Tuberculosis Class Action Successfully Prosecuted by Civil Rights Group

Settlement/Verdict: $9,100,000.00

Attorney: Jeffrey M. Montpetit
Practice Area: Class Action
Client Injury: Tuberculosis

United States District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle approved a landmark settlement in a class action stemming from a TB outbreak at the Ramsey County Correctional Facility.

The case was filed in October 2008 by Sieben, Grose, VonHoltum & Carey, Ltd. lawyer, Jeffrey Montpetit and co-counsel Flynn, Gaskins & Bennett, L.L.P. lawyers Robert Bennett and Andrew Noel.

Litigation arising from jail TB outbreaks is almost always won by the defendants. Generally, these cases deal with deficiencies in a correctional facility’s TB screening protocol. But this case focused on the deliberate indifference shown by jail medical staff to the TB-infected inmate for 54 days. The medical staff’s refusal to heed multiple oral and written complaints by guards and inmates caused over 100 inmates and up to 50 guards to contract the TB infection in its active or latent form. This misconduct also put the public at risk by virtue of TB’s contagiousness.

The gross settlement for this claim was $9,100,000.

Contact the law offices of Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey for a free consultation. We encourage you to make this first step toward resolving your legal matters so that you can get back to your life.