Estate of Moreland v. Dieter.

U.S. Appeals Court

EXCESSIVE FORCE

BRUTALITY

Estate of Moreland v. Dieter, 395 F.3d 747 (7th Cir. 2005). Family members of a county jail detainee who died in custody, brought a [section] 1983 action alleging the use of unnecessary and excessive force. The district court entered judgment, upon jury verdict, in favor of the family members and against county deputies, and awarded $29 million in compensatory damages, and $27.5 million in punitive damages. The parties appealed. The appeals court affirmed, finding that the punitive damages award was not excessive, where evidence showed that the deputies threw the detainee's head against a concrete wall, discharged a can of pepper spray into his face when he was fully restrained, and repeatedly assaulted him, without attending to the detainee's medical needs. The detainee died of a fatal hematoma caused by one of the head traumas inflicted by the deputies. The deputies lied to a jail nurse about the detainee's injuries and filed false reports to conceal their wrongdoing. The court held that neither multiple prior incidents involving the use of pepper spray, nor alleged jail overcrowding, established that a sheriff was deliberately indifferent to a substantial risk of harm to the detainee. The detainee had been admitted to jail after he was arrested for driving under the influence. Shortly after his admission to the jail, the detainee provoked a confrontation with another detainee by directing racial slurs at him. Jail staff responded to the altercation with excessive force. (St. Joseph County Jail, Indiana)