Estate of Linda Miller v. County of Sutter

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Estate of LINDA MILLER, et al., No. 2:20-cv-00577-KJM-DMC Plaintiffs, ORDER v. COUNTY OF SUTTER, et al., Defendants.

Linda Miller committed suicide in the Sutter County Jail while she was awaiting trial. During the five days between her incarceration and death, she showed clear signs of deteriorating mental health, depression and opioid withdrawal. Her family claims her death was the needless result of indifference by county officers, cost-cutting by the private companies hired to care for inmates and discrimination, among other wrongs. Several of the defendants move to dismiss. See ECF Nos. 46, 50. The court held a hearing by videoconference on October 16, 2020. Theresa Zhen and EmilyRose Johns appeared for the plaintiffs. Wendy Motooka appeared for Nevada County and the individual defendants affiliated with the county. Ellen Robbins and Evelina Gentry appeared for HIG Capital, LLC and Michael Kuritzky. Temitayo Peters, who represents Sutter County and several individual Sutter County defendants, monitored the hearing. For the reasons explained in 2…