Rhyne v. Henderson County
| Decision Date | 14 September 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-4484,90-4484 |
| Citation | 973 F.2d 386 |
| Parties | Ann RHYNE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HENDERSON COUNTY, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Thomas M. Stanley, Stanley & Maher, Houston, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant.
Rickey L. Faulkner, Charles H. Clark, Tyler, Tex., for Henderson Co., et al.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Before GOLDBERG, HIGGINBOTHAM, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
Ann Rhyne brings this action against Henderson County and its sheriff, Charlie Fields, in his official capacity, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the County's failure to provide her son, Paul Morrow, with reasonable medical care resulted in his suicide. 1 Rhyne appeals a directed verdict and dismissal of state-law claims. We find no substantial evidence that Henderson County failed to provide the medical care required by the United States Constitution and affirm. We also affirm the dismissal of Rhyne's state-law claims.
On Friday afternoon, May 30, 1986, Henderson County deputy sheriff Jim Ellis arrested Paul Morrow and took him to Henderson County jail. At 3:30 a.m., the deputy jailer on duty, Kevin Harris, found Morrow hanging semi-conscious from the cell bars by a make-shift rope that he had fashioned from a jail blanket in his cell.
Morrow was taken to Lakeland Medical Center in Athens, Texas by ambulance. While Morrow was at Lakeland, he telephoned his mother and told her that he had attempted to commit suicide and would try to kill himself again. Morrow was also examined by Dr. David Callanan, who concluded that Morrow was a suicide risk. Lakeland, however, lacked psychiatric facilities and Athens police returned Morrow to Henderson County jail at about 5:30 a.m.
After Morrow returned to jail, Harris removed Morrow's clothes except for his underwear and cuffed his hands to a waistband belt to prevent further suicide attempts. Harris also placed Morrow in a "book-in" cell close to the front of the jail where he could be carefully watched and removed all blankets and mattresses from the cell.
At 6:00 a.m., after Harris had been relieved by Deputy Jailer DeWitt Loven, Chief Jailer Dennis Benton arrived at the jail. Benton transferred Morrow to the misdemeanor tank and placed him in a strait jacket. At about 7:25 a.m., Benton and Loven heard an inmate yell that Morrow was trying to kill himself. Morrow had removed his strait jacket and had attempted to hang himself with the jacket.
On the advice of Chief Sheriff's Deputy Maureen Padgitt, Benton called Henderson County Mental Health and Mental Retardation to conduct a mental evaluation of Morrow and try to send him to a hospital. Thomas Tinsley, the director of mental health at MHMR, visited the jail at 8:30 a.m. and, after examining Morrow, concluded that he should be committed to Rusk State Hospital on an "emergency warrant" for psychological evaluation. Tinsley possessed signed emergency warrants authorizing the emergency detention of convicts at Rusk State Hospital for 24 hours on a weekday and 72 hours on a weekend. Tinsley testified that the County Court supplied him with such warrants, because it had delegated to him the power of transferring convicts to Rusk in a temporary emergency.
However, after talking to Deputy Sheriff Ellis, Tinsley learned that Morrow had charges pending against him. The warrants in Tinsley's possession, according to Tinsley's testimony at trial, could not be used to commit pre-trial detainees. Morrow could not be committed without a warrant, because Rusk State Hospital "could not confine someone without some formal court order telling them to." According to both Tinsley and Deputy Sheriff Padgitt, the Sheriff's office could not transfer Morrow without a court order, because the Sheriff's Office lacked authority to drop the charges against Morrow.
Therefore, Tinsley advised Benton to maintain Morrow in custody until Monday and then obtain a court order through the District Attorney's office authorizing Morrow's transfer to the maximum security unit at Rusk State Hospital. He apparently believed that Morrow could be transferred for an evaluation of his competence to stand trial. Tinsley also advised that Morrow be watched carefully until Monday. Morrow promised Tinsley that he would not attempt to take his life again, but Tinsley left the jail with misgivings, fearing further attempts at suicide.
After Tinsley left, Benton gave Morrow a blanket because Morrow, still wearing nothing but his underwear, seemed cold. The officers did not put the strait jacket back on Morrow, and he was not put into the "book-in" cell in the front of the jail. Rather, he was put into the misdemeanor tank, which was not clearly visible from the front desk. Saturday morning passed uneventfully at the jail. At some time during the morning, County Court Judge Winston Reagan called the jail and spoke with Loven, the deputy jailer on duty. Loven could not recall what was said during this call. However, Loven did not mention Morrow's two suicide attempts to the County Court judge.
Saturday morning was not so tranquil for Rhyne. Distraught from her conversation with her son when he was at Lakeland, she consulted with an attorney at 11:00 a.m. in an effort to have Morrow committed to an institution where he could receive proper psychiatric care. When visiting hours began at 1:00 p.m., Rhyne visited Morrow in jail with her daughter, Ann Griffin. Morrow cried during their interview and declared once more that he would try to kill himself again. There is a factual dispute as to whether either Griffin or Rhyne informed any jail employee that Morrow had repeated his threat to kill himself.
Loven's notes recording his conversation with Rhyne stated that he told her that "if I took any stand in the matter Paul could sue me." After failing to obtain any assistance from Loven, Rhyne decided to wait at her home until 9:00 p.m. when Judge Reagan was due to arrive back at his house.
Events on Saturday evening, however, made Judge Reagan's arrival moot. At about 7:15 p.m., Deputy Jailer Kluth heard an inmate yell "he's doing it again." Kluth discovered Morrow once more hanging from the prison bars by a strip of the jail's blanket given to Morrow by Benton. Morrow was unconscious. Rhyne was informed of this suicide attempt at 8:00 p.m. Morrow died in a Tyler hospital nine days later, having never revived from his coma.
The County contends that Rhyne cannot recover for her son's wrongful death under § 1983 unless she proves that the County acted with specific intent to deprive her of a familial relationship. Otherwise, the argument continues, Rhyne would lack standing, because she would have suffered no personal injury in her own right as a result of the County's alleged violation of her son's constitutional rights.
Rhyne does not seek to recover as a representative of her son's estate for the injuries that her son incurred. There has been no administration of her son's estate, and she has not brought this action in her representative capacity. Rather, Rhyne seeks to recover for her own injuries arising out of the wrongful death of her son. The right to such recovery under § 1983 has "generated considerable confusion and disagreement," Crumpton v. Gates, 947 F.2d 1418, 1420 (9th Cir.1991), over which the circuits have divided. Compare Jaco v. Bloechle, 739 F.2d 239, 243 (6th Cir.1984) and Bell v. City of Milwaukee, 746 F.2d 1205 (7th Cir.1984). The Supreme Court has yet to decide this question. See Steven H. Steinglass, Wrongful Death Actions and Section 1983, 60 Ind.L.J. 559, 565 (1985).
This court first addressed the issue of wrongful death recovery under § 1983 in Brazier v. Cherry, 293 F.2d 401, 409 (5th Cir.1961). In Brazier, a widow sued for the wrongful death of her husband, allegedly beaten to death by a County Sheriff and other police officers. The widow sought damages to compensate the estate for injuries incurred by her husband. She also sought compensation for the pecuniary loss that she suffered from her husband's death. Brazier, 293 F.2d at 402 n. 1. This court held that 42 U.S.C. § 1988 incorporated both Georgia's survival statute and Georgia's wrongful death statute to provide full remedies for violations of constitutional rights. Id. at 409.
The Brazier court reasoned that, unless the decedent's cause of action survived his death, the remedies provided by § 1983 would fail when the injury is death. Id. at 407-09. The court concluded that such an anomalous result indicated that the remedies under § 1983 were deficient without the support of state law. The court held that § 1983 incorporated Georgia's wrongful death and survival statutes as remedies under § 1983. Id.
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