BOISE, Idaho (Legal Newsline) – It’s possible that an Idaho county was negligent in ordering a prison inmate to get down from his spot on a top bunk for roll call, the state Supreme Court recently ruled.
The court on Feb. 25 reversed a lower court’s decision to completely dismiss Tom Williamson’s lawsuit against Ada County, concluding that there remains one question of negligence while dismissing Williamson’s other claims.
Williamson was assigned the top bunk in a cell with three other inmates on March 27, 2017. The next morning during roll call, he was told he could not respond from his bed and had to respond by standing in front of the jailer, the suit said.
He blamed his subsequent fall off the top on an allegedly faulty design and configuration of the bunk bed. He hit his head on the concrete floor and lost consciousness. He asked to see a doctor when he awoke, but a registered nurse said no.
Later that morning, he experienced vertigo, double vision, nausea and vomiting. He was transferred to a cell with a lower bunk and was again turned down for a doctor visit.
He went to his video arraignment that afternoon, which went forward despite his claims of a head injury. Afterward, he asked to see a doctor several times and was turned down.
After his bail was paid, he was taken to the emergency room, where he was found to have suffered a concussion. He left behind a towel soaked in blood at the jail.
His lawsuit claims the prison staff’s lack of response during the 30 hours after his fall exacerbated his symptoms and worsened his prognosis. He says he has suffered mental impairment, headaches and tingling in his hands.
His lawsuit alleged Ada County was negligent in maintaining unsafe bunk beds, ordering him off the top bunk for roll call and responding to injuries.
Two of those claims fail, the Supreme Court ruled. The selection of bunk beds was a discretionary function for which the county is entitled to immunity under the Idaho Tort Claims Act, the decision says.
“(T)he determination that Ada County’s decision to use ladderless bunkbeds was discretionary is supported by other courts that have come to the same conclusion,” Justice Richard Bevan wrote.
And even though a doctor showed up at the cell next to his yet wouldn’t see him, Williamson’s claim his medical treatment was negligent failed. He needed to show the county was grossly negligent to pierce the ITCA immunity.
Citing state law, the court wrote, “Ultimately, Ada County is ‘not liable for any claim which… arises out of any act or omission providing or failing to provide medical care to a prisoner or person in the custody of any city, county or state jail, detention center or correctional facility.’”
But the trial court’s dismissal of his remaining claim was wrong, the court ruled. The case will continue to determine whether Ada County will be held liable. His suit said the requirement he get off the top bunk for roll call was needless.
The court failed to conduct the requisite inquiry for determining whether immunity should be granted to Ada County.
“(T)here is no evidence supporting Ada County’s position that there was a roll call policy in place,” the decision says. “At the hearing on Ada County’s motion to dismiss, Williamson characterized the jailer’s decision to have him descend from his bunk bed for roll call as ‘a decision of the officer on duty that day’ rather than a policy,’” the decision says.
The county said the decision to make an inmate descend the top bunk was discretionary.
“Because there are at least three plausible theories for the jailer’s decision to order Williamson to descend from his bunk bed for roll call at the time of his injury, the record is insufficient to conclude that the decision was a discretionary one. The decision could just as easily have been an operational decision by the jailer on duty that day,” the decision says.