Liebe v. Norton

• Decision Date: 01 October 1998
• Docket Number: No. 98-1163,98-1163
• Citation: 157 F.3d 574
• Parties: Mary Ellen LIEBE, Special Administrator of the Estate of Robert W. Liebe, Deceased, and Mary Ellen Liebe, Guardian of the Estate of Marcus Liebe, a minor child, Appellant, v. Lyle NORTON, individually and as an employee of Fall River County; Fall River County, South Dakota; and Gene Linehan, as Sheriff of Fall River County, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 574

157 F.3d 574

Mary Ellen LIEBE, Special Administrator of the Estate of Robert W. Liebe, Deceased, and Mary Ellen Liebe Guardian of the Estate of Marcus Liebe a minor child, Appellant, v. Lyle NORTON, individually and as an employee of Fall River County; Fall River County, South Dakota; and Gene Linehan, as Sheriff of Fall River County, Appellees.

No. 98-1163.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted June 12, 1998.

Decided Oct. 1, 1998.

Kenneth R. Dewell, Rapid City, SD, argued, for appellant.

Donald P. Knudsen, Rapid City, SD, argued, for appellees.

Before BOWMAN, Chief Judge, LOKEN, Circuit Judge and MAGNUSON, ¹ District Judge.

MAGNUSON, District Judge.

Mary Ellen Liebe, the Special Administrator of the Estate of Robert W. Liebe and Guardian of the Estate of Marcus Liebe, appeals from the judgment of the district court ² dismissing Appellant's claims against Appellee Lyle Norton and granting summary judgment in favor of Appellees Fall River County, South Dakota and Gene Linehan, Sheriff of Fall River County. On October 12, 1993, Robert W. Liebe committed suicide while incarcerated at the Fall River County Jail. Mary Ellen Liebe, Robert's wife, sought damages against Defendants-Appellees under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court dismissed the claims against Lyle Norton based on qualified immunity, and granted summary judgment as to the remaining Defendants-Appellees because Appellant was unable to show that Fall River County failed to train Lyle Norton. We affirm.

I.

On October 12, 1993, Robert Liebe was arrested and taken to the Fall River County Jail. Liebe was intoxicated at the time of his booking. In accordance with County policy, Lyle Norton processed Liebe into the jail, and after questioning Liebe, classified him as a "SUICIDE RISK." Liebe had admitted to previously attempting suicide, and was on both clonazepam and valium. Although Liebe had previously been a prisoner at the jail, Norton did not research the prior file to learn additional information about Liebe. After removing Liebe's shoes and belt, Norton placed Liebe in a temporary holding cell designed to minimize the risk of harm to the inmate. The Fall River County Manual of Policies, Procedures and Operations (the "MPPO") recommends checking on inmates such as Liebe every fifteen (15) minutes. Thus, from 4:30 p.m. until 8:50 p.m. on October 12, 1993, Norton checked on Liebe approximately seventeen (17) times. The time lapse between these checks varied from seven (7) minutes to twenty-one (21) minutes. However, Norton did not turn on the audio system to the temporary holding cell.

At 8:50 p.m., twenty (20) minutes after the last check on Liebe, Norton found Liebe hanging in his cell. Liebe had used his long-sleeved shirt to hang himself on a metal-framed electrical conduit in the temporary holding cell. Despite the fact that Norton had the keys to Liebe's cell in his pocket, Norton ran back to the dispatch area to trip an electronic switch to open the cell door. While at the dispatch area, Norton told the dispatcher to call an ambulance. The dispatcher also dispatched other deputies to Liebe's cell. According to the dispatch log, Liebe was discovered hanging at 2057 hours, and CPR was not initiated until 2112 hours, a period of fifteen (15) minutes.

Norton returned to Liebe's cell and assisted a Hot Springs police officer in cutting Liebe down and lowering his body to the floor. Norton could feel that Liebe's hands were cold and see that his lips were blue. The Hot Springs officer could not find a pulse on Liebe. When the ambulance arrived, Liebe failed to respond to resuscitation efforts, and he was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital. Prior to this incident, there had never been a suicide at the Fall River County Jail.

Norton began working part-time at the Fall River County Jail on August 17, 1993. Before beginning duties as a solo jailer, he was given on-the-job training for two and one-half weeks by another jailer. Norton was also scheduled to attend a jailer training course, but the course was not being held until November 1993. However, Norton had begun a Jail Officers Training Correspondence Course. Norton had received CPR training in 1992 and was recertified twice as a reserve officer. Thus, prior to Liebe's suicide, Norton had worked as a full-time jailer for approximately two months. Norton was also given the MPPO to read, but Sheriff Bray, Norton's superior, never told Norton that he was required to know or understand the MPPO's contents.

Mary Ellen Liebe, as administrator of Liebe's estate, filed suit against Norton, the Sheriff, and the County. The District Court for the District of South Dakota held that Norton was entitled to qualified immunity. Further, the Court granted summary judgment as to the remaining defendants. Mary Ellen Liebe appeals both of these decisions.

II.

A. Qualified Immunity

We review qualified immunity, a question of law, de novo. See Jackson v. Everett, 140 F.3d 1149, 1151 (8th Cir.1998). "Qualified immunity shields government officials from suit unless their conduct violated a clearly established constitutional or statutory right of which a reasonable person would have known." Yowell v. Combs, 89 F.3d 542, 544 (8th Cir.1996) (citing Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)). To withstand the application of qualified immunity, a plaintiff must assert a violation of a constitutional or statutory right; that right must have been clearly established at the time of the violation; and, given the facts most favorable to the plaintiff, there must be no genuine issues of material fact as to whether a reasonable official would have known that the alleged action indeed violated that right. Id. (citing Foulks v. Cole County, Mo., 991 F.2d 454, 456 (8th Cir.1993)).

Norton concedes that the first prong of this test is satisfied. The Complaint clearly alleges violations of Liebe's constitutional rights. These rights include Liebe's right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment and his right to not be deprived of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness without due process of law.

As for the second prong, Appellant contends, and the district court agreed, that the law was clearly established on October 12,1993. However, Norton argues that, in a § 1983 action, "clearly established" takes on a somewhat different meaning. According to Norton, although Liebe had a clearly established right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, the law was not clearly established regarding what measures must be taken to prevent inmate suicides. See Rellergert v. Cape Girardeau County, Mo., 924 F.2d 794 (8th Cir.1991). However, this argument seems more appropriately waged with regard to the third prong of qualified immunity, regarding whether Norton should have known that his actions violated Liebe's constitutional rights. The Supreme Court has held that prison inmates have a constitutional right, under the Eighth Amendment, to have serious medical needs addressed. See Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). Norton cannot seriously argue that Liebe does not possess such a right. Moreover, once one is classified as a suicide risk, the right to be protected from that risk would seem to fall under the ambit of the right to have medical needs addressed. Further, any argument Norton may have under Rellergert, regarding the precautions that must be taken, would require a factual inquiry. The Rellergert holding did not question whether inmates have a right to be protected when they pose a serious suicide risk. Instead, it merely questioned the length to which prison officials must go to prevent that suicide. Rellergert, 924 F.2d at 796. Therefore, we hold that the second prong of qualified immunity is met because Liebe had a constitutional right to be protected from the known risks of suicide.

It is the third prong of the qualified immunity test which is the crux of this appeal. This prong, regarding whether a reasonable official would have known that his conduct violated a constitutional right, involves both an objective and subjective component. See Prater v. Dahm, 89 F.3d 538, 541 (8th Cir.1996). The objective component examines whether a serious deprivation occurred. See id. The subjective component examines Norton's state of mind, and requires that he acted with "deliberate indifference." Id. The district court held that this prong was not met because Norton's actions did not amount to deliberate indifference. We agree.

Norton cannot be found guilty of deliberate indifference unless it is shown that he "[knew] of and disregard[ed] an excessive risk to [Liebe's] health or safety." Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994). By classifying Liebe as a suicide risk on the prison intake form, Norton demonstrated that he was aware of a potential risk to Liebe's health or safety. However, Norton may still escape liability "if [he] responded reasonably to the risk, even if the harm ultimately was not averted." Id. at 844, 114 S.Ct. 1970.

In Rellergert, we stated that "[d]eliberate indifference 'is a difficult burden for a plaintiff to meet and becomes the key issue.' " 924 F.2d at 796 (quoting Popham v. City of Talladega, 908 F.2d 1561, 1563 (11th Cir.1990)). Additionally, even though we admitted that "we cannot say that the law is established with any clarity as to what ... measures must be" taken to prevent inmate suicides, we did find that a prison institution's policy of housing suicide inmates in a common area represented "affirmative and deliberate steps to prevent suicides." Id. at 797. Moreover, we noted that the policy "could not have been both deliberately cautious about [an inmate's] risk as a suicide and deliberately indifferent about it." Id. Finally, we noted that the fact that a suicide occurred does not answer the relevant question: Were the preventive...