The attorney of a Wheatland man who suffered brain damage during an episode of alcohol withdrawals in the Platte County jail said the case’s $250,000 settlement is a sign that Wyoming’s limit on government liability payouts is too low.
Bryan Hays in 2024 accused Platte County Sheriff’s Office deputies of cruel and unusual punishment, among other claims, for putting him in jail with a 0.375% blood alcohol content rather than the hospital as he descended into alcohol withdrawals.
About 40 hours after Hays was booked, he suffered a withdrawal seizure in the shower, fell, hit his head on the tile floor, and sustained serious facial damage and head injuries, court documents say.
The Platte County Clerk’s Office released the settlement agreement Friday to Cowboy State Daily. In it, the state of Wyoming agrees to pay him $250,000.
It did so from its self-insurance program, and the Wyoming Local Government Liability Pool reimbursed the state for $40,000 of that, LGLP Executive Director Torey Racines told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
But First It Was Dismissed
Citing some reservations about shortfalls in the laws around cruel and unusual punishment, U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl dismissed the case in late May.
Hays’ attorney David Hill of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine notified Skavdahl’s court in June they were appealing to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In July, the parties worked to mediate the claims, reaching a binding settlement July 22.
The terms of that, essentially, are that the county and its officials don’t admit to wrongdoing; Hays won’t pursue his claims against them; and the state of Wyoming was to pay Hays $250,000.
The payment is “all related to pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life and not lost wages,” the document says.
Each party is bearing his or its own legal fees and costs.
The court dismissed the appeal Aug. 19, on request of the parties involved.
Sheriff David Russell declined Friday to comment and said the two deputies implicated in the case would not be able to speak to it either.
This Law
Hill told Cowboy State Daily that the case is a sign that Wyoming law limits government payouts too stringently.
In lawsuits against Wyoming governmental entities generally, state law limits an individual claimant’s recovery to $250,000 maximum.
That puts Hays’ settlement right at the legal maximum for an individual plaintiff.
Hill said he could not recall offhand Friday how much money the alleged damages merited, in his view.
Early this year, some attorneys lobbied the state Senate Judiciary Committee to raise that limit to $500,000, and to raise the bulk limit for multiple plaintiffs on one issue from $500,000 to $1 million.
The Senate did not consider the bill. It died Feb. 10.
Hill’s firm challenged the law in court in the case of a motorcyclist who was seriously injured when hit by a Cheyenne city bus. The challenge was based on Article 10, Section 4 of the Wyoming Constitution, which reads in part that:
“No law shall be enacted limiting the amount of damages to be recovered for causing the injury or death of any person.”
The Wyoming Supreme Court dismissed that challenge. Its reasoning was that the law’s limit on government liability payouts restrains and defines the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act — rather than limiting damages.
The Wyoming Governmental Claims Act is a section of law that allows people to sue state governmental entities, and gives parameters for how they can do so.
Case Background
Platte County Deputy Cody Keller arrested Hays for check fraud and theft on April 23, 2023, and the man was booked into the local detention center, court documents say.
Hays said he’d only had two or three beers that afternoon, but he needed to start detoxing.
Deputy Jordyn Pearson heard these concerns and said they’d put Hays in a “detox cell” and give him “Gatorade and whatnot,” and that a nurse would be there in the morning to address his other health concerns.
Skavdahl wrote that the booking deputy didn’t follow the jail’s own policy against admitting an inmate with a blood-alcohol content above 0.3%, while Hays showed a 0.357% blood-alcohol content.
Skavdahl took issue with what he characterized as shortcomings in the laws around cruel and unusual punishment, noting that Hays functioned comparably well as an alcoholic, making him appear healthier to the deputies during his booking than he actually was, while on the brink of withdrawals.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
