By Michael Walton
The Record-Eagle
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Grand Traverse County commissioners at the last minute approved a settlement agreement in a lawsuit over a county jail inmate’s drug overdose death.
Plaintiff Brenda Strait originally contended in the lawsuit that county officials and jail officers, as well as employees of two healthcare corporations that serve the jail — Correctional Healthcare Companies Inc. and Health Professionals LTD — failed to properly care for her son, Danny Whitney, while he was in jail in 2011.
The suit sought more than $75,000 in damages, and commissioners voted 5-2 on Monday to accept a settlement deal that will pay Strait $65,000. The case was scheduled to go to trial in federal court that day.
Commissioner Addison Wheelock Jr. called his vote to approve the settlement “strictly a business decision.”
“Under no circumstances do we feel that our officers did anything wrong,” Wheelock said. “Trials cost way too much money.”
Wheelock said plaintiff attorneys during a settlement conference last month asked for $195,000 the settle the case. County officials rejected the deal, he said.
Whitney died after jail officers found him unresponsive in an intake cell, where he was placed after he arrived intoxicated at a probation office in 2011. Documents state a forensic pathologist estimated Whitney ingested between 20 and 40 methadone pills before he died.
Federal district court Judge Paul Maloney in November granted a partial summary judgment in the court case that effectively dismissed the independent medical contractors and all other defendants, except two jail officers.
Haider Kazim, an attorney from Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho who represented the county, stated in a letter to county commissioners that the settlement deal gives the county the opportunity to “pursue legal action” against Correctional Heathcare Companies.
Commission Chairwoman Christine Maxbauer, who along with Commissioner Alisa Kroupa voted against the settlement, said she believes the county board should consider doing just that.
Maxbauer said jail officers did the right thing in Whitney’s case by contacting CHC medical officials when he entered the jail.
“It was CHC’s responsibility to handle his care, and that’s according to contract,” Maxbauer said.
Brian Molde, one of two attorneys from the Detroit-based Johnson Law PLC who represented the case’s plaintiff, referred comment to attorney Ven Johnson. Johnson could not be reached for this story.
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