Oklahoma sheriff urges 10th Circuit to strike $33 million jury award as 'punitive' for jail death

DENVER (CN) — An Oklahoma sheriff on Thursday asked the 10th Circuit to vacate a jury’s $33 million compensatory verdict over the death of a county jail detainee as excessive and punitive.

“The compensatory damages verdict of $33 million can only be described as excessive and punitive, resulting from passion and prejudice,” argued attorney Alison Levine on behalf of the Sheriff of Ottawa County.

When 26-year-old Terral Ellis turned himself into the Ottawa County Jail on Oct. 10, 2015, on a pending charge, he didn’t know he would be dead before Halloween. Over the course of the next week, his health drastically deteriorated, and though he said he felt like he was going to die, his calls for help were ignored and mocked by the jail nurse and staff.

On Oct. 22, Ellis died from sepsis due to untreated pneumonia, leaving behind a 2-year-old son.

Ellis’ family sued the county sheriff in his official capacity in 2017, arguing the jail violated Ellis’ Eighth Amendment rights by cutting corners on medical care to save money and telling staff to never trust the inmates. During the trial, Ellis’ family even claimed the jail’s assistant administrator and nurse tried to stage his death as a suicide, cooking up a story about him hanging himself with his blanket.

Following an 8-day trial in August 2023, a jury awarded Ellis’ family $33 million in compensatory damages. While punitive damages were not an available remedy, the family’s attorneys urged the jury to consider an amount that would deter future behavior.

The county filed three posttrial motions, asking for judgment as a matter of law, a new trial, and a reduction of the damages awarded. Barack Obama-appointed U.S. Judge Claire Kelly denied all three requests and accepted the Ellis family’s motion for attorney’s fees of $970,000 plus expenses.

The sheriff appealed all three actions, focusing Thursday’s oral argument on the denied remittitur.

Levine, who practices with the Oklahoma City firm Collins Zorn, argued that telling the jury to levy damages to deter future behavior amounted to encouraging an unlawfully punitive amount.

“One of the last things the jury heard before they deliberated was that the point of this lawsuit was deterrence to prevent this from happening again,” Levine said. “This judgment wasn’t made with Ellis in mind, it was made in conjunction with the statement that county employees have the attitude that inmate lives don’t matter.”

U.S. Circuit Judge Carolyn McHugh questioned the wisdom of doubting the judge who oversaw the trial.

“Wasn’t the district court in the best position to observe the jury and hear about the pain and suffering over the course of the trial? Wasn’t she in the best position to weigh whether the judgment matched the outcome?” McHugh asked.

In response, the Ellis family’s attorney, Robert Blakemore, recalled the jury being specifically instructed that it could not award punitive damages to punish the county.

“This case is a truly tragic, deeply disturbing case, and the district judge found there was overwhelming evidence that supported the verdict,” argued Blakemore, who practices with Smolen & Roytman in Tulsa.

McHugh pushed back on Blakemore’s claim that the trial attorneys didn’t cross any lines in raising deterrence.

“He says you have to send a message so these people do not go out and high-five over a low verdict,” McHugh said. “If I think it did cross the line, what do I do? Do I say the verdict should be reduced by $X million, or do I remand it to the district court to make that decision?”

U.S. Circuit Judge Jerome Holmes, appointed by George W. Bush sat on the panel along with Joe Biden-appointed U.S. Circuit Judge Veronica Rossman.

The panel held arguments at the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in downtown Denver and did not indicate when or how it would decide the case.

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