Pierce Couch Attorneys Affirmed on Appeal

In October 2023, Pierce Couch Hendrickson Baysinger & Green partners Charlie Schreck and Robert Lafferrandre obtained an appellate win in the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit for a jailer in a civil rights case. 

Plaintiff was an inmate in the Pontotoc County Jail who engaged in sexual activity with this jailer in March 2016. In her lawsuit, Plaintiff alleged the sexual activity was not consensual and requested emotional and punitive damages. After years of discovery, the trial court granted the jailer’s motion for summary judgment on punitive damages, finding there was no dispute that the jailer simply did not possess the requisite state of mind to allow a jury to consider punitive damages. The trial court, however, allowed the remaining claim for emotional damages to proceed to a trial in January 2023. In closing argument, Plaintiff’s attorney argued the encounters were malicious and coerced. Based on that characterization, Plaintiff asked the jury for an award of $2 million. The defense argued the evidence in the record showed the encounters between Plaintiff and Defendant were consensual and examples of poor judgment, nothing more. The jury ultimately awarded $75,000 to Plaintiff – less than 1% of the amount requested in closing. After the verdict, Plaintiff appealed the trial court’s decision to grant summary judgment to the jailer on punitive damages. After extensive briefing and oral argument to a three-judge panel in Denver, the Tenth Circuit issued a twenty-nine page unanimous decision affirming summary judgment for the jailer, generally agreeing with the positions asserted by the defense. The Tenth Circuit then terminated the case after six years of hard-fought litigation.