The plaintiff is a pretrial detainee at the Berrien County Jail seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief for the defendant to provide “advanced orthodontic dental care repair of molar tooth filling loss with root canal and crown procedure” under § 1983. The plaintiff alleged that the COVID-19 pandemic had made his conditions of confinement worse, which caused increased tension within the jail and eventually resulted in him losing his dental filling in a series of violent attacks. After resolving preliminary issues, the court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint for failure to state a claim, reasoning that the complaint had failed to allege or identify a policy or custom necessary to prove municipal liability.
Taghon v. Bailey, No. 20-cv-373-JTN-RSK, 2020 WL 2315748 (W.D. Mich. May 11, 2020)
DETAILS
Decision
Date
5/11/2020
Practice Area
Criminal (State Charges)
Relief Requested
Other, Release, Compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
Michigan
Type of Case
Individual
Case Characteristics
Parole or Probation Violations, Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions, Pretrial Detention [jail]
Bi-Polar Disorder, Other, PTSD, Substance Use Disorder, Sealed
COVID-19 Positive or Symptomatic
No
Charges
Arson, larceny, and retail fraud
COVID-19 in Jail Prison or Detention Center
No
Litigation Database
Crowdsourced legal documents from around the country related to COVID-19 and incarceration, organized, collected, and summarized for public defenders, litigators, and other advocates. Created and managed by Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, and Zealous. Mostly federal court opinions, but now expanding to states and legal filings, declarations, and exhibits.
This resource is designed to help lawyers, advocates, researchers, journalists, and others interested in challenging, remedying, or drawing attention to the grave risk that Covid-19 poses to individuals who are detained.