Reasonable Alternate Explanation for Prisoner's Injuries Enough to Uphold Jury Verdict for Defendants
MOORE v. TULEJA (October 6, 2008)
On the evening of April 8, Frederick Grady was in a serious accident in his van. He escaped with minor injuries but his van flipped and was badly damaged. Despite the warnings of emergency personnel, Grady reached into his van to retrieve some carpentry tools. He cut his hand badly. The on-scene emergency personnel treated the wound and recorded its occurrence. Later that evening, Grady trespassed on the lot where his damaged van had been taken, in another vain attempt to retrieve his tools. He was arrested. The arresting officer noticed his bandaged hand but did not mention it in his report. The report prepared at the lockup also neglected to mention a hand injury. He was photographed and taken to jail. The photograph showed no signs of injury to his head. The prisoner in the adjacent cell noticed the bandage on his hand. Jail guards noticed Grady sitting in his cell at about 1:30 the next afternoon. A few minutes later, the prisoner in the adjacent cell heard an unusual noise. Shortly thereafter, jail personnel found Grady on the floor of his cell, unconscious. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. An autopsy determined that he died of a heart attack. It also revealed a number of injuries to his body. His estate filed an action under 42 U.S.C. §1983, claiming that various officers and jail personnel deprived Grady of his constitutional rights by using excessive force and depriving him of medical care. The case was based almost exclusively on inferences drawn from the nature of the injuries to Grady’s body. After seven days of testimony from almost every individual who interacted with Grady after his accident, the jury found for defendants. Plaintiffs appeal the denial of their motion for a new trial.
In their opinion, Judges Cudahy, Posner, and Tinder affirmed. The Court first noted plaintiffs' heavy burden on appeal. They will set aside the verdict only if “no rational jury” could have rendered the verdict. The panel moved on to a review of the evidence. All three medical experts agreed that the cause of death was a heart attack. The question for the jury was what triggered the attack. Plaintiffs’ expert opined that the nature of the hand laceration, two head abrasions, and scrapes on Grady’s wrist indicated that Grady had likely been beaten. The Court analyzed each individual injury in turn. They found reasonable bases in the record for the jury's conclusions that a) the hand injury arose from the post-accident event, b) the head abrasions occurred when he collapsed onto the floor of his cell, and c) the wrist scrapes resulted form the short time he was in handcuffs or even from the original accident. Plaintiffs did not meet their burden.
Michael Rigney practices in the law offices of GVC Ltd. in Chicago. In this blog, he reports on select