Baxley v. Jividen

• Decision Date: 21 December 2020
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 3:18-1526
• Citation: 508 F.Supp.3d 28
• Parties: John BAXLEY, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Betsy JIVIDEN, in her official capacity as Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation and West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia

508 F.Supp.3d 28

John BAXLEY, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Betsy JIVIDEN, in her official capacity as Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation and West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 3:18-1526

United States District Court, S.D. West Virginia, Huntington Division.

Signed December 21, 2020

Jennifer S. Wagner, Lydia C. Milnes, Mountain State Justice, Inc., Morgantown, WV, Rachel Kincaid, Mountain State Justice, Charleston, WV, for Plaintiffs John Baxley, Jr., Earl Edmondson, Joshua Hall, Donna Wells-Wright, Heather Reed, Danny Spiker, Jr.

Anne Liles O'Hare, Offutt Nord Ashworth, Huntington, WV, for Plaintiff PrimeCare Medical, Inc.

Briana J. Marino, Flaherty Sensabaugh & Bonasso, James C. Stebbins, Richard L. Gottlieb, Valerie Harris Raupp, Webster J. Arceneaux, III, Lewis Glasser, Charleston, WV, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ROBERT C. CHAMBERS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Pending are Defendant's Motions for Summary Judgment as to John Baxley, Jr., Heather Reed, Earl Edmondson, Danny Spiker, Donna Wells-Wright, and Joshua Hall. ECF Nos. 263, 267, 269, 271, 273, 277, and 328.¹ For the reasoning provided herein, the Court DENIES, in part, and GRANTS, in part, the following motions: ECF No. 263, ECF No. 267, ECF No. 269, ECF No. 271, and ECF No. 277. The Court also DENIES the following motions. ECF No. 273 and ECF No. 328.

I. BACKGROUND

The present case is a class action² brought on behalf of pretrial detainees and convicted inmates housed at West Virginia's regional jail facilities. In the Second Amended Complaint,³ Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief requiring the Defendant, Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation,⁴ to "promptly provide appropriate and necessary medical and mental health treatment to inmates upon admission, as required under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, and the Americans with Disabilities Act." Second Am. Compl. ¶ 1, ECF No. 67.⁵

Plaintiffs plead the following facts. West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation ("WVDCR") is the government agency tasked with operating the jails and prisons in West Virginia. Defendant Betsy Jividen serves as the Commissioner of WVDCR. As Commissioner, she is responsible for "establishing, monitoring, and enforcing policy directives and procedures that ensure constitutional confinement and treatment of all people in the custody of the WVDOCR." Id. at ¶ 8. Accordingly, Defendant Jividen is responsible for "ensuring that inmates receive appropriate medical and mental health treatment upon admission to and while housed in any West Virginia Jail." Id.

In Count I, Plaintiffs assert that Defendant violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, they claim the Defendant, acting under the color of state law, has been "deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of Plaintiffs and other similarly situated inmates by failing to establish, monitor, and/or enforce policy directives and operational procedures to ensure that inmates admitted to jails in West Virginia receive prompt medical treatment for their medical and mental health conditions." Id. at ¶ 247. As a result of this deliberate indifference, Plaintiffs claim that they have suffered "physical, mental, and emotional injuries, as well as being denied the ability to participate in the daily activities of jail life." Id. at ¶ 249. Plaintiffs seek only injunctive relief, and have asked the Court to "require Defendant[ ] to implement or enforce policies, procedures, and practices necessary to ensure prompt medical and mental health care is provided to all inmates admitted to a jail in West Virginia, and provide the training, equipment and supplies necessary to all relevant employees to ensure those policies and practices are implemented with fidelity." Id. at ¶ 250(c).

In Count II, Plaintiffs assert that Defendant's failure to "implement a policy or procedure to provide appropriate medical and mental health services" has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") "through a pattern and practice of discrimination; inadequate and discriminatory methods of state-wide administration and supervision; a continuing pattern and practice of deliberate indifference; and violation of the reasonable accommodation requirement of federal law." Id. at ¶ 257; see Pl. Baxley's Resp. 21, ECF No. 302 (Plaintiffs "assert that Defendant, through DCR's complete lack of policies, procedures, and oversight, has failed to provide them with reasonable accommodations for their disabilities, and as a result, that Plaintiffs have been excluded from participation in, and denied the benefits of, the services, programs, or activities, of jail life.").

To support their claims, the Named Plaintiffs plead these additional facts:⁶

A. Plaintiff John Baxley, Jr.

Plaintiff Baxley has been diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder

, paranoid delusional disorder, schizophrenia, seizure disorder, asthma, and substance abuse disorder. Second Am. Compl. ¶ 28. When he entered Western Regional Jail, he informed the jail of his diagnoses, but was placed on suicide watch and taken off his medications, despite the risk of serious withdrawal symptoms. Id. at ¶¶ 29–32, 35.⁷ As a result he claims that he "fe[lt] suicidal and entered a psychotic state" and suffered from other physical side effects. Id. at ¶ 35. He reports that at least two more episodes followed where the Defendant failed to provide him with medication. Id. at ¶¶ 38, 41–42; Pl. Baxley's Resp. 2–3. Baxley also claims that he had "numerous seizures" in WVDCR custody and was not seen by an outside neurologist. Pl. Baxley's Resp. 3.

B. Plaintiff Heather Reed

Plaintiff Reed has multiple diagnoses including bipolar disorder

, depression, anxiety, ADHD, type I diabetes, thyroid problems, rheumatoid arthritis, gastritis, and a heart condition. Second Am. Compl. ¶ 156. She takes multiple prescriptions daily, including insulin, Lamictal, Vistaril, Synthroid, Prilosec, Adderall, and a heart medication. Id. at ¶ 157. When she was transferred from an Ohio jail to Northern Regional, she claims that she was "denied all medications except her insulin, thyroid medication, and heart medication," even though she believed the medications were transferred to West Virginia with her. Id. at ¶¶ 159–60. Reed repeatedly asked to be put back on the medication needed to control her bipolar disorder, but WVDCR denied her requests for several months. Id. at ¶¶ 161–62.

Reed also claims that she witnessed a nurse at Tygart Valley mixing her insulins and has been having "episodes of passing out." Id. at ¶¶ 164–67. Despite reporting these episodes, Defendant did not conduct any testing or provide other appropriate care. Id. at ¶ 168. In response to Defendant's claims that she refused medication, Reed acknowledges that there are times when she has refused her insulin, but she states that she did so because they were offered infrequently or at incorrect times. Pl. Reed's Resp. 3, ECF No. 304.

C. Plaintiff Earl Edmondson

Plaintiff Edmondson suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

, has chronic sinus issues, has a bulging disc in his back, and needs false teeth. Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 106, 108. He informed the WVDCR of his conditions but was still placed in an overcrowded cell where he was forced to sleep on the floor. Id. at ¶ 110. Additionally, Defendant failed to provide him medication for approximately three months to treat his PTSD, causing him to experience "flash backs, panic attacks, severe depression, insomnia, and low energy." Id. at ¶¶ 112–13. His sinus infection also remained untreated for approximately three months. Id. at ¶ 115.

Moreover, even though he informed the jail that false teeth had already been prepared for him, the jail refused to have his teeth delivered and that his ability to eat has been impaired as a result. Id. at ¶ 116. Finally, Edmondson asserts that before his incarceration, he underwent testing for bone cancer

and was awaiting results when he was jailed. Id. at ¶ 107. He claims that the Defendant has "failed and refused to complete the testing necessary" for this cancer, despite Edmondson's fears that the cancer has progressed. Id. at ¶¶ 117–18.

D. Plaintiff Danny Spiker, Jr.

Plaintiff Spiker was suicidal when he entered the Defendant's care and that he informed them of the same. Id. at ¶¶ 47–48. Nevertheless, WVDCR did not complete a medical intake and instead placed him in holding with multiple other inmates where he had a panic attack and had to be transported to a hospital for evaluation. Id. at ¶ 50. When he returned to the jail with a head injury

, he was identified as a suicidal inmate, but was not seen by medical professionals. Id. at 52–53. Instead, he was unsupervised to the extent that he was able to "pick at his wounds for over three hours" before he was discovered "lying face down on the floor surrounded by a large amount of blood." Id. at ¶¶ 54–56. He was again transported to the hospital for bandaging and returned to the jail where he was restrained for several hours, placed in a "pickle suit,"⁸ and put on suicide watch. Id. at ¶¶ 57–59.

Despite these events, when a mental health worker finally saw him, no evaluation was done, and he was placed into general population where he attempted suicide. Id. at ¶¶ 59–62. After his suicide attempt, Spiker was transferred to a hospital for treatment and then subsequently re-incarcerated as a pretrial detainee in the Defendant's jails. Pl. Spiker's Resp. 4–5, ECF No. 303. Although he claims that he reported the medication the hospital had prescribed him for treatment of his mental illness, Defendant's medical providers halved one of his medications and refused to provide another. Id. at 5.

Spiker has attempted suicide numerous times since his return. Id. "[R]ather than providing appropriate mental...