by David M. Reutter

On August 30, 2023, a Florida court entered final judgment awarding $6 million to the estate of a detainee who died at Santa Rosa County Jail (SRCJ) from pneumonia left untreated by employees of the jail’s medical contractor, Armor Correctional Health Services. The jury that made the award had added $10 million in punitive damages for the estate of Misty Michelle Williamson, but Judge Clifton A. Drake of the First Judicial Circuit Court struck that before issuing final judgment.

After her arrest for unauthorized use of her son’s credit card, Williamson, 44, entered SRCJ in good health on October 31, 2016. But by the morning of December 9, 2016, she was complaining of chest pains, sinus congestion, shortness of breath, elevated pulse, and non-­productive cough. However, no action was taken by Armor employees then or later that evening, when Williamson made a second trip to the infirmary.

Her condition continued to worsen over the next three days. Finally, on December 14, 2016, Williamson was sent to an outside hospital. Staff there diagnosed her severe sepsis, severe pneumonia, respiratory failure and hypertension, a condition also known as Systematic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. Recognizing that she was in respiratory failure, an emergency room doctor had her intubated. But a short time after admission to the hospital, Williamson died of sepsis. A deputy of then-­Sheriff Wendell Hall who was stationed at the door to her room denied entry to her husband, Bobby James Williamson, Jr., insisting that “she remained in custody despite being dead,” according to the complaint the widower later filed on behalf of her Estate in state court.

The complaint lodged medical malpractice claims against Armor and two of its employees at the jail, Registered Nurse Amy Marie Baldwin and Nurse Practitioner Karl Byars. The case proceeded to trial, after which the jury rendered its verdict on August 15, 2023, finding the firm and both employees guilty of negligence, awarding the Estate $2 million from each.

The jury also awarded $10 million in punitive damages against Armor, but the Court granted the firm’s motion for a directed verdict and struck those on the same date it entered judgment. As the company’s attorneys successfully argued to Judge Drake, Fla. Stat. § 768.72 prohibits punitive damage awards against any defendant absent a finding of gross negligence, and it prohibits awards against any corporate defendant absent a finding that it knowingly participated in the negligence or condoned it. The Court agreed that Plaintiff failed to meet these statutory requirements; though the jury found that Armor “negligently condoned” the inactions of its employees, it failed to reach a verdict that “Armor ‘actively and knowingly participated’ in the grossly negligent conduct of its employees,” or that its “officers, directors, or managers ‘knowingly condoned, ratified, or consented to such conduct,’” or that the firm “engaged in conduct that constituted gross negligence and that contributed to the loss, damages, or injury suffered.” See: Williamson v. Armor Corr. Health Servs., 2023 Fla. Cir. LEXIS 1433.

Pensacola attorney Joseph Zarzaur, who represented Williamson’s Estate, said he was “so happy this courageous family finally gets some closure for the tragic loss of their wife and mother.” The Court preserved jurisdiction to award fees and costs to him and co-­counsel Russell A. Cohen of Cohen Law in Coral Gables. See: Williamson v. Armor Corr. Health Servs., Fla. Cir. (1st Jud. Dist., Santa Rosa Cty.), Case No. 2020 CA 88.

Armor lost its contract at the jail after 2018. It has since filed for court protection while it liquidates assets, most likely covering just a portion of over $150 million owed in debts, including legal payouts like this one, as reported elsewhere in this issue. [See: PLN Aug. 2024, p. 26.]