James Hirst v. Jean Gertzen

FACTS

In the early morning of March 7, 1975, Clayton Hirst, a member of the Blackfeet Native American Tribe, was found dead in his jail cell in the Glacier County Jail in Cut Bank, Montana, hanged by the neck from his belt. Appellants, the heirs of Clayton Hirst, brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , charging that Glacier County, the City of Cut Bank, and various county and city officials had violated his civil rights.

Appellants put forward two theories of liability for Clayton Hirst’s death. First, appellants alleged that Clayton Hirst had been murdered by electrocution, and his body hanged afterwards to disguise the murder. The murder allegedly spawned a conspiracy among county and city officials to suppress the true facts of Hirst’s death. Alternatively, appellants claimed that Clayton Hirst had committed suicide, and that his suicide was the direct and foreseeable result of the defendants’ gross negligence in leaving Clayton Hirst in the sole control of a violent deputy sheriff, employed by the defendants despite a history of violent behavior towards prisoners. In connection with their § 1983 claim based on gross negligence, appellants requested the district court to take…

Sitting by Designation, dissenting in part:

A relatively simple factual case has been rendered exceedingly complex by the majority opinion. The net effect of the reversal is tantamount to a direction for the lower Court to let the plaintiff recover, at least insofar as the unidentified deputy sheriff is concerned. Because the issue of causation is vital on the facts presented, and it clearly appears from the sworn testimony of every witness that the deputy sheriff was not at the county jail after 4:30 p. m. on March 6, 1975, until 8:00 a. m. on March 7, 1975, during which time Clayton Hirst committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell by the use of his belt, I respectfully dissent.

Whether the Supreme Court did, or did not, permit the recovery on simple negligence in actions under § 1983, under the recent case of Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527 , 101 S.Ct. 1908 , 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981), is not material in this case. The crucial question is dependent upon the part a certain deputy sheriff played in handling Clayton Hirst.

Hirst was apparently arrested on an excessive drinking charge 1 and was. initially placed in the Cut Bank jail. About noon on March 5,1975, the chief of…

676 F.2d 1252 10 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1506 James HIRST, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jean GERTZEN, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 78-2889. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Sept. 4, 1980. Decided May 10, 1982. Kent A. Russell, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellants. John D. Stephenson, Jr., Jardine, Stephenson, Blewett & Weaver, James R. Walsh, Smith, Emmons, Baillie & Walsh, Great Falls, Mont., for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Before ALARCON and CANBY, Circuit Judges and HOFFMAN * , District Judge. ALARCON, Circuit Judge: FACTS 1 In the early morning of March 7, 1975, Clayton Hirst, a member of the Blackfeet Native American Tribe, was found dead in his jail cell in the Glacier County Jail in Cut Bank, Montana, hanged by the neck from his belt. Appellants, the heirs of Clayton Hirst, brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , charging that Glacier County, the City of Cut Bank, and various county and city officials had violated his civil rights. 2 Appellants put forward two theories of liability for Clayton Hirst's death. First, appellants alleged that Clayton…