Logue v. United States, 71-2426.
| Decision Date | 31 July 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 71-2426.,71-2426. |
| Citation | 459 F.2d 408 |
| Parties | Orval C. LOGUE, etc., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Anthony J. P. Farris, U. S. Atty., William L. Bowers, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellant.
Wm. R. Edwards, Corpus Christi, Tex., Marvin Foster, Jr., Alice, Tex., Philip K. Maxwell, Corpus Christi, Tex., Edwards & De Anda, Corpus Christi, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before GEWIN, AINSWORTH and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied July 31, 1972.
Reagan Edward Logue (hereinafter Logue), on May 25, 1968, while confined in the Nueces County, Texas, jail pursuant to a federal bench warrant, hanged himself. Suit was brought against the United States to recover damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, Title 28, U.S.Code, Chapter 171, and the Texas Wrongful Death Act, Vernon's Ann. Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, Article 4671, et seq. by the deceased's adoptive father, Orval C. Logue, his mother, Alice Marie Logue Blouin, and by Orval C. Logue for the estate of Reagan Edward Logue. The district court, 334 F. Supp. 322, after an evidentiary trial rendered judgment against the United States in the following amounts: $3,500.00 to the deceased's mother, $1,500.00 to Orval C. Logue and $1,164.50 to the deceased's estate for funeral expenses.
On this appeal by the United States we find no basis for holding it liable in damages for the prisoner's death. We reverse the judgment of the district court and direct entry of judgment for the appellant.
The 18 year old deceased was arrested on May 22, 1968, at Corpus Christi, Texas, by Deputy United States Marshal Bowers on a federal bench warrant issued by the Laredo Division of the Southern District of Texas charging conspiracy to smuggle 229 pounds of marijuana into the United States. Deputy Marshal Bowers placed the deceased in the Nueces County jail, Corpus Christi, as a federal prisoner. That facility was used as a contract jail by the United States under the provisions of Title 18, U.S.Code, Section 4002.1
About 3:00 P.M. May 23, Logue attempted suicide by cutting veins in his left arm. The wound appeared sufficiently serious for the County jailer to cause him to be taken to Memorial Hospital. There he was treated for the laceration and placed under guard in a bare room in an area of the hospital reserved for mental patients. He was seen by a psychiatrist, Dr. Shannon Gwin, and diagnosed as psychotic. There was testimony at trial that Logue also was then under the influence of an hallucinatory drug, probably LSD. Deputy Marshal Bowers sought advice from his superiors but was unable to produce a satisfactory plan to keep Logue under guard at the hospital.
On May 24, 1968, after further conferring with his superiors in the United States Marshal's Office at Laredo and at Houston and with Dr. Gwin, Deputy Marshal Bowers decided to return Logue to the Nueces County jail, despite Dr. Gwin's recommendation that the prisoner remain in the hospital until he could be transferred to another medical facility equipped to deal with his suicidal tendencies. At about 3:30 P.M. that same day, Dr. Gwin, believing that he had no choice in the matter, released Logue to Bowers, who returned him to the Nueces County jail to await processing for transfer to a federal mental institution. Bowers' trial testimony was that the decision to move the prisoner back to the county jail was made by his superiors.
Deputy Marshal Bowers, aware of Logue's suicidal impulses, requested the Nueces County jail authorities to provide a cell stripped of items likely to prove injurious. In compliance with this request the prisoner was placed in a cell containing nothing except a bunk with a mattress, a toilet and a wash basin. Deputy Marshal Bowers made no arrangements for Logue's cell to be under constant surveillance. Neither did the jail employees undertake continuous surveillance of the prisoner. They did look in on him as they brought other prisoners to his jail floor.
Logue was returned to the Nueces County jail on May 24, wearing a long Kerlix bandage on his injured left arm. About 4:30 P.M., May 25, he removed the bandage and hanged himself with it from his cell bars.
The trial court found that Deputy Marshal Bowers was negligent in failing to make arrangements for constant surveillance of the deceased when he was returned to the Nueces County jail on May 24, 1968. In addition, the court below found that the employees of the jail, having actual or constructive knowledge of Logue's suicidal tendencies, were negligent in failing to place him under constant surveillance upon his return to the jail. The district court concluded that both manifestations of negligence were attributable to the United States, thereby rendering it liable in damages for the death of Reagan Edward Logue under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
The United States seeks reversal of the judgment below on three grounds:
Inasmuch as we reverse the findings below as to liability, no discussion of the adequacy of the proof as to damages (ground 3 of appeal, supra) appears appropriate. It is unnecessary to reach that contention.
Relying upon the first paragraph of Title 18, U.S.C., Section 4002 (), the United States argues that the Nueces County jail was a "contractor" within the meaning of Section 2671, Title 28, United States Code.2 From this premise, it reasons that the United States is not liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for the negligent acts and/or omissions of the Nueces County jail's employees. Additionally, the United States contends that Deputy Marshal Bowers had no authority to require the provision of constant surveillance of the deceased while the latter was confined to the Nueces County jail.
In reply, the plaintiffs argue that Deputy Marshal Bowers was under a duty imposed by Title 18, U.S.C., Section 4042,3 to insure the safety and wellbeing of the deceased and that a breach of that duty provides the basis for a recovery from the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The claim is made that in the circumstances of this case such a breach would be actionable whether committed by the employees of the Nueces County jail or by Deputy Marshal Bowers.
The United States is subject to suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries...
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Williams v. United States, Civ. A. No. 70-2496.
...the negligent acts or omissions of employees of non-federal prisons which contract to care for federal prisoners. Logue v. United States, 459 F.2d 408, 411 (5th Cir. 1972), cert. granted ___ U.S. ___, 93 S.Ct. 908, 34 L.Ed.2d 685 (1973). Thus, the contract alone does not create a third-part......
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Talignani v. United States
...are undefined.2 The court of appeals in Logue did not address this argument in its original panel opinion. See Logue v. United States , 459 F.2d 408 (5th Cir. 1972). Three judges dissented from the denial of rehearing en banc , pointing out that the plaintiff's argument under the official-c......
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Cannon v. U.S., 79-1762
...His jailers were aware of his suicidal tendencies yet failed to make arrangements for his constant surveillance. Logue v. United States, 459 F.2d 408, 410 (5th Cir. 1972).12 The Court remanded the case, however, for consideration of the question whether the United States Deputy Marshal's fa......
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Talignani v. United States
...... decision here. . . First. up are two Supreme Court decisions. In Logue v. United. States , 412 U.S. 521 (1973), the Court determined that. county jail employees were not "employee[s] of the. ......