Finn v. Warren Cnty.

Decision Date16 September 2014
Docket NumberNo. 13–6629.,13–6629.
Citation768 F.3d 441
PartiesJohney E. FINN, Administrator of the Estate of Shannon Ray Finn, deceased; Sandra Roddy, Guardian of S.N.F., J.W.F., and G.R.F., minor children of Shannon Ray Finn, deceased, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. WARREN COUNTY, KENTUCKY, et al., Defendants–Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

ARGUED:Gregory A. Belzley, Belzleybathurst Attorneys, Prospect, Kentucky, for Appellants. Charles E. English, Jr., English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP, Bowling Green, Kentucky, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:Gregory A. Belzley, Belzleybathurst Attorneys, Prospect, Kentucky, for Appellants. Charles E. English, Jr., Aaron D. Smith, English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP, Bowling Green, Kentucky, for Appellees.

Before: CLAY and STRANCH, Circuit Judges; BLACK, District Judge.*

OPINION

STRANCH, Circuit Judge.

Shannon Ray Finn died in his cell at the Warren County Regional Jail in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on March 20, 2009, during the course of alcohol withdrawal. Johney E. Finn, as administrator of Finn's estate, and Sandra Roddy, as guardian of Finn's three minor children, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Warren County, Warren County Regional Jailer Jackie Strode, six deputy jailers, Southern Health Partners, Inc. (SHP), SHP Medical Director Dr. John Adams, and two SHP nurses. The plaintiffs asserted a violation of Finn's Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to receive adequate medical care while incarcerated, as well as state-law claims for negligence, gross negligence, and outrage. After some of the parties and claims were dismissed on summary judgment, a jury returned verdicts for the defendants on the remaining claims.

The plaintiffs now appeal various rulings of the district court. For the reasons explained below, we REVERSE the grant of summary judgment to Jailer Jackie Strode and remand for a trial of plaintiffs' negligence claims against him. We AFFIRM on all other grounds.

I. FACTS

Shannon Finn entered the Warren County Regional Jail as a pretrial detainee shortly after 2:00 p.m. on March 17, 2009, following his arrest on a parole violation. During the booking process, Finn denied that he had ever experienced delirium tremens

(“DTs”) or other serious withdrawal from drugs or alcohol. He also denied that he had any serious medical condition that might require medical attention.

After admission to the jail, Finn exhibited the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. SHP medical staff instituted an alcohol detoxification

protocol and administered oral medications to Finn every twelve hours.

On the late afternoon of March 19, a nurse assessed Finn's condition and documented her findings that Finn was experiencing weakness, restlessness, sweating, shakiness, muscle twitching, anxiety, and unsteady gait. He was not drowsy, nauseated, or confused, and he did not exhibit any symptoms of delirium

, hallucinations, or profuse sweating. The nurse determined that Finn did not require transportation to a hospital for emergency care.

Later that night, around 11:00 p.m., Deputy Jailer Chad Whitaker found Finn kicking his cell door. Finn was confused, shaking heavily, and sweating profusely. He picked at the glass in his cell door window and asked Whitaker to remove the window so that he could get out. Based on Finn's appearance and behavior and due to his own lack of knowledge about when alcohol withdrawal becomes life-threatening, Whitaker escorted Finn to the medical clinic at approximately 11:30 p.m.

SHP nurse Leah Price, LPN, evaluated Finn. She noticed shaking, muscle twitching, sweating, and problems with gait. Finn was alert, and his vital signs were within normal range. He denied drowsiness, nausea, and vomiting, and Price did not notice any confusion or slurred speech. Finn told her he felt restless and weak, he could not sleep, and he felt achy. She asked if he had received his medication, and he replied that he had. Price recognized that Finn was going through “DTs.” In an effort to calm his anxiety, she offered to have the jailers transfer him to a medical observation cell near her office where the jailers could monitor him every fifteen minutes. Finn declined, stating that he was afraid and he wanted to remain in a general population cell with other inmates because he did not want to be alone.

By the early morning hours of March 20, Finn's symptoms worsened and he became delusional. When his cellmates asked questions, Finn gave “out-of-the ballpark” answers. He asked the guards if he could go out to Minit Mart for cigarettes. He thought he saw his girlfriend walking around the pod outside the cell and he tried to reach her. One inmate described Finn as “talking in tongues”; he was babbling like a baby talking gibberish. His skin was very red, yet he was cold and sweating.

Worried about Finn's condition and their own well-being, the cellmates threw objects at the speaker in the top of the cell to activate the intercom to get the guards' attention. The cellmates reported to the guards ten to fifteen times that something was wrong with Finn and he needed to be taken to the hospital because he was at obvious risk of serious harm. According to the inmates, the guards ignored their pleas for help and turned off their television.

Captain William Baker, the senior supervisor on the night shift, knew that Finn had been placed on the alcohol detoxification

protocol. Around 4:30 a.m. on March 20, Captain Baker and Deputy Jailer Whitaker heard banging coming from Finn's cell. According to Captain Baker's incident report, they opened the door to find Finn shaking, sweating profusely, and “very delirious.” Captain Baker moved Finn to a medical observation cell and contacted nurse Price. He told her that Finn had been kicking his cell door, he was very delirious and acting abnormally, and he had been moved to a medical observation cell. Captain Baker testified that he checked on Finn several times. He claimed he entered the observation cell and encouraged Finn to walk over to the sink to drink water, although he did not do this the last two times he checked on Finn. The jail's observation log showed, however, that Captain Baker checked on Finn only twice: at 5:27 a.m. and at 6:28 a.m. He wrote on the log each time, “appears to be okay.”

Nurse Price claimed that she assessed Finn at 4:30 a.m. and 6:20 a.m. on March 20. Finn showed “no signs of distress,” his vital signs were in “the normal range for him,” and his condition had not changed since the last time she saw him at 11:30 p.m. on March 19. She denied that Finn was delirious or that there was a medical emergency on the morning of March 20. She admitted, however, that she did not document either of these early morning assessments. She also conceded that Captain Baker told her he had moved Finn to a medical observation cell, but she claimed that Captain Baker did not tell her that Finn was “very delirious.”

Around 6:45 a.m., Price gave a report to the LPN relieving her on the dayshift, Cheryl Wilson. Price told Wilson that Finn's vital signs were within normal range, his vitals had remained about the same throughout the night, Finn was sitting up and talking to her coherently, and he answered all of her questions properly, but he had had a rough night, he did not sleep, he stated he did not feel well, and his symptoms were shakiness, weakness, and anxiety. Price, Captain Baker and Deputy Jailer Whitaker left the jail between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. They were replaced by Captain Greg Martin, Deputy Jailers Maxwell and White, and nurse Wilson. Captain Martin testified that Captain Baker told him he placed Finn in a medical observation cell because Finn caused a scene by kicking his cell door.

During the morning hours, nurse Wilson did not check on Finn. Captain Martin did not discuss Finn's condition with nurse Wilson, nor did he inform any of the deputy jailers why Finn was in the medical observation cell. Captain Martin checked on Finn at 7:28 a.m. without opening the cell door and wrote on the observation log, “appears to be okay.” He testified it was customary for jailers to make that notation on the log because the phrase refers to all cells in the area.

At 9:56 a.m., Deputy Jailer Maxwell observed that Finn was on his knees with his hands on his face, shaking and mumbling. Maxwell did not enter the cell, but he asked Deputy Jailer White why Finn was in the observation cell. White replied that Finn was detoxing and the medical staff was treating him. Maxwell did not think Finn's behavior was unusual and he decided there was no reason to contact the medical staff. He wrote on the observation log, “appears to be okay,” a phrase he claimed the jailers used to indicate that the inmates were still moving around and breathing.

At 10:41 a.m., Deputy Jailer White asked Captain Martin to come to Finn's cell with the key to open the door. Captain Martin found Finn in a kneeling position on the floor with his feet behind him, his head between his knees, and a large puddle of blood and yellow liquid in front of him and between his legs. Captain Martin called Deputy Jailer Derrick Sanders for assistance, but Sanders could not find a pulse, and Finn was not conscious or breathing. When nurse Wilson arrived, she pulled Finn on his back to start CPR until the Medical Center EMS unit arrived. Finn could not be revived. Although Finn was found dead in his cell, Deputy White entered on the observation log for the 10:41 cell check, “appears to be okay.”

After conducting an autopsy, the medical examiner concluded: “Death in this 34 year old, white male, Shannon Finn is attributed to Delirium Tremens

arising as a result of ethanol withdrawal in the setting of chronic ethanolism. Despite initiation of appropriate treatment, death is known to occur.” R. 117–10. The autopsy revealed that Finn had hypertensive cardiovascular disease with left ventricular hypertrophy.

Dr. John Adams, SHP Medical Director,...

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