Regina Barton v. Chad Ledbetter
Opinion
Regina Barton, as personal representative for the Estate of Jeffry Alan Barton (Barton), filed suit under
I. Background
On September 12, 2011, Barton was involved in a single-vehicle accident at an overpass located on U.S. Highway 270. He was placed under arrest after a portable breath test indicated that his blood alcohol concentration was .117. Barton could not stand without assistance. When he fell to the ground during the search of his person, he briefly was not responsive, and an officer checked to make sure that he still had a pulse. Officers thereafter placed Barton in a patrol car, and Arkansas State Trooper Zachary Owens transported him to the Hot Spring County detention center for booking. 1
Martin was working at the detention center when Barton arrived at approximately 3:15 p.m. According to Martin, he "appear[e]d to be highly intoxicated, his speech was slurred, [and] he was having trouble standing alone." Trooper Owens led Barton to a room for additional testing to determine his blood alcohol concentration. After numerous attempts, Barton was able to provide only one adequate sample, which indicated a blood alcohol concentration of .115.
Owens thereafter escorted Barton to the booking area where Martin was stationed. Barton sat on a bench as Owens completed paperwork. When asked by Owens to stand beside him, Barton walked over to Owens and held the handrail before collapsing to the ground. Two trustees helped Owens return Barton to the bench, where he remained seated while Owens finished explaining the citation and asked him to sign certain documents. Owens instructed Barton three times where to sign the document, but Barton did not seem to understand the instructions, and he did not sign the document. Owens told Martin that Barton was under the influence of alcohol and hydrocodone.
Martin's arrest-disposition report noted that Barton was under the influence of alcohol and hydrocodone upon his arrival at the detention center, but that he was conscious, breathing normally, and did not appear to be suicidal. Martin wrote that Barton was unable to answer any questions about his medical needs or his next of kin. He could not sign his name or provide a phone number of someone she could call for him.
Although she knew that Barton had been involved in a car accident immediately before his arrest and that he was heavily intoxicated, Martin did not conduct the healthcare screening that the detention center's policy requires. She decided to accept Barton into the detention center, placed him in a holding cell, and allowed Trooper Owens to leave. Martin herself left the detention center at approximately 4:50 p.m.
During the night, a trustee reported to a jailer that Barton did not seem to be doing well and that his condition was not improving. Barton died in his cell sometime that night. His body was found at 12:03 a.m. on September 13, 2011. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was a heart condition-anomalous right coronary artery, fatty infiltration of right ventricle and atrium of heart. Small amounts of ethanol and hydrocodone and a non-toxic level of anti-anxiety medication were found in Barton's system.
Wright was serving as the jail administrator when Barton was detained. Although he had no contact with Barton, Wright was responsible for ensuring that the detention center's personnel were adequately trained and were implementing the County's policies, which Wright admitted he did not fully understand. Those policies instructed booking officers to conduct a healthcare screening of an arrestee before releasing the arresting officer; to refer an intoxicated arrestee to detoxification, or in the alternative, to seek medical clearance before admitting the individual into the detention center; to keep intoxicated arrestees under close observation; and to refuse arrestees who appear to be in a medical emergency.
The district court denied, in relevant part, the defendants' motion for summary judgment. It concluded that neither Martin nor Wright was entitled to qualified immunity on the § 1983 claims or summary judgment on the state-law claim. With respect to the County, the district court determined that there was a question of fact whether the "County had a custom of remaining deliberately indifferent to the objectively serious medical needs of its detainees, or of failing to train or supervise its Detention Facility staff." D. Ct. Order of Aug. 3, 2017, at 9.
II. Qualified Immunity
We have jurisdiction over the interlocutory appeal from the denial of qualified immunity under the collateral order doctrine.
Mitchell v. Forsyth
,
At summary judgment, qualified immunity shields a law enforcement officer from liability in a § 1983 action unless: "(1) the facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, demonstrate the deprivation of a constitutional or statutory right; and (2) the right was clearly established at the time of the deprivation."
Howard v. Kan. City Police Dep't
,
A. Amie Martin
Regina Barton claims that Martin's failure to seek medical care for Barton constituted deliberate indifference to Barton's serious medical needs, in violation of his right to due process.
See
Barton I
, 820 F.3d at 964 (applying the Eighth Amendment
deliberate-indifference standard to Regina Barton's claim against Owens);
Jackson v. Buckman
,
To establish a constitutional violation based on deliberate indifference, Regina Barton must show that Barton suffered from an objectively serious medical need and that Martin had actual knowledge of that need but deliberately disregarded it.
See
Barton I
, 820 F.3d at 964-65 ;
see also
Thompson v. King
,
Martin argues that she is entitled to qualified immunity because Barton presented symptoms of mere intoxication, and not those of an objectively serious medical need. We disagree. As recounted above, Barton had been in a car accident. He could not follow simple instructions or answer basic questions; he was unable to stand without assistance and fell during the booking procedure. Although Barton had a .115 blood alcohol concentration, he reportedly was so heavily intoxicated that Wright could not recall whether he had "ever r[u]n into somebody that was in [Barton's] particular shape," and he "d[id]n't know that any of [his] officers had either." In light of the evidence of Barton's recent car accident, his severe intoxication, and his drug ingestion, we conclude that a jury could find that Barton was experiencing a medical need so obvious that a layperson would recognize that he needed prompt medical attention.
We reject Martin's contention that Barton presented symptoms similar to the detainee in
Grayson v. Ross
, a case in which we reversed the district court's denial of qualified immunity to the booking officer.
Martin next argues that the evidence is insufficient to support a finding that she knew that Barton needed medical care and nonetheless disregarded his serious medical need. Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Barton, a jury could infer Martin's knowledge by Barton's evident need for prompt medical attention and Martin's obviously inadequate response to that need.
See
Barton I
, 820 F.3d at 965 (explaining that a defendant's mental state can be inferred from evidence "that demonstrate[s] that a medical need was obvious and that the [official's] response was 'obviously inadequate' " (quoting
Thompson
,
We also reject Martin's contention that it was not clearly established on September 12, 2011, that booking Barton into jail would constitute deliberate indifference to Barton's serious medical needs. We have held that "a reasonable officer in 2011 would have recognized that failing to seek medical care for an intoxicated arrestee who exhibits symptoms substantially more severe than ordinary intoxication violates the arrestee's constitutional rights, all the more so when the surrounding circumstances indicate that a medical emergency exists."
Barton I
, 820 F.3d at 967 (citing
Thompson
,
B. George Wright
Regina Barton claims that Wright failed to adequately train or supervise Martin, thereby causing the deprivation of Barton's right to due process. A supervisor may be held liable if the "failure to properly supervise and train the offending employee caused a deprivation of constitutional rights."
Tlamka v. Serrell
,
The record is devoid of any evidence establishing that Wright knew that Martin was inadequately trained or supervised. Regina Barton's brief asserts that "Martin has been involved in several lawsuits, the majority of which involve allegations of denial of medical care," but she cited no evidence to support that assertion.
Appellee's Br. 39. While Martin testified that she had been sued by four plaintiffs, there is no indication that the claims against her involved the denial of medical care. Moreover, there is no evidence regarding the nature of Martin's alleged acts or omissions, when those acts or omissions occurred, or when the plaintiffs filed suit. In the absence of such evidence, the mere assertion of prior suits does not support an inference that Wright had notice on September 12, 2011, that the County's training procedures and supervision were inadequate and likely to result in constitutional violations.
III. Arkansas Civil Rights Act
Martin and Wright argue that they are entitled to summary judgment on the state-law claim. Arkansas has adopted the federal deliberate-indifference standard as that which is to be applied to claims brought by pretrial detainees under the Arkansas Civil Rights Act.
Grayson v. Ross
,
Conclusion
We affirm the denial of qualified immunity as to Martin. We reverse the denial of qualified immunity as to Wright. Because our resolution of the qualified immunity issues does not necessarily resolve the question whether the County maintained an unconstitutional custom, we do not have pendent appellate jurisdiction over the County's appeal.
See
Lockridge v. Bd. of Trs. of Univ. of Ark.
,
In an earlier appeal, we affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to Owens.
See
Barton v. Taber
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Regina BARTON, as Personal Representative for the Estate of Jeffry Alan Barton, Plaintiff - Appellee v. Donnie TABER, Individually and in His Official Capacity as the Malvern Chief of Police; Tim Callison, Individually and in His Official Capacity as a Malvern Police Officer, Defendants Chad Ledbetter, Individually as the Hot Spring County Sheriff; George Wright, Individually and in His Official Capacity as Hot Spring County Jail Administrator; Amie Martin, Individually and in Her Official Capacity as Hot Spring County Deputy, Defendants - Appellants Brian Keith Orrell, Jr., Administrator of the Estate of Brian Orrell, in His Individual Capacity, Also Known as Brian Orrell; Zachary Owens, Individually and in His Official Capacity as an Arkansas State Trooper, Defendants Hot Spring County, Arkansas, Defendant - Appellant City of Malvern, Arkansas; State of Arkansas, Defendants
- Cited By
- 126 cases
- Status
- Published