Delorenzo v. Sullivan County Jail Administration

Background

Paul J. Delorenzo Jr. proceeded without a lawyer and sued Michael Schiff, Eric Chaboty, Harold Smith, James Ginty, Christopher Bini, Robert Taylor, Lynn Wilcox, Wendy Moore, Katie Slater, Jennifer Norris-Manning, Dr. Jonathan Weiss, and Dr. Sobia Mirza. The opinion identifies the defendants as Sullivan County jail officials, nurses, a social worker, a corrections deputy, and doctors. Delorenzo alleged violations of the Eighth Amendment through 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

According to the complaint, during booking on July 27, 2020, Delorenzo told Taylor and Slater that he had seizures, mental-health problems related to a traumatic brain injury, and medications for seizures and pain. He alleged that he went without seizure medication for six days, suffered a seizure on August 1, and was taken to a hospital. He also alleged that he went without mental-health medication, had a disagreement with Dr. Mirza, later sent Moore a letter describing worsening voices and thoughts of violence or self-harm, and was placed under one-to-one observation and in solitary confinement before receiving medication from Dr. Mirza on August 13. Delorenzo filed grievances about the missing medications, and officials responded that medication records required verification and that available records did not document seizure medication or a seizure disorder.

The defendants filed six motions to dismiss. Delorenzo did not oppose any of them.

Section 1983 claims

The court treated Delorenzo’s constitutional claim as an Eighth Amendment claim for deliberate indifference to medical needs. Such a claim requires allegations showing both a sufficiently serious deprivation of medical care and that the defendant knew of and disregarded a substantial risk to the prisoner’s health or safety.

The court dismissed the claim against Schiff, Chaboty, Smith, Ginty, and Wilcox because the complaint contained no factual allegations involving them. It dismissed the claims against Moore and Bini because the allegations showed only that Delorenzo sent them letters or grievances, which did not establish that they personally violated the Constitution.

The court also found insufficient allegations of personal involvement by Taylor, Slater, Norris-Manning, and Weiss. Although Delorenzo alleged that Taylor and Slater learned about his seizure disorder and medications during booking, he did not allege that either made treatment decisions or that Slater treated him. He did not explain what his appointments with Norris-Manning concerned or whether she knew about his conditions. As to Weiss, he alleged only that Weiss did not see him after his return from the hospital, without alleging that Weiss had treated him previously, knew about his conditions, or was asked to see him.

The court separately dismissed the Section 1983 claim against Mirza. The court found that Delorenzo did not describe his mental-health symptoms, their effects on his life, or precisely what he told Mirza well enough to show a sufficiently serious deprivation. The court also held that the six-day delay before Mirza saw him and provided medication did not, as alleged, show that she ignored a life-threatening condition or deliberately delayed treatment as punishment.

Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act claims

The court treated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act claims as disability-discrimination claims. It held that these statutes do not allow individual-capacity claims for monetary damages. Even assuming Delorenzo qualified as a person with a disability, the court found that the complaint did not allege facts showing that the events occurred because of discrimination based on a disability. The court therefore dismissed those claims as well.

Disposition and amendment

The court granted the County Defendants’ motion to dismiss, the Nurse Defendants’ motion to dismiss, Dr. Weiss’s motion to dismiss, Dr. Mirza’s motion to dismiss, Norris-Manning’s motion to dismiss, and Deputy Taylor’s motion to dismiss, all without opposition. The court granted Delorenzo leave to file an amended complaint consistent with the opinion by May 25, 2022. It stated that it was not dismissing the complaint with prejudice at that time, but warned that failure to amend within the deadline, without good cause, would result in dismissal with prejudice.

The supplied case name refers to “Sullivan County Jail Administration,” while the opinion’s caption lists individual defendants and does not display a case number. The summary uses the supplied case name and identifies the missing docket number rather than guessing it.