Court Opinion

ID: 9490308
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:40:06.052679+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:01.946793
License: Public Domain

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Though I am in full accord with the Court’s decision to affirm the imposition of compensatory damages against Nurse Ruth Rahija, I cannot agree that the district court’s award of punitive damages should be reversed. In my view, the rather startling and disturbing facts of this case reveal the district court did not commit clear error when it found that Rahija acted with “callous indifference to the federally protected rights of others.” Smith v. Wade, 461 U.S. 30, 56, 103 S.Ct. 1625, 1640, 75 L.Ed.2d 632 (1983). Furthermore, I believe the district court correctly determined that Nurse Rahija’s behavior was “simply inexcusable” and of a type that “must be punished in an appropriate way so that prison officials recognize the seriousness of this lack of action and guard against it in the future.” Coleman v. Rahija, No. 4-91-CV-50260, at 24 (S.D.Iowa Jan. 2, 1996); see also Smith, 461 U.S. at 54, 103 S.Ct. at 1639 (“The focus is on the character of the tortfeasor’s conduct — whether it is of the sort that calls for deterrence and punishment over and above that provided by compensatory awards.”). As a result, I am unable to conclude that the district court abused its discretion when it deemed punitive damages appropriate. For these reasons, I respectfully dissent from that portion of the Court’s opinion vacating the district court’s punitive damages award.