Feliz Ex Rel. Estate of Clevenger v. County of Orange, 672 F. App'x 695

Plaintiff Lesley Feliz sued Orange County and the County Sheriff under the Fourteenth Amendment after detainee Stephen Clevenger’s suicide attempts and confinement conditions.
After Clevenger’s first suicide attempt, jail mental-health staff placed him on suicide watch and monitored him closely for 72 hours before clearing him to return to general population.
When Clevenger was later moved to disciplinary isolation, jail staff performed safety checks every 30 minutes.
Feliz alleged the County acted with deliberate indifference to Clevenger’s mental-health needs and also suggested isolation was used punitively or manipulatively.
The district court granted summary judgment for the County on the deliberate-indifference claim and denied Feliz’s motion for reconsideration; Feliz raised the punitive-isolation argument for the first time on reconsideration.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed both the summary judgment and the denial of reconsideration.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the County acted with deliberate indifference to a detainee’s serious mental-health needs	Feliz contended the County failed to protect Clevenger and that conditions (including isolation) created obvious, serious risk	County showed suicide watch, 72 hours of close mental-health monitoring, and 30-minute safety checks in isolation	Affirmed – no deliberate indifference shown; measures did not ignore obvious, serious risks
Whether the district court should have deferred summary judgment or granted reconsideration to allow evidence on punitive use of isolation	Feliz argued she should be allowed to pursue evidence that isolation was used to punish or manipulate Clevenger	County and court noted the punitive-isolation theory was not raised at summary judgment and evidence claimed was not shown to be newly discoverable or relevant	Affirmed – claim was unpreserved at summary judgment and reconsideration denied for failure to show evidence was previously unavailable or relevant under local rules

Castro v. County of Los Angeles, 833 F.3d 1060 (9th Cir. 2016) (standard for deliberate indifference to suicide risk in detention)
Simmons v. Navajo County, 609 F.3d 1011 (9th Cir. 2010) (deliberate indifference and suicide risk analysis)
Intercont'l Travel Mktg., Inc. v. F.D.I.C., 45 F.3d 1278 (9th Cir. 1994) (preservation rule for arguments at summary judgment)
United States v. Mark, 795 F.3d 1102 (9th Cir. 2015) (standard of review for denial of reconsideration)
Goodstein v. Cont'l Cas. Co., 509 F.3d 1042 (9th Cir. 2007) (upholding denial of reconsideration for failure to comply with local rules)