Veronica Hyman v. Clyde Lewis
27 F.4th 1233
| 6th Cir. | 2022Background
- Deandre Lipford was arrested and held in the Detroit Detention Center’s video-arraignment room; he concealed narcotics in his rectum that he never disclosed to jail staff.
- Lipford was placed in the holding room at ~9:48 p.m.; he slid to the floor around 11:02 p.m. and was found unresponsive at 2:50 a.m.; pronounced dead at the hospital; medical examiner ruled accidental overdose.
- Officer Clyde Lewis was the officer assigned to make 30-minute rounds and to physically open cell doors and check detainees, but he looked through the glass and did not enter the video-arraignment room as required.
- Lewis’s practice of not disturbing sleeping detainees was common, violated jail operating procedures, and led to a short unpaid suspension.
- Lipford’s representative, Veronica Hyman, sued under the Fourteenth Amendment (deliberate indifference) and state tort law; the district court granted summary judgment for Lewis; Hyman appealed.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether Lewis violated pretrial detainee’s Fourteenth Amendment right to adequate medical care (deliberate indifference) | Hyman: Lewis intentionally failed to make required physical checks and thus recklessly disregarded a known risk to Lipford | Lewis: He had no reason to know Lipford concealed drugs or was overdosing; at most negligent policy breach | Affirmed for Lewis—no deliberate indifference; no evidence a reasonable officer would have known of the risk or that Lewis acted recklessly |
| Whether noncompliance with internal operating procedures alone establishes deliberate indifference | Hyman: Policy violation shows deliberate indifference | Lewis: Policy breach alone does not create constitutional liability | Policy violation without more is at most negligence and not a Fourteenth Amendment violation |
| Whether Lewis’s conduct constitutes gross negligence and proximate cause under Mich. Comp. Laws § 691.1407(2)(c) (avoiding governmental immunity) | Hyman: Lewis’s dereliction/gross negligence caused death | Lewis: Conduct was not grossly negligent and was not the proximate cause of the overdose | Lewis entitled to immunity—conduct not gross negligence and not the one most immediate, efficient, direct cause of death |
| Whether MDOC regulations/handbook or an ordinance-like effect of procedures convert policy breach into constitutional or tort liability | Hyman: Regulations/handbook/ordinance effect should elevate the breach | Lewis: No controlling caselaw to convert policy breach into constitutional violation | Court rejected the argument for lack of supporting caselaw; policy/regulation did not change result |
Key Cases Cited
- City of Revere v. Mass. Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239 (pretrial detainees have right to adequate medical care)
- Brawner v. Scott County, 14 F.4th 585 (deliberate-indifference standard: more than negligence, less than subjective intent)
- Burwell v. City of Lansing, 7 F.4th 456 (summary-judgment review; negligence not necessarily proximate cause)
- Winkler v. Madison County, 893 F.3d 877 (failure to follow internal policy, without more, does not establish deliberate indifference)
- Griffith v. Franklin County, 975 F.3d 554 (policy violations ordinarily amount to negligence, not constitutional violation)
- Robinson v. City of Detroit, 613 N.W.2d 307 (Michigan proximate-cause analysis for governmental immunity)
- Jackson v. City of Cleveland, 925 F.3d 793 (de novo review of summary judgment)