Estate of Moreland v. Dieter.

• Position: Use of force, prisoner abuse - Brief Article

U.S. Appeals Court

OFFICER ON PRISONER ASSAULT

USE OF FORCE

Estate of Moreland v. Dieter, 395 F.3d 747 (7th Cir. 2005). Family members of a county jail detainee who died in custody, brought a [section] 1983 action alleging the use of unnecessary and excessive force. The district court entered judgment, upon jury verdict, in favor of the family members and against county deputies, and awarded $29 million in compensatory damages, and $27.5 million in punitive damages. The parties appealed. The appeals court affirmed, finding that the punitive damages award was not excessive, where evidence showed that the deputies threw the detainee's head against a concrete wall, discharged a can of pepper spray into his face when he was fully restrained, and repeatedly assaulted him, without attending to the detainee's medical needs. The detainee died of a fatal hematoma caused by one of the head traumas inflicted by the deputies. The...