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County will settle jail case Contradictions led to settlement By DANI DODGE Jackson County commissioners agreed to a $1.8 million settlement Thursday in the case of Jeffrey Stuart Anderson, a man who died after getting shoddy medical care in the Jackson County Jail. It is the largest settlement, or even court judgment, the county has ever paid out. "I can't think of anything that was close," said County Administrator Sue Slack. The county also released a statement saying its employees acted responsibly in the matter. It is unclear at whether the settlement will come from insurance or from somewhere in the county's budget, according to county attorney Steve Rinkle. Jeffrey Stuart Anderson's family was pleased with the agreement. "I can't explain it really, but it's been five years of hell - losing Stuart and then wanting to bring this out," said Anderson's 71-year-old mother, Helen Anderson, of Medford. "This should never happen to anyone else." Anderson, 33, turned himself in to the Jackson County Jail on April 2, 1996, on a probation violation. After a few days, he started to suffer from alcohol withdrawal. He was given medication only sporadically and issued a medical identification bracelet. Unaware of his medical condition, deputies placed the thrashing, hallucinating Anderson in the jail's restraint chair for 10 hours and 22 minutes. When he was removed, he was bruised from his feet to his head. By April 7, he was lying on the floor of his cell in his own urine. His tongue was swollen from dehydration. He had lost control of his bowels. When he was finally taken to the hospital it was too late - a baseball-sized blood clot had formed in his brain, and he never fully regained consciousness. He died May 2. The family sued the county for excessive use of force, inadequate medical care and wrongful death. After an eight-day trial the jury came back Wednesday with a verdict for the family on wrongful death, finding that county employees had shown "deliberate indifference" to Anderson's medical needs. They unanimously voted to award the family $3.1 million. But in the complex four-page verdict form the jury awarded some money to the family that conflicted with their findings. The county moved for a mistrial. The judge declined to immediately accept the verdict until the contradictions could be resolved. At that point, settlement offers started flying. After the family and the county attorneys agreed to $1.7 million for the family and $100,000 for the family's attorneys, the agreement had to be approved by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners. Before the agreement was unanimously approved, Commissioner Sue Kupillas said: "We are certainly not admitting liability." A statement released by the county Thursday emphasized her point. "It is the county's firm stance that all employees in this matter acted appropriately," the release read. "Jackson County's policies and procedures dealing with inmates are appropriate, strong and followed by all county employees." The family's attorney, Foster Glass, said the settlement doesn't nullify the jury's carefully considered decision. "All settlement agreements say they are not admitting liability," Glass said. "But the fact is the jury already returned the verdict. You can't take that away." Family members - who turned down an earlier settlement offer of $150,000 because they wanted the facts about Anderson's case to come out - said they hadn't really thought about the money. Anderson's mother said she expects much of it to go into trust funds for Anderson's two teenage sons and 10 percent will go to "do the Lord's work." "It's Him that brought the victory for us and he led us every step of the way," she said. "It's Him that got Foster (Glass) to take the case." Glass, a former district attorney in Grant County, accepted the case on contingency and used his own money to bring in expert witnesses. It was only the second federal case he's tried. He said the case proved the wisdom of the jury system. "Protection against this type of government abuse is why our forefathers formulated the Constitution," he said. Sheriff Bob Kennedy said he isn't making any specific changes to the jail policies in response to the settlement, but noted that policies are "living, breathing documents" that change constantly. "Since 1996, we've taken steps to transport people to the hospital sooner if no nursing staff is on board," Kennedy said. "But even if we'd transported this guy 12 hours earlier, I don't know if the hospital would have diagnosed his clot in his brain because he was going into (alcohol withdrawal). "We don't know if the things we've changed over the years would have saved him or not." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.