Bedsole v. Clark, No. 2080483 (Ala. Civ. App. 9/18/2009)

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Farrell Bedsole, v. Sheriff Anthony Clark and Jerry Edgar.

Farrell Bedsole, v. Dr. Millard H. McWhorter.

No. 2080483.

No. 2080603.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

Decided September 18, 2009.

Appeals from Covington Circuit Court (CV-07-11).

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge.

Farrell Bedsole appeals from the trial court's summary judgments in favor of Anthony Clark, the sheriff of Covington County; Jerry Edgar, the jail administrator for the Covington County Jail; and Dr. Millard McWhorter, the medical director of the Covington County Jail. Bedsole, an inmate at the Covington County Jail ("the jail") at the time the events made the basis of this matter occurred, sued numerous people connected with the jail alleging various claims arising out of treatment he received for a sore on his abdomen, which Bedsole alleged was the result of a spider bite. The trial court entered a series of summary judgments that eventually disposed of all of Bedsole's claims against all defendants. Bedsole, acting pro se, appeals only as to the judgments entered in favor of Clark, Edgar, and Dr. McWhorter. He filed his appeals with the Alabama Supreme Court, which transferred the appeals to this court pursuant to § 12-2-7(6), Ala. Code 1975. This court consolidated the appeals.

Evidence submitted in support of, and in opposition to, the defendants' motions for a summary judgment tended to show the following. In June 2005, Bedsole was being held in the jail awaiting sentencing after having been convicted of four sex offenses. On June 13, 2005, he completed a sick-call slip, complaining of back pain. The next day, when a nurse with the medical staff at the jail saw Bedsole, the nurse noticed that Bedsole had a sore on his abdomen and that the sore had drainage. In accordance with a standing order from Dr. McWhorter concerning sores like Bedsole's, the nurse medicated Bedsole with Bactrim, an antibiotic, and bandaged the sore. The nurse also recommended that Bedsole be removed from the general inmate population until Dr. McWhorter could treat him. She made the recommendation because she believed that Bedsole had a staph infection. Jail officials followed the nurse's recommendation and moved Bedsole from the general population.

Later the same day, Bedsole completed another sick-call slip, this time complaining of a spider bite on his abdomen. Dr. McWhorter saw Bedsole the next day, June 15, 2005. Dr. McWhorter ordered that Bedsole was to continue receiving Bactrim plus a "Bacitracia" drop on the wound until it healed. Three days later, on June 18, 2005, a nurse treating Bedsole's sore noted that it was about the size of a quarter and that it appeared to require lancing. The next day, June 19, Bedsole was taken to the emergency room at Andalusia Regional Hospital for treatment of the sore. He was discharged from the emergency room of the hospital to the jail with instructions that he should be treated with Granulex spray to the sore, that he should have "wet to dry dressings" daily, and that, if his condition worsened, he should have a follow-up visit with Dr. McWhorter or a surgeon. The discharge instructions did not include a diagnosis of spider bite, and they did not require Bedsole to return to the hospital, unless his condition worsened.

In compliance with the hospital's discharge instructions, on June 20, 2005, Dr. McWhorter ordered that Bedsole's sore be sprayed twice each day with "TBC," which, according to Dr. McWhorter, is "essentially the same" as Granulex spray, and treated with a wet-to-dry dressing. The Bactrim was discontinued and replaced with doxycycline twice each day for ten days. A notation on Bedsole's medical record states that on July 2, 2005, the sore was the size of a dime, and no drainage was noted. A notation made two days later stated that the "area [was] healing good." Bedsole made no further complaints regarding the sore. On July 20, 2005, Bedsole was transported from the jail to the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections.

In January 2007, Bedsole filed a civil action alleging that, while he was an inmate at the jail, jail officials and Dr. McWhorter acted with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs and that Clark and Edgar failed to adequately train and supervise Dr. McWhorter in violation of Bedsole's constitutional rights. He also appeared to assert a claim of medical malpractice against Dr. McWhorter. As mentioned above, the trial court entered summary judgments in favor of all defendants on all claims.

On appeal, it appears that Bedsole contends that the trial court erred in entering summary judgments in favor of Dr. McWhorter, Clark, and Edgar only as to his claims that they acted with deliberate indifference to his medical needs and that Clark and Edgar failed to adequately train and supervise Dr. McWhorter.

"In reviewing a summary judgment, we use the same standard the trial court used in determining whether the evidence before it presented a genuine issue of material fact and whether the movant was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Bussey v. John Deere Co., 531 So. 2d 860, 862 (Ala. 1988); Rule 56(c), Ala. R. Civ. P. When the movant makes a prima facie showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists, the burden then shifts to the nonmovant to present substantial evidence creating such an issue. Bass v. SouthTrust Bank of Baldwin County, 538 So. 2d 794 (Ala. 1989). Evidence is `substantial' if it is of `such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved.' West v. Founders Life Assurance Co. of Florida, 547 So. 2d 870, 871 (Ala. 1989). In reviewing a summary judgment, this Court must review the record in a light most favorable to the nonmovant and must resolve all reasonable doubts against the movant. Hanners v. Balfour Guthrie, Inc., 564 So. 2d 412 (Ala. 1990). Furthermore, `[i]f the terms within a contract are plain and unambiguous, the construction of the contract and its legal effect become questions of law for the court and, when appropriate, may be decided by summary judgment.' McDonald v. U.S. Die Casting & Dev. Co., 585 So. 2d 853, 855 (Ala. 1991)."

Taylor v. Striplin, 974 So. 2d 298, 301 (Ala. 2007).

Although the trial court did not provide a reason as to why it entered the summary judgment in favor of Clark and Edgar, this court may affirm a summary judgment on any valid ground, with certain exceptions not applicable in this case. Liberty Nat'l Life Ins. Co. v. University of Alabama Health Servs. Found., P.C., 881 So. 2d 1013, 1020 (Ala. 2003). Clark and Edgar first argue to this court that they were entitled to a summary judgment based upon absolute immunity pursuant to Article I, § 14, Ala. Const. 1901. A claim alleging deliberate indifference to an inmate's serious medical needs in violation of the inmate's constitutional rights is a federal action, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.¹ Section 14 immunity has no applicability to federal-law claims. King v. Correctional Med. Serv., Inc., 919 So. 2d 1186, 1191 (Ala. Civ. App. 2005).

Alternatively, Clark and Edgar assert, they were entitled to a summary judgment based upon qualified immunity.

"`Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions from suits in their individual capacities unless their conduct violates "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known."' Dalrymple v. Reno, 334 F.3d 991, 994 (11th Cir. 2003) (quoting Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982))), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 935, 124 S.Ct. 1655, 158 L.Ed.2d 355 (2004); see also Lee v. Ferraro, 284 F.3d 1188, 1194 (11th Cir. 2002) (ruling that qualified immunity `protect[s] from suit "all but the plainly incompetent or one who is knowingly violating the federal law"' (quoting Willingham v. Loughnan, 261 F.3d 1178, 1187 (11th Cir. 2001))). When a government official seeks summary judgment based on qualified immunity, courts apply a two-step test to determine whether qualified immunity is appropriate. First, `[a] court required to rule upon the qualified immunity issue must consider ... this threshold question: Taken in the light most favorable to the party asserting the injury, do the facts alleged show the officer's conduct violated a constitutional right?' Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). When a court answers this question affirmatively, the court moves to the second step, which is to consider whether the constitutional right was `clearly established' on the date of the violation. Id."

Andujar v. Rodriguez, 486 F.3d 1199, 1202-03 (11th Cir. 2007).

In determining whether Bedsole's allegation that Clark and Edgar violated his constitutional rights by acting with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs, Bedsole must first prove that he in fact had a serious medical need. Andujar, 486 F.3d at 1203. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has defined a "serious medical need" as "`one that is so obvious that even a lay person would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor's attention.'" Farrow v. West, 320 F.3d 1235, 1243 (11th Cir. 2003) (quoting Hill v. Dekalb Reg'l Youth Det. Ctr., 40 F.3d 1176, 1187 (11th Cir. 1994)).

If Bedsole were to establish that he had a serious medical need, he must then satisfy a subjective inquiry, i.e., that Clark and Edgar acted with deliberate indifference to that serious medical need. Andujar, 486 F.3d at 1203. "[T]he case law ha[s] made it clear that an official acts with deliberate indifference when he knows that an inmate is in serious need of medical care, but he fails or refuses to obtain medical treatment for the inmate." Lancaster v. Monroe County, Alabama, 116 F.3d 1419, 1425 (11th Cir. 1997)....