Id. ¶ 7; Defs.’ Suppl. Ex. GG, Mawae Dep. at 37:9-21. Wereb declined Mawae’s offer to be seen by medics. Defs.’ Ex. M, Mawae Deck ¶ 7. At the time of his arrest, Wereb also had small abrasions on his forehead and the bridge of his nose. Defs.’ Ex. B at 2.

Mawae brought Wereb to the Lahaina Police Station where Kia, an MPD Public Safety Aid (“PSA”), handled Wereb’s intake screening. Defs.’ Ex. M, Mawae Deck ¶¶ 9, 10. Mawae found that Wereb continued to be coherent and observed that Wereb “behaved in a flirtatious manner” with Kia. Id. ¶ 11. Kia filled out an additional intake screening form and fingerprinted Wereb. Defs.’ Ex. J, Kia Deck ¶¶ 3, 4; Defs.’ Ex. A at 1. Kia did not perceive Wereb as being intoxicated and found that he understood her instructions and responded appropriately. Defs.’ Ex. J, Kia Deck ¶¶4, 5. Wereb informed Kia that he had diabetes, which Kia then marked on the intake form. Id. ¶ 6; Defs.’ Ex. A at 2.

During Wereb’s processing, MPD Sergeant Burgess entered the room to speak with Mawae about Wereb’s arrest. Defs.’ Ex. G, Burgess Deck ¶ 3. Burgess ob *905 served Wereb and found that he appeared to be fine and not in need of medical attention. Id. ¶ 4. Although the intake screening form has a line for a supervisor’s signature — and MPD policy requires a supervisor to sign an inmate’s intake form— neither Burgess nor any other supervisor signed Wereb’s intake form. Id. at 2; Heipt Decl. 5 Ex. M, Burgess Dep. at 43:1-9.

As part of his investigation, Mawae showed Wereb a Miranda waiver form. Defs.’ Ex. M, Mawae Decl. ¶ 15; Defs.’ Ex. N. This form contains two lines intended for a detainee’s signature — on the first of these lines, Wereb entered what could be his signature, but wrote the date as August 29, 2008 — when it was in fact September 26, 2008 — and marked the time as “60:0F pm.” Defs.’ Ex. N. On the next line intended for his signature, Wereb wrote “THEARTS FOAM PUNKKS.” Id. Mawae asserts that he did not find Wereb’s notations unusual and was not alarmed by how Wereb filled out the form. Defs.’ Ex. M, Mawae Decl. ¶ 15; Defs.’ Suppl. Ex. GG, Mawae Dep. at 26:14-18. Mawae “took [Wereb’s writing] to mean that [Wereb] wasn’t being cooperative with the investigation, that he didn’t want to [cooperate], because that’s obviously not his signature at that line.” Defs.’ Suppl. Ex. GG, Mawae Dep. at 31:10-14. Mawae stated that medics were not called because he saw no indication that Wereb was in medical distress. Defs.’ Ex. M, Mawae Decl. ¶ 13.

On Saturday at 10:00 a.m., MPD Officer Edwin Among (“Among”), who is not a party to this suit, took Wereb out for a cigarette, interviewed him, and again informed him of his Miranda rights. Defs.’ Ex. L, Among Decl. ¶¶ 7-9. Wereb acknowledged that he understood his rights and properly signed the form. Id. ¶ 8.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
727 F. Supp. 2d 898, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76405, 2010 WL 2985622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wereb-v-maui-county-hid-2010.