Smith v. Atkins, 777 F. Supp. 2d 955

Burden, diagnosed with schizophrenia, committed suicide in Bertie-Martin Regional Jail on March 28, 2007.
Plaintiffs sued multiple jail officials and Southern Health Partners under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and North Carolina law, later removed to federal court.
Intake at jail in March 2007 was negative for suicide risk; Burden had prior suicide-watch in 2005 but no ongoing monitoring noted.
During incarceration, Burden received some psychotropic medications; Abilify and Ativan were not on the formulary and not distributed.
Jail policy allowed two-hourly checks unless on suicide watch; Burden had been on suicide watch in 2005 but was not on suicide watch in 2007.
Defendants moved for summary judgment; the court granted the strike of expert disclosures and granted summary judgment to several defendants.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Was Williams liable under the Eighth Amendment?	Plaintiffs contend Williams knew of Burden's risk and disregarded it.	Williams did not know Burden or his risk and did not have custody responsibilities.	No liability; Williams granted summary judgment.
Did Friedman, White, Whitehurst, and Ryan act with deliberate indifference to Burden's suicide risk?	Defendants ignored four-hour checks and past suicide history; failed to recall 2005 suicide watch.	No subjective knowledge of substantial risk; Burden showed no suicidal behavior; actions were not deliberate indifference.	No Eighth Amendment violation; summary judgment granted.
Can Southern Health Partners and Jones be liable under § 1983 for failure to train or to have policies?	Failure to train or govern in suicide risk caused the deprivation.	No underlying constitutional violation; policies and training existed; no causal link shown.	No liability; summary judgment granted.

Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) (deliberate indifference standard requires knowledge of substantial risk and disregard)
Iko v. Shreve, 535 F.3d 225 (4th Cir.2008) (two-prong requirement for Eighth Amendment claim in prison medical care)
Collins v. Seeman, 462 F.3d 757 (7th Cir.2006) (deliberate indifference standard in medical care context)
Brown v. Harris, 240 F.3d 383 (4th Cir.2001) (deliberate indifference and medical care standards)
Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978) (municipal liability requires official policy or custom)
Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397 (1997) (deliberate indifference and causation in municipal liability)
Riddick v. Sch. Bd., 238 F.3d 518 (4th Cir.2000) (deliberate indifference and final policymaker liability framework)
West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988) (applying municipal and corporate liability standards for medical care)