Finn v. Warren County’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “... Strode testified that jail policy prohibits admission of an arrestee to the jail if that person appears to be experiencing an emergency medical condition. Because the jail’s EMS policy defines an emergency as “drug or alcohol withdrawal,” Strode confirmed that Finn would not have been admitted to the jail if he had shown any symptoms of alcohol withdrawal at the time he was booked into the jail. The arresting officer would have taken Finn to a nearby medical facility for treatment before he was admitted to the jail. ... Strode explained that he does not want the deputy jailers to make medical judgments so he wrote the EMS policy to outline simply and clearly the jailers’ responsibilities. Although the written EMS policy requires jailers to take particular actions in a medical emergency — and alcohol withdrawal is defined in the policy as a medical emergency— Strode repeatedly testified that the jailers were obligated only to report the medical emergency to SHP medical staff, and the medical staff had the responsibility to decide whether to transport the inmate to a hospital. ... Strode told the jury, “[W]hat I’ve learned from this is that the policy I had in place, I did a poor job of trying to convey that, trying to write that out, and I will take the blame for that, that it was a poor job of putting down instructions.” R. 209 Page ID 2662.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Vincent v. Warren County

2. “You are instructed that it was the duty of each of these jailers to exercise ordinary care in their care and treatment of Mr. Finn while he was in their custody. “Ordinary care” means such reasonable care as you would expect an ordinary prudent person to exercise under similar circumstances. In deciding whether ordinary care was exercised in this case, the conduct in question must be viewed in the light of all the sur rounding circumstances, as shown by the evidence in the case. If you believe from the evidence that a jailer failed to comply with this duty and that such failure was a substantial factor in causing Mr. Finn’s death, you may find for the Plaintiffs. Otherwise, you should find for the jailer.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Vincent v. Warren County

3. “Emergency medical services are available 24 hours a day to inmates of the Warren County Regional Jail to ensure prompt emergency medical attention. All officers are trained to respond to medical emergencies since an inmate’s life may depend on appropriate first aid. Emergency medical ... care shall be available to all inmates commensurate with the level of such care available in the community.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Vincent v. Warren County