Cope v. Cogdill
3 F.4th 198
| 5th Cir. | 2021Background
- Derrek Monroe was booked into Coleman County Jail with documented suicidal ideation and a recent suicide attempt; staff placed him on temporary suicide watch and sent him to a hospital for treatment before returning him to the jail.
- Monroe was later placed alone in a single-occupancy cell that contained a 30-inch telephone cord; jail policy limited cell entry by a single on-duty jailer until backup arrived and normally left only one jailer on duty weekends for budgetary reasons.
- On the morning of the suicide, Jailer Jessie Laws witnessed Monroe wrap the phone cord around his neck, called supervisors (not 911), waited for backup per policy, looked into the cell multiple times without entering, and only entered after Jail Administrator Brixey arrived; EMS arrived after further delay and Monroe died the next day.
- Monroe’s estate sued under the Fourteenth Amendment for deliberate indifference to a pretrial detainee’s medical needs; the district court denied qualified immunity for the three officers; defendants appealed.
- The Fifth Circuit majority reversed, holding all three officers entitled to qualified immunity; the panel concluded that, although some actions may have been unreasonable, the unlawfulness was not clearly established at the time. Judge Dennis dissented, arguing the evidence could support deliberate indifference and that the law was clearly established.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether Laws violated the Fourteenth Amendment by waiting for backup before entering Monroe’s cell during an active suicide attempt | Laws should have immediately entered or otherwise rendered immediate aid for an ongoing suicide attempt | Laws followed jail policy and training to wait for backup; entering alone posed safety risk | Majority: Following policy to wait for backup not a clearly established constitutional violation; qualified immunity granted |
| Whether Laws’ failure to call 911 promptly (instead calling supervisors) was unconstitutional | Failing to summon EMS for an active strangulation is unreasonable and deliberate indifference | Laws “did something” by calling supervisors; no controlling precedent specifically prohibiting that conduct | Majority: Failure to call EMS is constitutionally problematic in principle, but not clearly established at the time; qualified immunity granted |
| Whether Cogdill and Brixey were deliberately indifferent by placing Monroe in a cell containing a long phone cord | They knowingly housed a suicidal detainee where a ligature was available and had safer alternatives (transfer, different housing) | No evidence they had specific notice that a phone cord posed that particular risk; placement consistent with policies and practices | Majority: No clearly established right that placing a suicidal detainee in a cell with a phone cord violated the Constitution; qualified immunity granted |
| Whether staffing one jailer (and policy forbidding solo cell entry) amounted to deliberate indifference by supervisors | Single-staffer policy foreseeably increased response delay and was known to be unsafe for suicidal inmates | Staffing is a county-level/budgetary policy; supervisors not shown to have violated clearly established law | Majority: No clearly established law requiring deviation from staffing policy; qualified immunity granted (county claims remain separate) |
Key Cases Cited
- Mullenix v. Luna, 577 U.S. 7 (2015) (courts must define clearly established law with specificity)
- Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009) (qualified immunity two-step; courts may decide order of prongs)
- Jacobs v. W. Feliciana Sheriff’s Dep’t, 228 F.3d 388 (5th Cir. 2000) (deliberate indifference standard for inmate suicide: officers aware of substantial risk and effectively disregarded it)
- Taylor v. Riojas, 141 S. Ct. 52 (2020) (obvious constitutional violations may overcome lack of on-point precedent)
- Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) (deliberate indifference requires subjective knowledge of substantial risk)
- Arenas v. Calhoun, 922 F.3d 616 (5th Cir. 2019) (reasonableness of a jailer following safety-orders/policy when overseeing a suicidal inmate)
- Converse v. City of Kemah, 961 F.3d 771 (5th Cir. 2020) (denial of qualified immunity where facts were closely analogous on housing and available ligatures)