Latest 4 Cases: Estate of Christopher J. Davis v. Ortiz (Civil Rights), Larry Howell v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc. (Civil Rights), McIntosh v. ...

No Good Men?

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb comments on a film called “Promising Young Women,” which purports to be a feminist movie about date rape. While Professor Colb describes the movie as interesting, thought-provoking, and “definitely” worth seeing, she argues that it suggests a view of men and sexual assault that is erroneous and potentially even anti-feminist.

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Last Call at the Bar: Grading the Briefs in Trump Impeachment 2.0

DEAN FALVY

Dean Falvy, a lecturer at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, offers thoughts on the legal tactics and briefs filed by each side in former President Trump’s second impeachment trial. Mr. Falvy argues that if Trump can survive a second impeachment vote, it will show that he is still operating where he has always believed himself to be: well beyond the reach of the law.

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Estate of Christopher J. Davis v. Ortiz

Docket: 19-3355

Opinion Date: February 5, 2021

Judge: Diane Pamela Wood

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

East Troy police, conducting a “sting” operation, used a confidential informant to lure Juarez-Nieves into delivering cocaine at Roma’s restaurant. Nieves showed up with Davis and Lara, who parked their car in the restaurant lot, next to an empty vehicle. The police arrived in their marked squad car and started to park behind the empty car, Lara began slowly to pull out of his parking spot. Officer Knox had to step aside to avoid the car. As Lara headed for the exit, Deputy Ortiz, standing 50 feet away, fired shots into the car. A shot hit Davis. Lara kept driving for a brief time but crashed the car. The police apprehend Lara and Nieves as they fled on foot. Medical personnel pronounced Davis dead. Davis’s Estate argued that Ortiz’s use of deadly force was unreasonable. The district court found that Ortiz’s testimony was not enough to establish as a matter of law that Ortiz was aiming exclusively for the driver. Instead, Ortiz said that his “intent was to stop the threat that was coming at [him].” The district court found that a jury could conclude that Ortiz was shooting at the car generally and that deadly force was excessive in those circumstances. The court denied Ortiz’s motion for qualified immunity. The Seventh Circuit dismissed an interlocutory appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Disputes of material fact on which immunity depend must be resolved by the trier of fact.

Larry Howell v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.

Docket: 19-3210

Opinion Date: February 5, 2021

Judge: HAMILTON

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

While incarcerated, Howell tore his medial meniscus cartilage and his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Five months later, he had surgery to repair the meniscus. It was another 20 months before Howell had surgery to reconstruct his ACL, despite Howell’s continuing pain and efforts to have the surgery sooner. While his requests for the ACL surgery were still being rejected, Howell filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 alleging Eighth Amendment violations. A jury ruled in favor of the physician but against Wexford, a private company that provides medical services at the prison. The court entered judgment as a matter of law in favor of Wexford. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the evidence about Wexford’s treatment of other incarcerated people. Howell did not show that their situations were fairly comparable to his. The court also did not err in granting Wexford’s Rule 50(b) motion for judgment as a matter of law. Howell blamed his pain and delayed surgery on Wexford’s “collegial review process,” which requires an off-site Wexford physician to review and approve an on‐site Wexford physician’s recommendation that an incarcerated person be referred to an off‐site healthcare provider. The collegial review process is not unconstitutional on its face, and Howell did not offer evidence that would let a reasonable jury find that the collegial review process caused any violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.

McIntosh v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.

Docket: 19-1095

Opinion Date: February 5, 2021

Judge: Scudder

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

McIntosh sued Wexford, a private company that provides prison health care, and jail officials for acting with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs, 42 U.S.C. 1983. McIntosh alleged that a nurse funneled him unprescribed medication and that staff members failed to prevent him from attempting suicide after he became addicted to the painkillers and suffered from acute mental illness. McIntosh was then a pretrial detainee; his claim arose not under the Eighth Amendment,, but under the Due Process Clause. McIntosh was required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act to exhaust all available administrative remedies. McIntosh claims he timely filed grievances as prescribed by the jail’s procedures but that Sergeant Strubberg told him that the internal administrative process was on hold pending the outcome of a criminal investigation into how he had obtained large quantities of unprescribed pain medication. Wexford and the jail officials claim that McIntosh submitted no grievances. The district court referred the case to a magistrate, who heard testimony from McIntosh and Sergeant Strubberg of the St. Clair County Jail. McIntosh supported his testimony with two affidavits from fellow inmates. The magistrate accepted McIntosh’s version of events. The district court granted the defendants summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit vacated. The district court erred in rejecting the magistrate’s recommended finding without holding a new hearing upon which to base its own credibility determinations, given that witness credibility weighed heavily in the exhaustion-of-remedies inquiry.

Young v. City of Chicago

Docket: 19-3534

Opinion Date: February 5, 2021

Judge: KANNE

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Young drove Hughes to get a haircut. Hughes stated that he had a gun that he was returning to its owner at the barbershop. Young came back hours later. Young did not ask about the gun but believed that Hughes had left it. Chicago police received an anonymous tip that the two were driving around with a gun. Officers spotted the vehicle and saw that Hughes was not wearing a seatbelt. They lawfully stopped the car and approached with guns drawn. Hughes told Young, “take this.” Young replied, “hell no.” Hughes wiped the gun and placed it on the center console. The officers saw this, arrested both men, and learned both were convicted felons. The officers' reports listed Hughes as the gun's possessor and owner. Young was charged as an armed habitual criminal. A judge found probable cause to detain him. Young could not pay the $100,000 bond. Young stayed in pretrial detention for a year before being acquitted. Young sued Chicago and several officers under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for holding him in pretrial detention without probable cause and ignoring and fabricating evidence to detain him. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the summary judgment rejection of all of his claims. “It does not matter that Young said the gun wasn’t his—protesting innocence is not a get-out-of-pretrial-detention-free card." Nor does it matter that the police allegedly later falsified evidence. They had all the probable cause they needed from the arrest scene.