It was good news all around this week for the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department and other named defendants connected to a multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of deceased county inmate Nicholas Rice.
According to Nathaniel Jordan, an attorney at Yoder Ainlay Ulmer & Buckingham, Goshen, Judge Robert Miller of the Federal District Court in South Bend recently issued a decision in favor of the Elkhart County Sheriff and Sheriff’s Department officers named in the case of Estate of Nicholas Rice v. Correctional Medical Services, et al.
“The decision also finds in favor of the other remaining defendants in the case, most of which, like Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, Inc., are located in Elkhart County,” Jordan said. “Certain defendants, such as Elkhart County, had been dismissed previously in this case.”
The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 5, 2006, centers around the death of Rice, a former detainee at the Elkhart County Jail who was booked into the jail on Sept. 8, 2003 on criminal charges connected to an attempted bank robbery.
“Rice had psychiatric problems at the time he was booked into the jail, and he was provided medical care by various medical providers during the time that he was incarcerated,” Jordan said. “On Dec. 18, 2004, while still a detainee at the Elkhart County Jail, Rice was found unresponsive in his cell. He was then transported to Goshen General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”
Jordan indicated that Rice’s Certificate of Death stated the cause of death was a combination of cardiomegaly, schizophrenia and chronic malnutrition.
“However, since that time, the experts hired by the Estate and by the defendants have thoroughly evaluated Rice’s cause of death.” Jordan said. “They agree that Rice died as a result of psychogenic polydipsia, or compulsive water drinking, when he ingested too much water at once on the night of his death.”
Jordan said a total of 26 defendants were named in the suit, including County Sheriff Mike Books, eight Sheriff’s Department employees, and the Elkhart County Board of Commissioners.
Other defendants included Oaklawn, Goshen General Hospital, Correctional Medical Services, and individual nurses and doctors employed by or affiliated with Oaklawn, Goshen Hospital and CMS.
The lawsuit was brought pursuant to both federal and state law, and the amended complaint sought $24 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages, attorney fees, and costs, Jordan said.
Since the filing, a number of the defendants have been dismissed from consideration in the lawsuit, including the Elkhart County Commissioners and several Sheriff’s Department and Goshen Hospital employees.
Last November the remaining defendants filed motions for summary judgment seeking termination of all of the Estate’s federal claims, and Judge Miller has now granted each of these motions with his recent decision, Jordan said.
According to Goshen Attorney Gordon Lord, summary judgement is typically defined as a ruling by the judge indicating that there was no material, factual dispute and that based on the facts at hand, one party would be entitled to judgement as a matter of law.
“In relation to the Sheriff and his deputies, Judge Miller’s ruling holds that they were not deliberately indifferent to the medical needs of Rice,” Jordan said. “It also holds that the Sheriff’s Department does not have any unconstitutional policy, practice or custom that was the driving force behind the alleged constitutional violation.”
Lord said the recent judgment is not necessarily the last defendants will see of the Rice case, as Indiana law allows the family the option to appeal.
“They still have the option of a state court case where they can claim some type of negligence,” Lord said. “But that has a very low ceiling in terms of recovery capability.
“So, it’s a very favorable ruling, exactly what the county had hoped for.”
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