SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) — The family of a California inmate who died from a fentanyl overdose after getting drugs from her cellmate is claiming negligence and civil rights violations.
Gabriel Roberts, individually and as co-successor in interest to Crystal Elizabeth Roberts, deceased, and others filed a complaint July 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Wellpath LLC, Dinehs Nagar, M.D., Donald Purcell, M.D., and others alleging civil rights violations, negligence and other claims.
According to the plaintiffs' complaint, 36-year-year old Crystal Roberts was arrested for alleged non-violent property crimes and booked into the Solano County Jail Justice Center Detention Facility in Fairfield on April 19, 2021.
They allege that while being held as a pretrial detainee, Roberts was not given an initial mental health screening prior to being placed in the general population of the jail despite having a long history of illicit drug abuse and being declared incompetent to stand trial by the Solano County Superior Court.
The plaintiffs claim that Roberts' cellmate possessed fentanyl that she gave to Roberts and that Roberts overdosed and remained unresponsive for a significant amount of time while lying on the floor without receiving any medical attention. They further claim that on Nov. 17, 2021, after emergency medical care was summoned, Roberts was pronounced dead from acute fentanyl intoxication.
The plaintiffs seek monetary relief, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by San Schmidt of The Law Office of Sanjay S. Schmidt in San Francisco, Jeff Price of JDP PC in Santa Monica and Cate Beekman of Beekman & Chikhani LLP in Fairfield.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 3:23-CV-03662-JSC