Vuncannon v. U.S.
| Decision Date | 22 June 2009 |
| Docket Number | Cause No. 3:08CV23. |
| Citation | 650 F.Supp.2d 577 |
| Parties | Timmy VUNCANNON, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America; Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics; Marshall Fisher, In His Official Capacity as Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics; Tippah County; Sheriff Brandon Vance, Individually and in His Official Capacity as Sheriff of Tippah County, Mississippi; Jeff Medlin, Individually and In His Official Capacity as Agent of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics; Chris McAllister, Individually and In His Official Capacity as an Agent of Tippah County, Mississippi; Roy Shappley, Individually and In His Official Capacity as Deputy of Tippah County, Mississippi; and John Does 1-25, Defendants. v. Shelby County Health Care Corporation d/b/a Regional Medical Center, Intervening Plaintiff. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi |
Casey Langston Lott, The Lott Law Firm, Booneville, MS, for Plaintiff.
John Evans Gough, Jr., U.S. Attorney's Office, Oxford, MS, Katherine S. Kerby, Kerby Law Firm, LLC, Columbus, MS, for Defendants.
Curtis Henry Goetsch, McCullough & McCullough, Germantown, TN, for Intervening Plaintiff.
This cause comes before the court on the motion of defendant Tippah County for judgment on the pleadings or alternatively for summary judgment [86-1] as to the claims asserted against it by intervenor Shelby County Health Care Corporation d/b/a Regional Medical Center ("the Med"). The court, having considered the memoranda and submissions of the parties, concludes that the motion is not well taken and should be denied.
The instant intervention action involves a claim by the Med, a Memphis hospital, seeking recovery of $640,648.91 in medical expenses for which, it asserts, Tippah County and/or plaintiff Timmy Vuncannon are obligated to reimburse it. This intervention action is an adjunct to the § 1983 claims asserted by Vuncannon against various governmental defendants arising out of injuries which he suffered on January 26, 2006 while engaged in a work release program, at the direction of the Tippah County sheriff. In an order dated November 14, 2008, 2008 WL 4936493, this court dismissed most of Vuncannon's claims against the individual and governmental defendants, although it reserved judgment as to Vuncannon's claims against the United States, pending the completion of additional discovery.
On December 16, 2008, the Med filed, with the Magistrate Judge's permission, an intervenor complaint in this lawsuit against Tippah County and Vuncannon. In its complaint, the Med asserts as follows:
3. That on or about January 26, 2006, Vuncannon was seriously injured and was transported to The Med's facilities in Memphis, Tennessee.
4. That Vuncannon was in custody as a prisoner of Defendant, Tippah County at the time of his aforementioned injury.
5. That on or about January 26, 2006, and periods thereafter, The Med provided health care services and supplies to Vuncannon, at the specific request and instance of Vuncannon, and/or Defendant, Tippah County, in the amount of Six Hundred and Forty Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Eight dollars and 91/100 cents ($640,648.91), which amount remains due and owing after demand for payment has been made and payment refused. (See Affidavit attached as Exhibit "A").
6. That all of the aforementioned medical services were rendered solely at The Med's facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
7. That Vuncannon was in the custody as a prisoner of Tippah County at the time of his admission to The Med's facilities in Memphis, Tennessee.
8. That these medical expenses were made necessary as a direct result of the accident which occurred on January 26, 2006.
9. That The Med has demanded payment from Tippah County for the medical services rendered to Vuncannon, which payment has been refused by Tippah County.
10. That Mississippi law requires counties and governmental entities to pay the hospital bills for prisoners injured while in the custody and care of said counties and governmental entities.
The Med's claims against Vuncannon are asserted under Tennessee law and appear to be conditioned upon his obtaining recovery in the instant lawsuit. In light of the court's prior orders dismissing most of Vuncannon's claims, any such recovery appears very speculative at this point. The court will therefore concentrate upon the Med's reimbursement claims against Tippah County.
The Med seeks reimbursement from the county pursuant to Miss.Code. Ann. § 47-1-59, which provides that:
(1) When the sheriff, marshal or any other peace officer of this state has in his lawful custody a prisoner who, through accident, injury or illness, is in need of hospitalization, such officer may take such prisoner to the nearest hospital in the county or if there be no hospital in that county, to the nearest hospital in an adjacent county and if upon arrival at such hospital any physician licensed to practice medicine in this state certifies that in his opinion such prisoner is in need of hospitalization, such prisoner shall be hospitalized in such hospital for as long as in the opinion of such physician it is necessary to so hospitalize such prisoner. If, in the opinion of the sheriff or other peace officer having custody of such prisoner at the time he is delivered to the aforesaid hospital, or in the opinion of the director of the university hospital if the prisoner be brought to that institution, it is necessary that he be placed under guard while a patient at such hospital, the sheriff of the county in which the crime he was placed in custody for committing was alleged to have taken place, shall furnish the aforesaid guard. When the aforesaid physician or other reputable physician shall certify that hospitalization no longer is needed, the prisoner shall be returned to the original place of detention.
(2) The actual expense of guarding the prisoner in the hospital shall be paid out of the general funds of the county where the prisoner was originally confined or arrested. The expense contracted incident to the hospitalization aforesaid shall be paid by the prisoner; otherwise he may be hospitalized as a state aid patient. However, if the prisoner is ineligible for state aid or the amount available for hospitalization as a state aid patient is inadequate to pay all such hospital expense of a prisoner who is financially unable to pay his own expenses, the board of supervisors of the county where the prisoner was originally confined or arrested shall, upon presentation of the certificate of the physician certifying that said prisoner was in need of hospitalization, pay from the general funds of the county the reasonable and customary charges for such services or as much thereof as is not paid by state aid. Any such payment to a hospital shall be discretionary with the board of supervisors if its county supports the hospital involved by a special tax levy for its operation and maintenance.
Section 47-1-59 thus establishes that counties may be held liable for their prisoners' medical care, if certain required proof is made, in the event that neither the prisoner's funds nor "state aid" (presumably Medicaid) are available to pay for this care.
The legislature's decision to hold Mississippi counties potentially liable for their prisoners' medical care is consistent with the overwhelming weight of nationwide authority. Indeed, a South Carolina appellate court, having reviewed extensive authority in this context, observed that "all but one state have determined that the governmental entity has a duty to pay" and that the Myrtle Beach Hosp., Inc. v. City of Myrtle Beach, 333 S.C. 590, 594-95, 510 S.E.2d 439 (S.C.App.1998). Clearly, the Mississippi Legislature has expressed its intent that Mississippi counties be potentially liable for their prisoners' medical care, and the concerns expressed by the North Carolina court are not applicable here. It is thus apparent that, in denying any legal obligation to pay for Vuncannon's medical care, Tippah County is sailing against rather considerable legal headwinds.
Section 47-1-59 constitutes powerful authority in favor of the Med's position, but it should be emphasized that recovery under the statute is contingent upon the requisite proof being made. In Pearl River County Bd. of Sup'rs v. South East Collections Agency, Inc., 459 So.2d 783 (Miss. 1984), the Mississippi Supreme Court confirmed that a hospital could file a suit against a county seeking reimbursement for a prisoner's medical expenses pursuant to § 47-1-59. The Supreme Court noted,...
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