Cook Ex Rel. Tessier v. Sheriff of Monroe County.

U.S. Appeals Court

VICARIOUS LIABILITY 

Cook Ex Rel. Tessier v. Sheriff of Monroe County, 402 F.3d 1092 (11th Cir. 2005). The personal representative of the estate of a pretrial detainee who committed suicide while incarcerated brought an action against a sheriff, in his official capacity, asserting claims for deliberate indifference to the detainee's medical needs in violation of [section] 1983, negligent training and supervision of jail employees, and vicarious liability for the employees' negligence. The district court excluded the representative's expert witness testimony, precluded reference to other suicides at the facility, and granted judgment as a matter of law for the sheriff. The representative appealed. The appeals court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. The appeals court held that the district court acted within its discretion in excluding evidence of other suicides at the jail. The court found that the plaintiff failed to establish that the detainee's suicide was foreseeable to the sheriff and therefore any deficiencies in the sheriff's training or supervision did not rise to the level of deliberate indifference. But the court held that evidence was sufficient to support a jury verdict on the plaintiff's claim that the sheriff was vicariously liable under state law for employees' alleged negligence. The court noted that the detainee made two written requests to see a psychiatrist, one on each of the two days immediately preceding his suicide, and that the detainee stated in one request that he was "mentally sick" and asked to see the psychiatrist "as soon as possible." Three deputies observed the detainee as nervous and anxious, and one specifically observed the detainee apparently having an anxiety attack and complaining of chest pains. (Monroe County Detention Center, Florida)