WILLIAMSPORT – Northumberland County and its corrections co-defendants have won partial dismissal of a claims in a complaint alleging that staffing at the county jail was inadequate and ineffective, leading the plaintiff’s daughter to commit suicide when she found herself incarcerated at the facility on drug charges.
Timothy McAndrew (as Administrator of the Estate of Meghan McAndrew, deceased) of Paxinos first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on May 26, 2022 versus Northumberland County of Sunbury, plus Bruce Kovach, Samuel J. Schiccatano, Joseph M. Klebon, Kymberley L. Best, and James Hoskin of Coal Township, and John Does 1-6.
“Upon information and belief, on Feb. 6, 2022, Ms. McAndrew was taken into custody pursuant to a bench warrant and lodged in the Northumberland County Jail. Ms. McAndrew was a known drug user and had a history of convictions for drug-related offenses in Northumberland County, including pending drug charges at the time of her death. During the intake process at Northumberland County Jail, Ms. McAndrew should have been screened for physical and psychological problems to determine whether she posed a suicide risk,” the suit said.
“On Feb. 6, 2022, and at all times through Feb. 11, 2022, personnel at Northumberland County Jail were required to keep Ms. McAndrew safe and free from physical injury, harm or death, were required to screen and evaluate Ms. McAndrew on an ongoing basis, were required to be trained on the method and means of evaluating persons placed in custody to keep them safe from physical or psychological injury, harm or death, and were required to screen and evaluate the mental status of persons placed in custody, including for substance abuse disorders.”
The suit followed up that said screening process at the Northumberland County Jail was “inadequate, incomplete and ineffective”, since Ms. McAndrew was placed on suicide watch and was therefore required to be checked every 15 minutes while she detoxed from illicit substances.
The decedent was last observed to be alive on Feb. 10, 2022, but was found unresponsive in her cell the following morning, with a sheet around her neck that she used to strangle herself. Though she was transported by ambulance to Geisinger-Shamokin Area Community Hospital, she was pronounced dead.
“Upon information and belief, Ms. McAndrew was not observed at all for a period of approximately three hours, until she was found unresponsive in her cell on Feb. 11, 2022. Despite prison requirements that detainees in cells be checked periodically, no corrections officers (COs) adequately and/or sufficiently checked on or monitored Ms. McAndrew prior to her untimely demise. At all times relevant to this matter, defendants should have properly monitored Ms. McAndrew, on an ongoing basis, due to the fact that she was detoxing from illicit substances. Defendants placed Ms. McAndrew in segregation from the rest of the prison population, even though such action is not recommended for someone who is potentially suicidal,” the suit stated.
“Ms. McAndrew was not placed into a suicide prevention cell. According to prison officials, at full staff, the Northumberland County Jail would have 78 COs working the floor. On Feb. 6, 2022 through Feb. 11, 2022, the Northumberland County Jail only employed approximately 34 COs. Defendants failed to hire enough COs to ensure Ms. McAndrew’s safety. The Northumberland County Commissioners described the Northumberland County Jail as in ‘a state of emergency’ due to the low number of COs. At all times relevant hereto, defendants failed to provide the proper staffing, manpower and/or medical facilities to properly care of prisoners like Ms. McAndrew.”
The defendants followed up with a motion to dismiss the complaint on Aug. 23, 2022, arguing that the plaintiff’s claims are replete with a lack of specificity.
“Plaintiff does not identify who the Monell claim (Count I) is made against, however, Warden Bruce Kovach, and Commissioners Schiccatano, Klebon, Best are specifically referenced within this Count. Plaintiff does not identify who the ‘Medical Defendants’ are in Count III. Count I must be dismissed for lack of factual specificity and personal involvement as to Northumberland County, Warden Bruce Kovach, Commissioners Schiccatano, Klebon, Best and Hoskin,” the dismissal motion stated, in part.
“Count II (Monell claim) must be dismissed since the individual defendants were not personally involved in addition, plaintiff failed to plead an underlying constitutional violation or proof that those individuals have, through their decisions, ‘caused the deprivation of rights at issue by policies which affirmatively command that it occur or by acquiescence in a longstanding practice or custom which constitutes the ‘standard operating procedure’ of the local governmental entity. Furthermore, Count II must be dismissed since plaintiff failed to identify a failure to provide specific training that has a causal nexus with his injuries and must demonstrate that the absence of that specific training can reasonably be said to effect the deliberate indifference whether the alleged constitutional deprivations occurred.”
Additionally, the defendants demanded that Counts III, IV and V (Medical negligence, wrongful death and survival) must be dismissed, since those causes of action do not fall under the Pennsylvania Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, and the plaintiff did not submit a certificate of merit.
In a memorandum opinion issued on Jan. 25, 2023, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Matthew W. Brann granted a dismissal of all claims without prejudice.
UPDATE
Two further amended complaints emerged in the litigation, with the most recent one on Sept. 6 being levied against defendants Northumberland County, Hoskin and John Does 1-6. In response, those defendants again motioned to dismiss the case on Sept. 20.
Brann issued a partial granting and partial denial of the renewed dismissal motion, in a memorandum opinion issued on Jan. 17.
“Ms. McAndrew’s rights as a pre-trial detainee are governed by the Fourteenth Amendment, not the Eighth Amendment. The Court has previously concluded that Mr. McAndrew has satisfied the Third Circuit’s three-prong test for determining if a pre-trial detainee’s claim ‘arising from a jail suicide’ violated the Fourteenth Amendment as asserted against the County and the unnamed COs. The Court will therefore focus on defendant Hoskin. Although Hoskin’s arguments concerning his lack of personal involvement in the constitutional violation and his entitlement to qualified immunity are not overly persuasive, he will nevertheless be dismissed with prejudice from this case. Mr. McAndrew failed to respond in his opposition brief to any of Hoskin’s arguments and in fact endorses his dismissal,” Brann said, in part.
“Mr. McAndrew clarifies the role the County plays in managing the Jail: It ‘owns, operates, manages, directs and controls the [Jail] and had the responsibility of adopting policies and implementing procedures and practices which would create an environment whereby inmates would be safe.’ Consequently, the County had the responsibility to ensure adequate training policies and programs existed at the Jail. Next, Mr. McAndrew describes the relevant training programs related to suicide prevention and detecting suicide warning signs. He contends that the Jail lacked ‘any consistent suicide prevention training’ before Ms. McAndrew’s death. Only ‘some COs may have been shown a one-hour video on suicide prevention’ and the COs received no ‘training regarding [the] warning signs of potential suicides.’ The ‘investigative report completed by [the] Northumberland County District Attorney’s Office [also] cited only one suicide prevention-related policy in place for COs at the Jail: Inmates identified as suicidal were to be checked by COs. every fifteen’ minutes. Accordingly, Mr. McAndrew has identified with particularity the deficiencies in these training programs.”
Brann added that McAndrew then connected these allegations of inadequacy in the facility to his daughter’s suicide.
“Before her suicide, Ms. McAndrew slept for ‘long periods of time without any lights on in her cell,’ had ‘virtually no contact with other inmates’ and suffered from withdrawal symptoms. These ‘potential warning signs’ leading up to her suicide ‘could have been identified if Northumberland County had provided its COs with suicide prevention training.’ Further, it is alleged that the lack in training regarding ‘the necessary precautions to avoid [inmate] suicides’ contributed to Ms. McAndrew’s placement in a cell alone with access to supplies that facilitated her suicide and the corrections officers’ failure to conduct the required suicide checks. In light of these new allegations, the Court concludes that Mr. McAndrew has adequately pled a failure to train Monell claim against the County,” Brann said.
“Mr. McAndrew contends that he is permitted to proceed with the wrongful death and survival actions because he is alleging constitutional violations pursuant to Section 1983. Neither the Supreme Court of the United States nor the Third Circuit have decided ‘whether Section 1983, independently or in conjunction with state law, may be used by survivors when the decedent’s death resulted from a constitutional violation.’ Although ‘differing results’ have been reached in this Circuit, ‘I shall take the same approach as the Honorable Lawrence F. Stengel [in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania] did in Moyer v. Berks Heim Nursing Home,’ and ‘I will allow these claims to proceed.’ After discovery, the parties may address the propriety of these claims. Mr. McAndrew has not identified whom the ‘medical defendants’ are in the second amended complaint. He will be given two weeks from the date of the accompanying order to show cause as to why this claim shall not be dismissed with prejudice.”
Brann entered an order of the above stipulations and added that outside of the opportunity to show cause regarding the potential dismissal of the unidentified ‘medical defendants’, McAndrew will not be provided another opportunity to amend his complaint.
For counts of violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Monell claims, medical negligence, wrongful death and survival, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of $75,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, plus interest, costs and attorney’s fees.
The plaintiff is represented by Franklin E. Kepner Jr. and Franklin E. Kepner III of Kepner Kepner & Corba, in Berwick.
The defendants are represented by Christine E. Munion of William Devlin & Associates, in Blue Bell.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 4:22-cv-00834
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com