Phillips ex rel. Phillips v. Monroe County, Miss.

Decision Date28 October 2002
Docket NumberNo. 01-60425.,01-60425.
Citation311 F.3d 369
PartiesSandra Fay PHILLIPS, on Behalf of the Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Jonathan PHILLIPS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MONROE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI; Charles Farmer, Dr., individually; John Bearry, individually, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Jim D. Waide, III (argued), Kristy Lynn Bennett, Waide & Associates, Tupelo, MS, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

John Samuel Hill, Lamar Bradley Dillard (argued), Mitchell, McNutt & Sams, Tupelo, MS, for Monroe County, MS.

John Lewis Clay (argued), Jackson, MS, Leonard Charlton Vincent, Mississippi Dept. of Corrections, Parchman, MS, for Farmer and Bearry.

Before WIENER, EMILIO M. GARZA, and PARKER, Circuit Judges.

EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

Sandra Fay Phillips, the plaintiff, appeals the district court's judgment as a matter of law in favor of Monroe County, Mississippi, Dr. Charles Farmer, and Dr. John Bearry (collectively "the defendants"), in this wrongful death suit brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Phillips's son, Jonathan Phillips (the Decedent), died from testicular cancer while serving a sentence for aggravated assault in the Mississippi prison system. Phillips claims the defendants wrongfully caused the Decedent's death in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution by refusing to provide the Decedent with necessary medical care. Additionally, Phillips brought a state law negligence claim against Monroe County. Using the standard announced in Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000), we affirm, because the plaintiff failed to prove the necessary causal link between the Decedent's death and the acts or omissions of the defendants. Additionally, the state law claim against Monroe County is barred by § 11-49-9(1)(m) of the Mississippi Code.

Most of the relevant facts surrounding this case are undisputed. The Decedent was diagnosed with widespread testicular cancer, including disease in the lymph nodes, abdominal cavity and lungs, in September 1996. He underwent surgery and chemotherapy, and was pronounced in remission within six months. In 1997, the Decedent's cancer returned, he completed three more rounds of chemotherapy, and was again found to be in remission. Before he was diagnosed with cancer, the Decedent was involved in a fight, for which he was later arrested and charged with aggravated assault. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, with 15 years suspended. The Decedent began serving his sentence on May 15, 1998, when he was taken into custody by the Monroe County Sheriff's Department (the "Sheriff's Department"). Soon thereafter, he began complaining of chest pains, shortness of breath, headaches, and spitting up blood. Upon learning of his symptoms, the Decedent's family immediately contacted his oncologist, Dr. Julian Hill. Dr. Hill was located in Tupelo, Mississippi. Due to the distance between the jail and Dr. Hill's office, Dr. Hill instructed the Sheriff's Department to take the Decedent to a local physician for blood work. After reviewing the results of the blood tests, Dr. Hill insisted the Decedent be brought to him for further tests. The Sheriff's Department complied, and the Decedent had more extensive tests, including CT scans, on June 24th. Dr. Hill found that the Decedent's cancer had reappeared in his lungs and spread to his spleen, and Dr. Hill advised the Decedent's family and the Sheriff's Department that the Decedent needed to receive salvage chemotherapy immediately and that it should begin no later than June 29th.

For reasons that are disputed and not relevant to our analysis, the Sheriff's Department sought to have the Decedent transferred to the state prison system to receive his chemotherapy treatments. It first attempted to have the sentencing court modify the Decedent's sentence so that he could be under house arrest during his treatment, but the judge found he was without jurisdiction to do so. Monroe County's Chief Deputy next contacted Dr. John Bearry, the Medical Director at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, to determine what steps should be taken to transfer the Decedent given his medical needs. Dr. Bearry's office advised the Sheriff's Department to immediately transfer the Decedent from the Monroe County jail to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. The Decedent was transferred on June 29, and Dr. Charles Farmer, a staff physician, gave the Decedent a standard intake physical exam and referred the Decedent to the University Medical Center in Jackson for cancer treatment. The prisoner referral process is time-consuming, but Dr. Farmer managed to schedule an appointment for the Decedent for July 14.

On July 1, the Decedent suffered abdominal pain and began vomiting. He was sent to the emergency room at the University Medical Center, diagnosed with pneumonia, given antibiotics, and returned to the prison. Eight days later, the Decedent began having seizures and fell unconscious in his cell. He was immediately transported to the University Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The Decedent's treating physicians at the Center, including Dr. James Thigpen, concluded that the testicular cancer had metastasized to the Decedent's brain, and they prescribed immediate aggressive radiation therapy. The treating physicians felt that chemotherapy would not have been an effective therapy for the brain tumor. Despite the radiation treatments, the Decedent died on July 18, 1998, and his death certificate lists the cause of death as herniation of the brain due to cancer.

Phillips subsequently brought this action on behalf of the wrongful death beneficiaries of the Decedent, alleging that his death was due to Monroe County's refusal to provide necessary medical care and failure to have policies providing for medical treatment for those prisoners in need of medical care. The complaint was later amended to include Dr. Bearry and Dr. Farmer, individually, for gross negligence and willful indifference to the Decedent's rights, alleging that they were deliberately indifferent to the Decedent's medical needs because they failed to provide him with the immediate course of chemotherapy prescribed by Dr. Hill. After Phillips presented her case, the defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law. The district court granted the motion on all grounds, finding that the defendants were not deliberately indifferent to the Decedent's medical needs, and thus did not violate his constitutional rights, and that the state law claim against Monroe County was barred because Mississippi had not waived its sovereign immunity in this circumstance.

We review a district court's ruling on a motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo. Industrias Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A. v. Louisiana Bayou Furs Inc., 293 F.3d 912, 918 (5th Cir.2002). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a) states that a court should render a judgment as a matter of law when "a party has been fully heard on an issue and there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for that party on that issue." In Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., the Supreme Court clarified the approach a court should use when granting a judgment as a matter of law. First, we must review the record "taken as a whole." 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000) (internal citation omitted). Second, in reviewing all of the evidence in the record, we must "draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party" and "not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence." Id. In other words, we must give credence to the evidence supporting the nonmovant as well as any evidence supporting the moving party that is uncontradicted, unimpeached, and not attributable to interested witnesses. Id. at 151, 120 S.Ct. 2097.

Section 1983 provides a cause of action for persons who are subjected to the deprivation of any constitutional right by a person acting under the color of state or federal law. Although Phillips brings this suit in federal court under § 1983, she is not alleging that her constitutional rights were violated. Likewise, she does not seek relief as the personal representative of the Decedent's estate.1 In other words, Phillips is not suing to redress her own § 1983 claims or any constitutional claims the Decedent might have had prior to his death. Instead, Phillips sues on behalf of the wrongful death beneficiaries of the Decedent. She seeks to recover for the injuries the Phillips family suffered as a result of the Decedent's death, which, in turn, was allegedly caused by the defendants' violation of the Decedent's constitutional rights.

Wrongful death recovery under § 1983 has "generated considerable confusion and disagreement." Rhyne v. Henderson County, 973 F.2d 386, 390 (5th Cir.1992) (quoting Crumpton v. Gates, 947 F.2d 1418, 1420 (9th Cir.1991)). The Supreme Court has not yet addressed this issue, and, while the circuits are divided over whether such recovery is appropriate, we have consistently allowed it. See Rhyne, 973 F.2d at 390-91 (summarizing the line of cases permitting such recovery); Brazier, 293 F.2d at 406-07.

Wrongful death statutes create new causes of action on behalf of the statutorily-designated persons in order to compensate them for the death of the decedent. See, e.g., Thames v. Mississippi ex rel. Shoemaker, 117 F.2d 949, 951 (5th Cir. 1941) (holding that Mississippi's wrongful death statute creates an independent cause of action). Unlike a survival action, a wrongful death action cannot be maintained unless the defendant's conduct is the cause of the decedent's death. SHELDON H. NAHMOD, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES LITIGATION § 4:67 (4th ed., 2001 update). Accordingly, a plaintiff seeking to...

To continue reading

Request your trial
82 cases
  • Butts v. Martin, 15-41640
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
    • December 8, 2017
    ...). Although this Court "may affirm the district court’s decision on any grounds supported by the record," Phillips ex rel. Phillips v. Monroe Cty. , 311 F.3d 369, 376 (5th Cir. 2002), we decline to assess whether a Bivens remedy is available for Butts’s free exercise claim. Neither the dist......
  • Jones v. Tyson Foods, Inc.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. Northern District of Mississippi
    • October 3, 2013
    ...101 (1987). The Fifth Circuit has stated that “[p]risoners are not a suspect or quasi-suspect class.” Phillips ex rel. Phillips v. Monroe County, 311 F.3d 369, 376 n. 2 (5th Cir.2002); accord Pryor v. Brennan, 914 F.2d 921, 923 (7th Cir.1990); Moss v. Clark, 886 F.2d 686, 690 (4th Cir.1989)......
  • Rodgers v. City of Lancaster Police, 3:13-CV-2031-M-BH
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. Northern District of Texas
    • January 6, 2017
    ...the statutorily-designated persons in order to compensate them for the death of a decedent. See Phillips ex rel. Phillips v. Monroe Cty., 311 F.3d 369, 374 (5th Cir. 2002), cert. denied, 539 U.S. 914 (2003). Texas's wrongful death statute, Texas Civil Practices & Remedies Code § 71.004, rec......
  • Coggin v. Longview Independent School Dist.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
    • July 2, 2003
    ...record facts." See Empire Life Ins. Co. of America v. Valdak Corp., 468 F.2d 330, 334 (5th Cir.1972); see also Phillips v. Monroe County, Miss., 311 F.3d 369, 376 (5th Cir.2002) ("We may affirm the district court's decision on any grounds supported by the 1. I do note that the majority opin......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
2 books & journal articles
  • Free-World Law Behind Bars.
    • United States
    • Yale Law Journal Vol. 131 No. 5, March 2022
    • March 1, 2022
    ...bars to claims by incarcerated people and have excluded them from waivers of sovereign immunity. See, e.g., Phillips v. Monroe Cnty., 311 F.3d 369, 375 (5th Cir. 2002); Sealock v. Colorado, 218 F.3d 1205, 1212 (10th Cir. 2000); Webb v. Lawrence Cnty., 144 F.3d 1131, 1139-40 (8th Cir. 1998);......
  • Phillips Ex Rel. Phillips v. Monroe County, Miss.
    • United States
    • Corrections Caselaw Quarterly No. 26, May 2003
    • May 1, 2003
    ...Appeals Court DELAY IN CARE Phillips Ex Rel. Phillips v. Monroe County, Miss., 311 F.3d 369 (5th Cir. 2002). The mother of a deceased inmate sued a county and two physicians under [section] 1983, alleging that they caused the inmate's death by refusing to provide the inmate with necessary m......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT