Mary Gordon v. County of Orange
888 F.3d 1118
| 9th Cir. | 2018Background
- Matthew Gordon died within ~30 hours of arrest and detention at Orange County Men’s Central Jail after intake screening and placement in general population; staff observed vomiting and unresponsiveness before his death.
- At intake, Nurse Finley used an alcohol-withdrawal form (CIWA) rather than the jail’s opiate-withdrawal form (COWS); a consulting physician ordered CIWA monitoring and placement in regular housing with medication rather than medical-observation housing.
- Deputies conducted welfare checks from an elevated corridor with limited visibility; one deputy acknowledged he could not determine whether an inmate was breathing from his vantage point.
- Plaintiff Mary Gordon sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violation of pretrial detainee due process rights for inadequate medical care and Monell claims against the County and related entities.
- The district court granted summary judgment for individual defendants (applying a subjective deliberate-indifference standard) and for entity defendants on Monell grounds; plaintiff appealed.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proper mental-state standard for pretrial-detainee medical-care claims | Gordon: due-process claims require an objective deliberate-indifference standard (no subjective intent required) | Defendants: traditional subjective deliberate-indifference (Eighth Amendment-style) should apply | Court: adopt objective deliberate-indifference standard for Fourteenth Amendment pretrial-detainee medical-care claims (following Kingsley and Castro) |
| Whether district court properly granted summary judgment to individual defendants | Gordon: evidence (wrong intake form, intoxication/vomiting, limited monitoring) raises triable issue under objective test | Defendants: insufficient evidence of deliberate indifference under subjective test | Held: district court erred by applying subjective standard; summary judgment vacated and remanded for analysis under objective test |
| Qualified immunity for individual defendants | Gordon: objective-unreasonableness may preclude immunity | Defendants: even under objective standard, qualified immunity bars liability | Held: Court declined to decide qualified-immunity issue and remanded for district court to address in first instance |
| Monell claim against County / Entity defendants | Gordon: County had customs/practices (use of CIWA not COWS; inadequate welfare-check practice) that caused injury | County: plaintiff failed to show a custom, policy, or deliberate practice causing death | Held: summary judgment on Monell claim vacated; remanded for district court to consider Monell under correct standard |
Key Cases Cited
- Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466 (2015) (pretrial-detainee excessive-force claims judged by objective-reasonableness standard)
- Castro v. County of Los Angeles, 833 F.3d 1060 (9th Cir. 2016) (extends Kingsley’s objective standard to failure-to-protect claims; rejects global subjective deliberate-indifference rule)
- Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976) (Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference to serious medical needs)
- Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) (municipal liability requires a policy/custom causing constitutional violation)
- Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) (Eighth Amendment subjective-awareness standard for risk of harm)
- Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294 (1991) (medical care is a condition of confinement; conditions-of-confinement analysis applies to medical claims)