Family of Iowa man who died unattended after seizure in jail to receive $3.5 million
A northern Iowa county has agreed to pay $3.5 million to the family of a man who died in jail after suffering a seizure.
Attorney Dave O'Brien, representing the family of Ricky Christianson, announced the settlement agreement to resolve a lawsuit filed in November 2021. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in 2023.
Cerro Gordo County supervisors referred questions to the county's attorney, Dave Schrock, who declined to comment.
Christianson, 59, was booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail on Nov. 17, 2020, for a probation violation. According to the lawsuit filed by his children, the arresting Mason City police officer did not bring Christianson's anti-seizure medication to the jail, and Christianson told jail officers during booking that he suffered life-threatening seizures, including one the previous day.
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The next day, according to the complaint, Christianson had a seizure shortly before 7 a.m. In response, jail employees took Christianson to a padded cell and laid him out on the floor. Camera footage shows Christianson was left alone in the cell for more than 90 minutes before he was found dead.
The suit alleged jail staff knew about Christianson's seizures, and that he was an alcoholic at risk of withdrawal symptoms, but neither provided medication nor placed him on heightened monitoring for his health condition. They also did not provide any medical treatment or evaluation, it said.
In court filings, the county claimed that the jail staff had monitored Christianson during and after his seizure, including after he was placed in the padded cell, and "there was no indication that any specific medical treatment was needed or required at that time."
O'Brien in a statement praised the county for acting quickly to settle the case, more than a year before it was set for trial.
“Mistakes happen, and as mistakes go this one was pretty egregious,” O'Brien said. “However, rather than refusing to provide material required to be released under Iowa’s open records law, trying to cover up the wrongdoing and accepting no responsibility for any mistakes ... Cerro Gordo County retained highly accomplished counsel, assessed the case and acted swiftly and appropriately to resolve the matter."
O'Brien said his clients are reassured based on the county's actions "that such a mistake is highly unlikely to be repeated.”
The settlement, which is not yet reflected in online court records, appears to be the largest in recent jail death cases around the state, although it's not clear whether it sets a record.
The state Department of Corrections paid $125,000 in 2021 to settle a lawsuit from the family of a man who died by suicide at the Waterloo Residential Correctional Facility in 2016. In 2018, Grundy County paid $500,000 to the family of a man who hung himself in his cell while the only jailer on duty waited 13 minutes outside his door for backup before going in to render aid. O'Brien also represented the family in that case.
Asked about the settlement amount, O'Brien said via a spokesperson that a larger settlement indicates that "Iowans are beginning to better value the lives of other Iowans."
Several other jail death lawsuits remain pending around the state, including one filed in connection with a Polk County detainee who was fatally injured in a November 2019 suicide attempt just three days after he'd previously tried to kill himself. His mother alleges the jail took no precautions after the first attempt to prevent him from trying again.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa jail seizure death lawsuit settled for $3.5 million
