DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
172835P.pdf 11/14/2018 Regina Barton v. Chad Ledbetter
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 17-2835
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Hot Springs
[PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Smith,Chief Judge, and Loken, Circuit
Judges]
Civil case - Civil rights. The deputy who booked plaintiff's decedent was
not entitled to qualified immunity on plaintiff's claim that she was
deliberately indifferent to the decedent's medical needs as the evidence
showed that the man had been in a car accident and was so severely
intoxicated that he could not follow instructions, answer basic questions
or stand without assistance; a jury could find that the man was
experiencing a medical need so obvious that a layperson would recognize
the need for prompt medical attention; a jury could infer the deputy's
knowledge of the man's evident need for prompt medical attention and the
deputy's obviously inadequate response to that need; further, the deputy
did not perform the healthcare screening the jail policies required, which
would have disclosed significant injuries to the man's back and legs; it
was clearly established at the time of the incident that booking the man
into jail would constitute deliberate indifference to his serious medical
needs; the record was devoid of any evidence that the deputy's supervisor
knew she was inadequately trained or supervised, and he was entitled to
qualified immunity on plaintiff's train-or-supervise claims; because the
resolution of these qualified immunity issues does not necessarily resolve
the question of whether the defendant Hot Springs County maintained an
unconstitutional custom, the court does not have jurisdiction over its
appeal.