Heflin v. Stewart County, Tenn.

• Decision Date: 03 June 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-6585,90-6585
• Citation: 958 F.2d 709
• Parties: 34 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1446 Allen D. HEFLIN, and his wife Jean LaRue Heflin, and Rue Ellen Heflin, next of kin and survivors of Hugh Allen Heflin, deceased, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. STEWART COUNTY, TENNESSEE, David Hicks, Harry Joe Crutcher, and Wanda Luffman, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 709

958 F.2d 709

34 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1446

Allen D. HEFLIN, and his wife Jean LaRue Heflin, and Rue Ellen Heflin, next of kin and survivors of Hugh Allen Heflin, deceased, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. STEWART COUNTY, TENNESSEE, David Hicks, Harry Joe Crutcher and Wanda Luffman, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 90-6585.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Nov. 21, 1991.

Decided March 9, 1992.

Rehearing En Banc Denied June 3, 1992.

Joseph H. Johnston (briefed), Nashville, Tenn., R. Stephen Doughty (argued), Bussart, Buffaloe & Doughty, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiffs-appellees.

George A. Dean, Parker, Lawrence, Cantrell & Dean, Nashville, Tenn. (argued and briefed), for defendants-appellants.

Before KENNEDY and BOGGS, Circuit Judges and LIVELY, Senior Circuit Judge.

LIVELY, Senior Circuit Judge.

The family of a twenty-year old pretrial detainee who committed suicide in the Stewart County, Tennessee jail sued the county, the sheriff, one deputy and the jailer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. A jury awarded damages to the plaintiffs and the defendants appeal. The defendants seek reversal based on the district court's denial of their motion for a directed verdict at the conclusion of the plaintiffs' case, renewed after both sides had rested. On appeal the defendants contend that the evidence was insufficient for the submission of two issues to the jury: (1) whether any act or failure to act of the defendants was the proximate cause of the inmate's death; and (2) whether any defendant acted with deliberate indifference to the inmate's medical needs after he was discovered hanging in his cell. The individual defendants also argue that they were entitled to judgment on the basis of qualified immunity. Stewart County seeks reversal as well on the ground that no county policy or custom led to the inmate's death.

I.

Hugh Allen Heflin, unmarried, a life-long resident of Stewart County, was arrested pursuant to a capias warrant on September 3, 1987. Heflin apparently had an alcohol problem, and had been arrested on earlier occasions. On June 8, 1987, Tennessee State Trooper John Smothers had arrested Heflin on a misdemeanor charge and lodged him in the Stewart County jail. While there, Heflin was involved in some sort of altercation in which he was injured. He filed a complaint with the FBI charging that Smothers and Deputy Sheriff Anderson had beaten him. The FBI had begun an investigation at the time of the September 3 arrest, but had not yet interviewed Heflin. An agent had interviewed Stewart County Sheriff Hicks, a defendant in this action, and Hicks had stated that Heflin's injuries were self-inflicted.

Jailer Luffman saw Heflin writing at a desk in his cell at approximately 11:30 a.m. on September 3. At about 11:45 a.m., inmate Richardson, who was a jail trusty, noticed that the shower in Heflin's cell was running. Some fifteen minutes later, at about noon, another inmate, Austin, informed Deputy Sheriff Crutcher that the shower in Heflin's cell had been running for a long time, "probably around fifteen minutes." Austin had called to Heflin but received no response.

Deputy Crutcher went to Heflin's cell and saw a sheet tied to the cell bars. He immediately went to the dispatcher's office for keys, returned and opened Heflin's cell. While in the office, Crutcher directed Jailer Luffman and the dispatcher to call Sheriff Hicks and the emergency ambulance service. Luffman's report showed this call at 12:06 p.m. When Crutcher entered the cell he saw Heflin "hanging by the neck on the far side of the shower stall." Heflin's hands and feet were tied together, a rag was stuffed in his mouth, and his feet were touching the floor. Inmate Austin followed the deputy into the cell; Crutcher told him to leave. With the body still hanging, Crutcher checked for a pulse and signs of respiration, but found none though the body was warm. He also opened Heflin's eyes and found his pupils were dilated. From these observations Crutcher concluded that Heflin was dead. While Crutcher was still alone in the cell with the hanging body, inmate-trusty Richardson, who had heard of the hanging upon returning from an errand, came in with a knife that he had picked up in the kitchen. Rather than using the knife, with Richardson's assistance, to cut Heflin's body down, Crutcher ordered Richardson out of the cell.

The evidence is conflicting as to whether the emergency medical team (EMT) or Sheriff Hicks arrived next. At any rate, neither the sheriff nor an EMT member supported Heflin's body or cut it down. EMT member Hollis testified that he examined the body for vital signs and found none. Hollis stated that he believed Heflin had been hanging "for at least twenty minutes" before he arrived.

Dr. Robert Lee, the County Medical Examiner and the only physician practicing in Stewart County, arrived at the jail at approximately 12:12 p.m. Dr. Lee examined the still-hanging body, then ordered the staff to cut it down and place it on a cot. Sheriff Hicks directed a deputy to take pictures of the hanging body before it was taken down. Dr. Lee examined the body in a prone position, then directed the EMT members to remove Heflin to his office for an electrocardiogram (EKG). Dr. Lee stated on the death certificate that the time of death was 12:30 p.m. and the cause of death was strangulation. There is no dispute about the cause of death.

II.

The defendants contend that there was no evidence that their action or inaction was the proximate cause of Heflin's death. They argue that Heflin was dead when Crutcher discovered him hanging, and for this reason they were entitled to a directed verdict. The plaintiffs, on the other hand, point to several items of evidence that they contend created a jury issue on proximate cause. We agree with the plaintiffs and the district court.

A.

In his report of the incident, Deputy Crutcher wrote that Dr. Lee believed he heard a heartbeat upon his initial examination of the hanging body. The report stated: "At 12:12 p.m., Dr. Robert Lee arrived at the Sheriff's Department. After checking Mr. Heflin he thought he heard a heartbeat. He advised us to cut Mr. Heflin down." At trial, when asked by the plaintiffs' lawyer if Dr. Lee actually made such a comment, Crutcher answered, "Yes, sir, that's what he said." In addition, a jail inmate named Thompson testified that he could only hear "bits and pieces" of the conversation in Heflin's cell. It was his recollection, however, that Dr. Lee said he thought Heflin "had a pulse, but he didn't." EMT member Hollis testified that Dr. Lee directed the EMT's to "get him down quick to my office where I can run an EKG on him." He also stated that Dr. Lee said, "[T]here'll probably be a hell of a lawsuit over this."

Dr. Lee testified that when he arrived at the jail he examined Heflin's chest with a stethoscope, but was unable to hear anything because there was a lot of talking and noise in the background. After quieting the onlookers Dr. Lee examined Heflin again and found no vital signs. He testified that after the body was cut down and put on the cot, he never heard a heartbeat or saw any evidence of life. According to Dr. Lee, it would be more difficult to check the vital signs of a body hanging by the neck than one "laid out flat on the floor."

B.

The plaintiffs' witness, Dr. Richard Treat, testified as a medical expert. The defendants did not challenge his qualifications. Dr. Treat testified that even if no heartbeat or respiration was detected when Deputy Crutcher found Heflin hanging, there was up to a ten percent chance that Heflin could have been resuscitated if he had been cut down and these efforts had been "commenced immediately." The witness explained that it appeared from photographs that Heflin's airway obstruction was about eighty-five percent rather than total. A person could still survive for somewhere between twenty minutes and an hour with such an obstruction.

When asked to assume that Dr. Lee heard a heartbeat eight minutes after initial discovery of the body by Deputy Crutcher, Dr. Treat testified that in such a case, "then resuscitative efforts initiated eight minutes previously should have virtually confirmed survival, successful outcome." The chance for a young, healthy person surviving under these conditions would be "certainly above ninety-five percent." Dr. Treat testified that hanging creates a "high grade obstruction" but that strangulation by hanging "takes a long time, twenty, thirty, forty minutes to actually die by partial strangulation." The defendants concentrate on Dr. Treat's "up to ten percent" evaluation of the likelihood of resuscitation, while the plaintiffs emphasize his evaluation of "certainly above ninety-five percent."

C.

In passing on a motion for a directed verdict, the trial court views all evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and gives that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences flowing from the evidence. McDowell v. Rogers, 863 F.2d 1302, 1307 (6th Cir.1988). Having done this, without weighing the evidence or evaluating the credibility of witnesses, the court may grant a directed verdict only if it finds "that reasonable minds could not differ as to the governing facts." Id. Applying this standard we cannot find that the district court erred in denying the defendants Sheriff Hicks and Deputy Crutcher's motion insofar as it related to proximate cause.

No one ever attempted to resuscitate Heflin. Both Crutcher and Hicks were trained in CPR. Deputy Crutcher could have called on Jailer Luffman and trusties Austin and Richardson to assist in supporting the body and cutting it down. Instead, he sent Luffman back to the office and ordered Austin and Richardson out of the cell, even though Richardson came with a knife that could have been used to cut the bed sheets. Crutcher was not trained to determine whether a person was dead or alive. EMT member Hollis testified that he and the other...