Brabbit v. Capra

Background

Richard Bild died after jumping from an upper level inside the Washington County Jail on June 29, 2018. Before his detention, he had crashed his car into a home, started a fire, suffered burns, smelled strongly of gasoline, and made statements indicating that he was trying or prepared to die. He told a police officer that he had gone into the garage to hurt himself.

After Bild arrived at the jail, staff treated his burns and learned information indicating that he might have attempted suicide. He was first placed on “High Observation” status and later on “Special Close Watch.” He wore a suicide gown for part of his detention, but he was housed in the C400 cellblock, which had a stairway leading to an upper level. The record included evidence of earlier jumping incidents at the jail and evidence that jail personnel knew about jump mats and possible problems with barriers in jail cellblocks.

Bild continued to express suicidal thoughts. On June 27, Nurse Stephanie Kaphing recorded that his suicidality remained significant and recommended that he remain on suicide watch. On June 28, she reduced his status from Special Close Watch to High Observation, while still restricting his access to a razor because she feared he might harm himself. On June 29, Kaphing observed that his attitude had worsened, but she did not increase his watch status. That morning, correctional officers Vince Scheele and Chris Stellmach saw Bild walk up the C400 stairs but did not contact medical staff or otherwise report the incident.

Later that day, Bild climbed over the stairway railing. Officers attempted to respond, but Bild jumped head-first before they could place a mat beneath him. He was taken to a hospital and died several hours later.

Claims and Motion

Lisa M. Brabbit, as trustee for Bild’s next-of-kin, asserted claims under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against individual jail defendants. The defendants named in the motion included Sergeant Frank Capra; nurses Cayci Nelson and Stephanie Kaphing; correctional officers Katelyn Schlief, Vince Scheele, and Chris Stellmach; Roger Heinen in his official capacity as Washington County Jail Commander; and Washington County. Brabbit also asserted a county-liability claim based on alleged jail policies or customs.

The defendants moved for summary judgment. Summary judgment is a decision before trial that is proper only when there is no genuine dispute about a fact that could affect the result and the moving party is entitled to judgment under the law. The individual defendants also asserted qualified immunity, which can protect government officials from damages when their conduct did not violate a clearly established constitutional right.

Court’s Analysis

The court held that the evidence created factual disputes about whether Nurses Nelson and Kaphing knew that Bild faced a substantial risk of suicide and failed to take reasonable steps to address that risk. The court identified evidence that neither nurse sought emergency mental-health care, contacted the jail’s contracted mental-health provider, placed Bild on the list to see a doctor, or removed him from C400. The court also relied on evidence concerning Kaphing’s reduction of Bild’s watch status and the deterioration of his mental state on June 29.

The court also found factual disputes concerning the correctional officers. A reasonable fact finder could conclude that Schlief and Capra knew of Bild’s suicide risk but did not seek mental-health care or prevent his placement in C400. A reasonable fact finder could also conclude that Scheele and Stellmach knew of Bild’s risk and failed to act after seeing him walk up the C400 stairs.

Because the evidence, viewed in Brabbit’s favor, could support a finding that the individual defendants acted with deliberate indifference, the court concluded that qualified immunity could not be resolved for them at summary judgment. The court did not decide that the defendants were liable; it decided only that the factual disputes prevented judgment before trial.

For the claim against Washington County and Heinen in his official capacity, the court found factual disputes about whether Washington County maintained a practice of housing suicidal or mentally ill inmates in C400 despite inadequate stairway barriers and whether the jail’s assignment of suicide-watch decisions to nurses, rather than trained mental-health professionals, amounted to deliberate indifference.

The opinion also notes that Brabbit’s claims against Christopher Ahles and the failure-to-train claim had previously been dismissed with prejudice. Those earlier rulings were not the subject of the motion decided in this opinion.

Disposition

Judge Donovan W. Frank denied Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment in its entirety. The opinion left the deliberate-indifference claims against the defendants covered by the motion unresolved and cautioned that defeating summary judgment did not guarantee success at trial.