## Facts

- Duane E. Sweeten died while incarcerated in the Leflore County jail.
- Sweeten’s mother, Loretta Price, sued the Leflore County Detention Center Public Trust (the entity operating the jail) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging the jail maintained an unconstitutional policy or custom of denying prisoners medical treatment.
- Price also sued jail employee Brandi Saulsberry in her individual capacity, alleging negligent supervision tied to the alleged denial of medical care.
- During discovery, Price served a request seeking production of all written complaints related to the jail’s failure to provide medical treatment to inmates for the prior 10 years.
- The jail did not provide the requested complaint records in response to the request, and Price filed a motion to compel production.

## Issues

1. Whether written complaints concerning alleged failures to provide inmates medical treatment over a ten-year period were within the scope of discovery under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 given Price’s claims that the jail maintained an unconstitutional policy or custom and that jail officials had notice of problems.
2. Whether the request, as served, should be denied or limited due to burden or proportionality concerns.

## Decision

- The court granted Price’s motion to compel in substantial part.
- The court determined that written complaints about alleged denials of medical care were discoverable because they bore on whether a policy or custom existed and whether the jail had notice of similar allegations.
- The court limited the required production to address burden and case-management concerns and ordered production consistent with the discovery process and schedule.

## Legal Principles

- Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1), parties may obtain discovery regarding nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense; information need not be admissible at trial to be discoverable.
- Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(C), a court may limit discovery if it is unreasonably cumulative, obtainable from a more convenient source, or if the burden or expense outweighs the likely benefit.
- Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a), when a party fails to respond adequately to discovery requests, the requesting party may move to compel, and the court may order production subject to reasonable limits.
- In a § 1983 action alleging an unconstitutional policy or custom by a jail operator, evidence of other inmates’ written complaints about similar medical-care denials can be relevant to proving a pattern and to showing notice to responsible officials.

## Conclusion

In this interlocutory discovery order, the court required the Leflore County Detention Center Public Trust to produce written complaints alleging failures to provide inmate medical treatment because the complaints were relevant to Price’s claims that the jail maintained an unconstitutional policy or custom and had notice of similar problems, while also imposing reasonable limits to reduce undue burden.


Price v. Leflore County Detention Center Public Trust, 2014 WL 3672874 (2014)