A Delaware Chancery Court denied a motion to dismiss filed by Prison Health
Services, Inc. The motion sought to dismiss the complaint of Up and Up
Health Services, Inc. Both companies were bidding for a contract to provide
managed health care services to the Immigration and Naturalization Services
(INS). The complaint, stated a Vice President of Up and UP in charge of'
its INS project was recruited by PHS with an offer of double his salary and
a promise of a substantial bonus if UP and UP was awarded the INS contract.
PHS used the Vice President's knowledge of Up and Ups trade secret to bid
the project, which remained ongoing. Up- and Up sought injunctive relief.
Precluding PHS from using its propriety information in furtherance of the
INS bid effort and use of the Vice President with his confidential
information in the effort; also sought was monetary damages for the harm.
The court held that as the bidding process was ongoing, injunctive relief
could be granted to stop the use of the trade secrets, and as monetary
damages alone would not be adequate relief, dismissal was inappropriate.
See: BCE Emergis Corporation v. Prison Health Services, 2001 WL 695538
(Del. ...
On May 16, 2002, a jury found Correctional Medical Services (CMS) of
Illinois and Kane County liable for the death of Ethel Hare--a prisoner
with chronic liver disease, hepatitis, and HIV--and awarded her estate
$450,000.
While imprisoned in the Kane County Jail, Hare sought medical care from
CMS--the jail's for-profit ...
On July 28, 2003, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a district
court to reconsider whether the State of Missouri could confiscate a
prisoner's judgment against a prison medical provider under the state's
cost of incarceration statute.
Acting pro se, Edward Allen Moore, a Missouri state prisoner, was ...
Florida's Second District Court of Appeal has affirmed an order of a Polk
County Circuit Court that held Prison Health Services (PHS) must comply
with Florida's Public Records Act.
The Lakeland Ledger Publishing Company sought records pertaining to a
settlement agreement reached to resolve litigation resulting from the
treatment of a prisoner. The Circuit Court ordered PHS to produce those
records.
In so holding, the Court held the PHS contracted to act on behalf of the
Sheriff by providing medical services and all its records that would
normally be subject to the Public Records Act if in the possession of the
public agency are likewise covered by that law even though in the
possession of PHS, a private corporation.
The Circuit Court's order was affirmed. See: Prison Health Services v. The
Lakeland Ledger Publishing Company, 718 So.2d 204 (Fla. 2nd Dist. 1998).
A Delaware Superior Court has denied a motion to dismiss a complaint
alleging First Correctional Medical (FCM) was deliberately indifferent to
the serious medical needs of prisoner Gregory D. Smith, causing his death.
The suit alleged FCM's policies, procedures, and customs displayed a
continuous deliberate indifference to prisoners' serious medical needs by;
(1) failure to hire a regional medical director to oversee incarcerated
prisoners; (2) failure to maintain adequate staffing levels of nurses and
physicians at the infirmary; (3) practice of refusing to authorize
necessary outside medical care when it was believed the prisoner would be
released soon; (4) practice of medical care by telephone; (5) practice of
routinely withholding medical treatment for profit; and (6) establishment
of an HMO type organization whereby all outside medical referrals must be
approved by FCM headquarters in Arizona which has resulted in substantial
delay and denial of necessary treatment by individuals who were without
adequate knowledge to make such determinations.
FCM conceded that Smith had serious medical needs of sickle cell disease,
wound treatment and rheumatoid arthritis. The complaint alleged
absolutely zero effort to treat Smith's medical conditions. As such, the
court held a cause of action was stated and denied FCM's motion ...
On February 8, 1996, Geraldine Seale, a Florida state prisoner, complained
to the state Human Relations Commission (Commission) about the medical care
she was receiving. The Commission didn't make a reasonable cause
determination within 180 days as required by Fla. Stat. ch. 760.11(8). On
March 13, 1998 Seale filed suit against the prison health care company,
EMSA Correctional Care, Inc., in state court. The trial court dismissed,
finding that Seale had exceeded the one-year statute of limitations in
filing her lawsuit. Relying on Joshua v. City of Gainesville, 734 So.2d
1065; 735 So.2d 1285 (Fla.2d DCA 1999), which was pending in the state
Supreme Court, the appellate court affirmed. Seale appealed.
On appeal, the Supreme Court of Florida first noted that it had reversed
Hoshua in the interim. It then found that the four-year statute of
limitations for statutory causes of action, such as Seales', applied,
citing Fla. Stat. ch. 95.11(3)(f). The lower courts were reversed and the
case remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. See: Seale v.
EMSA Correctional Care, Inc., 767 So.2d 1188 (Fla. 2000).
Correctional Medical Care, Inc. (CMC) entered into a contract with MHM
Services, Inc. (MHM) to jointly bid for a health care contract at a prison
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MHM later had secret meetings with the city
of Philadelphia and was awarded the contract, cutting CMC out of the deal
entirely. CMC sued MHM, the city, the Philadelphia Prison System (PPS) and
others. The PPS objected contending that, as a municipal agency, it was
immune from suit.
Citing Title 53 P.S. 16257, the court found that "all suits growing out of
City department transactions shall be in the name of the City of
Philadelphia." On that basis the court agreed that PPS was immune from
suit and dismissed the PPS. The suit against all other defendants was
allowed to continue. See: Correctional Medical Care, Inc. v. City of
Philadelphia, Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,
Civil Trial Division No. 3980 (2004)
GA Prisoners Seeking to Appeal the Denial of a Motion to Intervene Must
Apply for Interlocutory Review
Prison Health Services, Inc. (PHS) was awarded a contract to provide health
care to prisoners in the Georgia prison system. Later, the state changed
its mind and gave the contract to another corporation. PHS sued the state
in state court for breach of contract, and Albert Thomas, a Georgia state
prisoner, filed a motion to intervene. The court denied Thomas' motion to
intervene, and without applying for interlocutory review, he appealed.
On appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia found that O.C.G.A. § 5-6-34 (B)
required parties seeking to appeal the denial of a motion to intervene to
first have granted an application for interlocutory review. Since Thomas
hadn't done so, his appeal was dismissed. See: Prison Health Services, Inc.
v. Georgia Dept. of Admin. Services, 265 Ga 810 (GA 1995).
PA Long-Arm Statute Reaches Out-of-State Civil Rights Violations in
TransCor Suit
On May 5, 2000, Jerry Irons, an AIDS patient was arrested in Maryland on an
Ohio warrant. On May 17, TransCor, a company that transports prisoners,
took custody of Irons. It transported him through several states, including
Pennsylvania, ignoring his pleas for AIDS treatment. Medical staff at a
Massachusetts prison suggested that Irons be released to a hospital, which
TransCor guards did on May 23, 2000. The next day Irons' mother drove him
to a Philadelphia hospital, where he received surgery and other treatment
for the damage caused by his lack of treatment while in transit. He sued
numerous defendants in the U.S. Dist. Court for the East. Dist. Of
Pennsylvania, claiming deliberate indifference to his medical needs.
The court considered the motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction filed
by all of the defendants. Several out-of-state counties, municipalities and
prison wardens were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. But the court also
found that the Pennsylvania long-arm statute provided jurisdiction over
several TransCor guards in their individual capacities for their tortuous
conduct while they were in Pennsylvania, even though they lived in Kentucky
and Tennessee. Thus, the case was ...
The Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) farms out its
prisoner-medical-services to subcontractors such as Wexford Health Sources,
Inc. (Wexford). During an unfair labor practices case before the State
Labor Relations Board (Board), the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (Union) sought to represent Wexford employees. The
Board denied that Union's request to represent the Wexford employees, and
the Union appealed. The state appellate court reversed, and the Board
appealed.
On appeal, the Supreme Court of Illinois found that 5 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann.
§ 315/1 et seq. would allow the Union to represent the Wexford employees
against the DOC only if the DOC was a joint public employer of those
employees. The Court then held that since Wexford made all of the hiring,
firing and management decisions where its employees were concerned, the DOC
didn't exercise sufficient control over them to be a joint public employer
of them under § 315/1 et seq. Thus, the Court reversed the appellate court
and reinstated the Board's decision. See: American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees v. Illinois State Labor Relations Board, 216
Ill. 2d. 839 ( Ill. 2005).
