Sacramento County settles lawsuit claiming jail ignored inmate’s pleas over broken foot

Sacramento County has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who claimed that after she fell from her bunk and broke her foot inside the Sacramento County Main Jail her pleas for medical help were ignored and she was left with a permanent injury.

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Lia D. Mollica was settled after the county agreed to pay $270,000, said Mollica attorney Mark Merin, who has filed numerous suits against the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office over treatment of inmates in county jails.

The lawsuit, which was dismissed Friday, was filed in October 2019, and Merin said Mollica’s experience with the jail’s medical care system showed officials were looking to save money by denying needed treatment to inmates.

“The refusal to send people out for surgery is just the practice, rather than the exception,” Merin said. “They were just saving money rather than giving people the treatment they needed.”

Medical treatment for inmates in the county jails has been the subject of lawsuits and complaints for years, and on Thursday lawyers representing inmates asked a federal judge to appoint an expert to determine whether the county is complying with a consent decree requiring inmates to receive proper medical and mental health care.

Mollica was booked into the jail May 4, 2019, for allegedly violating work release requirements and, after being assessed by medical staff, was ordered housed in a lower bunk, court records say.

Despite that, Mollica was assigned to an upper bunk, even after she submitted a written request, or “kite,” seeking a lower bunk assignment, court records say.

Four days into her time at the jail, Mollica fell from her upper bunk and broke her left foot and ankle, court records say.

She immediately reported the injury and sought medical help, and jail records show medical staff documented that Mollica’s left ankle was swelling and needed to have a splint that night and X-rays the next morning, according to court filings.

“Plaintiff maintained a journal documenting her foot injury at the jail, including her numerous requests for and the jail’s ongoing denial of medical treatment,” court records say. “All video footage of Plaintiff at the jail was lost by SCSD, due to an alleged equipment ‘malfunction’ at one facility and a ‘server crash’ at another facility.”

Mollica’s foot was X-rayed on May 9 with a cast on, “which resulted in a poor-quality image,” court records say, and a jail doctor diagnosed a “probable” fracture and referred her to an orthopedist.

On May 13, Mollica was transferred to the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, also run by the Sheriff’s Office, where records showed her foot was “completely swollen, blue, green and purple,” court records say.

“Plaintiff was forced to pack-up and carry her belongings when she was transferred from the Main Jail to the RCCC,” court records say. “Plaintiff was on crutches and her bag had broken straps, making it difficult to carry, especially in her injured state.

“A fellow inmate offered Plaintiff a ball of yarn to fashion straps and to fix the bag. Plaintiff observed that several other inmates had fashion straps for their bags using a similar method. Plaintiff repaired the straps on her bag by using the yarn.

“Subsequently, jail staff disciplined Plaintiff for ‘destruction of property’ and penalized Plaintiff with the loss of 10 days of ‘good time’ credit, further extending her incarceration.”

When Mollica filed a grievance over the penalty, she was told, “we have rules in place for specific reasons,” court records say.

‘Walked with a limp for about a year’

Mollica continued to seek medical help, reporting that her toes were numb and her foot was continuing to swell and turn blue, court records say, and on May 15 she received an X-ray and received a pain assessment documenting that her pain level was “9 Very Severe Pain,” court records say.

The jail recorded that the patient “reports i can’t believe i had a broken foot for over a week and it’s just now starting to be treated” and was “tearful at this time due to frustration and pain.”

Later that day, Mollica was sent to San Joaquin General Hospital, where an orthopedic surgeon said she needed surgery “as soon as possible.”

She returned to jail but did not receive surgery and on May 19 was refused pain medication, court records say.

Mollica continued to experience intense pain and returned to the hospital May 29, where a surgeon said she would need surgery within one to two weeks, court records say.

Jail records show medical staff reported that Mollica was expected to be released from custody June 7 and “Needs Ortho Surgery before release,” according to court records. Mollica continued to ask for medical help, calling her public defender for assistance at one point, court records say.

Instead, she was ordered released from custody on June 16 and immediately went to the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where she was told “she required surgery ‘as soon as possible’ and that the orthopedic surgeon would have to ‘rebreak’ the bones in her foot” because it had not healed correctly, court records say.

“Thereafter, Plaintiff located a surgeon to perform the surgery on her foot,” court records say. “Plaintiff was unable to walk without the aid of crutches for four-to-six months following the surgery.

“Plaintiff walked with a limp for about a year after the surgery.”

Lawyers for the county sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that jail staff sought appointments for surgery at the hospital for Mollica and that surgery had been scheduled for her “even if unbeknownst to her at the time.”

“However, prior to the surgery date, Plaintiff was released from custody on June 16, 2019,” the county’s lawyers wrote, adding that medical officials had nothing to do with deciding the timing of her release.

Mollica cannot show that the county “breached any standard of care in terms of referral to or scheduling of surgery,” the county’s lawyers argued in a September 2022 filing seeking to have the case dismissed.

Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller found in a 31-page order last May that most of the claims in the lawsuit could proceed to trial, writing that Mollica did not see an orthopedic surgeon for consultation until weeks after her injury despite complaining about pain “every day through kites, grievance forms and by talking to guards.”

“The medical records show plaintiff needed pain medication to manage her pain and her foot was bruised and swollen for weeks,” Mueller wrote, adding that “reasonable jurors could find that delaying necessary orthopedic care, including surgery, rose to the level of deliberate indifference.”

Mueller set the case for trial on Dec. 5, but the two sides agreed to a settlement on Oct. 30 and lawyers agreed to dismiss the case in a filing on Wednesday, court records show.