Lancaster v. Monroe County, Ala.

Decision Date11 July 1997
Docket NumberNo. 96-6735,96-6735
Citation116 F.3d 1419
Parties11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 126 Cylinda H. LANCASTER, as the administratrix of the estate of Harold B. Lancaster, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MONROE COUNTY, ALABAMA; Sheriff Thomas Tate; Monroe County Commission; Robert Rankins; Eddie Wells; and Ann Jackson, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Stephen A. Strickland, Richard S. Jaffe, Cecilee R. Beasley, Richard S. Jaffe, P.C., Dan L. Turberville, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Daryl L. Masters, Kelly Gallops Davidson, Bart Harmon, Webb & Eley, P.C., Montgomery, AL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.

Before BIRCH and CARNES, Circuit Judges, and PROPST *, Senior District Judge.

CARNES, Circuit Judge:

Harold Michael Lancaster died from an injury he sustained while in custody at the county jail in Monroe County, Alabama. Cylinda Lancaster, Lancaster's widow and the administratrix of his estate, claims that Monroe County, the Monroe County Commission, Sheriff Thomas Tate, and Jailers Robert Rankins, Eddie Wells, and Ann Jackson are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law for failing to provide Lancaster with adequate medical treatment or supervision while he was in custody. The district court granted summary judgment to all defendants. We reverse in part and affirm in part as to the individual defendants. As to Monroe County and the Monroe County Commission, we sever that part of this appeal and withhold any decision in it pending a decision of the en banc court in Turquitt v. Jefferson County, 102 F.3d 465 (11th Cir.1996) (granting hearing en banc).

I. BACKGROUND
A. FACTS

Taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, the evidence before the district court at summary judgment was as follows. 1 At approximately 7:45 p.m. on Monday, March 6, 1995, Lancaster was arrested by Officer James McDonald of the Frisco City Police Department and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). According to Officer McDonald, Lancaster had glazed and bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, his movements were slow and unsteady, and he had difficulty standing up. He failed the field sobriety tests.

Because Frisco City has no jail facilities, Officer McDonald took Lancaster to the Monroe County Jail in Monroeville, Alabama. Lancaster could hardly stand up when they arrived at the jail, and McDonald needed assistance to get Lancaster into the jail. Once inside the jail, Lancaster was administered two intoxilizer tests. The first test showed his blood alcohol content to be .324, and the second registered a blood alcohol content of .323. 2

Lancaster was admitted to the jail and placed in the holding cell, or the "drunk tank," as it is called. The drunk tank is a single cell with three bunk beds. Although there are a number of cells in the jail, 3 and the jailer on duty has discretion about where to place an inmate, the jailers at the Monroe County Jail normally place DUI detainees in the drunk tank. When Lancaster was placed in the drunk tank by Jailer Rankins, three inmates who had already sobered up were occupying the bottom bunks. Lancaster climbed onto a top bunk.

Shortly after Lancaster was admitted to the jail, Ms. Lancaster called the jail. She first asked Officer Wilson Bullard, a dispatcher, if her husband had been arrested, and if she could pick him up. She then told Bullard that her husband was sick, that he could go into delirium tremens (DTs), and that he would have seizures when the alcohol wore off. 4 Officer Bullard directed the call to Defendant Robert Rankins, a jailer on duty. Ms. Lancaster asked Rankins if she could come get Lancaster out of jail. Rankins told Ms. Lancaster that due to Lancaster's high alcohol level, she could not pick him up until the next night. 5

Ms. Lancaster then warned Rankins that Lancaster was a chronic alcoholic who had been in the hospital recently with grand mal seizures. She told Rankins that Lancaster's last seizure had almost killed him, and if he went very long without alcohol, he would have another seizure. Ms. Lancaster told Rankins that when Lancaster suffered a seizure, he would jerk, turn blue, and require oxygen. She gave Rankins the phone number of Lancaster's physician in case of an emergency. Rankins promised to watch Lancaster. Ms. Lancaster then spoke with her husband briefly. She told him to ask for a soft drink if he started to feel bad.

After Ms. Lancaster spoke with Rankins, Lancaster's father called the home of the Monroe County Sheriff, Thomas Tate, to ask if Lancaster could be released from jail that night. Lancaster's father told Tate the same information that Ms. Lancaster told Rankins; thus, Sheriff Tate was aware that Lancaster would have a seizure in eight to ten hours if he did not get alcohol or medicine, and that his last seizure had almost killed him. Lancaster's father also told Tate that Lancaster had experienced seizures a few months or weeks before.

Tate refused to release Lancaster from jail, but he assured the father that he would call the jail and tell them to check on Lancaster every fifteen minutes, which was, according to Tate, "the standard." Lancaster's father asked Tate if the jail had a procedure for treating his son if he experienced a seizure in jail. Tate advised him that if Lancaster experienced a seizure, an ambulance would be called, and he would be taken to the hospital. After speaking with Lancaster's father, Sheriff Tate called the jail. He told Officer Bullard that Lancaster's father had called him and informed him that Lancaster had previously experienced seizures. Tate told Bullard that the jailers should check on Lancaster closely all night.

After speaking with Sheriff Tate, Lancaster's family went to see Officer Percy Nero at his home. Nero called the jail at approximately 9:30 p.m. and spoke with Jailer Geraldine Owens. Nero informed Owens that Lancaster's family was with him, and they had explained to him that Lancaster was very sick. Nero told Owens that Lancaster was going to have seizures when he began to sober up, and the jailers needed to keep a close watch on him. Nero also told her to call him if anything happened so he could take Lancaster to the doctor.

Next, Lancaster's father went to the jail. The father told Jailer Rankins that he wanted to see Lancaster, and he wanted to get him out of jail. Rankins refused to let Lancaster's father see his son. Lancaster's father then warned Rankins that Lancaster has seizures and would need to be watched. Rankins told the father that the jailers were going to look after Lancaster, that somebody would be with Lancaster all night, and that he (Rankins) would check on Lancaster every twenty minutes. Rankins logged into the jail notebook information provided by Lancaster's father, including the fact that if Lancaster had a seizure, he could have three to four seizures within seven to ten minutes of each other.

Around 9:00 p.m., Lancaster asked Jailer Rankins for a soft drink, and Rankins brought him one. After that, Lancaster's cellmates never saw Rankins or any other jailer making rounds that night or the next morning. However, the cellmates slept off and on through the night, and Rankins and the other jailers testified that they made frequent rounds during the night.

When the cellmates were awake, they saw Lancaster visibly shaking. They also observed him climbing across the top bunk beds and trying to get out of his cell through the bars and the ceiling. Lancaster complained to them of headaches. When he used the toilet, he had trouble cleaning himself. Each time Lancaster got down from his bunk, his cellmates had to help him get back into bed.

Jailer Rankins' shift ended at midnight, and he was replaced by Defendant Eddie Wells. Rankins explained to Wells that Lancaster should be kept under a close watch, because Lancaster had experienced seizures from alcohol withdrawal in the past and might go into seizures that night.

Around 2:00 a.m., Lancaster asked Jailer Wells for a soft drink, telling Wells he was thirsty and felt "rough." Wells brought Lancaster a soft drink. Lancaster spent the duration of the night walking around the cell or lying on his top bunk. When Wells made rounds that night, he saw Lancaster on the top bunk. Around 5:30 a.m., Ms. Lancaster called the jail to find out if Lancaster had experienced a seizure yet; she spoke with Jailer Wells. She warned Wells that Lancaster was a chronic alcoholic and would go into DTs. She also told him that it was approaching time for Lancaster to have a seizure. Ms. Lancaster informed Wells that Lancaster had been in the hospital about a month before due to seizures, and that he had been drinking heavily. Ms. Lancaster warned him that Lancaster would need help immediately if he had a seizure. Wells logged Ms. Lancaster's call into the jail notebook.

At 7:00 a.m., breakfast was served by the jail trustees, but Lancaster refused to eat. Around 8:00 a.m., Defendant Ann Jackson replaced Wells. Wells passed along to her the information about Lancaster. In particular, Wells told Jackson that Ms. Lancaster had called and had said Lancaster would soon experience seizures from alcohol withdrawal. Jackson made her first round of the jail at 8:05, and she saw Lancaster lying on a top bunk. She continued to make rounds approximately every ten or twenty minutes thereafter.

Around 9:30 a.m., Lancaster's cellmates saw him sit up in his bunk, making a choking noise. He was visibly shaking. He fell backwards out of his bunk and landed on his back on the floor. Lancaster's head struck the floor, and he began bleeding from the mouth. He continued to shake; a cellmate believed he was having seizures. The cellmates yelled for help.

According to the cellmates, it took at least ten minutes for anyone to arrive at the cell. Kitty Pugh, a dispatcher, was the first person to hear the cellmates'...

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