She Was Booked Into the County Jail at Nineteen and Died in Her Cell Nine Hours Later. Jail Video Showed Nobody Doing Anything.
After trial: This is a judgment rather than a settlement, and the distinction matters. Rolette County, on behalf of itself and two former correctional officers, made a Rule 68 offer of judgment of $2,000,000 in April 2025 and the plaintiff accepted it, so it was entered as a judgment in the District of North Dakota, No. 3:22-cv-00093, Allen v. Brunelle et al. There is no post-trial or appellate step remaining that could reduce it. On caps, this entry is the template for every North Dakota public-entity result. N.D.C.C. section 32-12.1-03(2) limits a political subdivision to $500,000 per person and $2,000,000 for any number of claims from a single occurrence, and bars punitive damages against a political subdivision or indemnification of an employee for them, so a state-law wrongful-death claim for one decedent against the county could not have exceeded $500,000. The claims under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 are outside that cap entirely, which is what permitted $2,000,000. Note also that $2,000,000 is exactly the statutory per-occurrence figure, so the amount is very likely bounded by the county's coverage as well. Any future North Dakota entry against a public body has to show this split explicitly or the number will look impossible.
Won by Robins Kaplan LLP.
Lacey Higdem, 19, was found hallucinating in the woods under the influence of methamphetamine and booked into the Rolette County Jail in Rolla, North Dakota on June 3, 2020. She died in her cell roughly nine hours later. Rolette County and two former correctional officers made a $2 million offer of judgment, which was accepted.
What happened
Lacey Higdem was 19. On June 3, 2020 she was found hallucinating in the woods, under the influence of methamphetamine, and was booked into the Rolette County Jail in Rolla, North Dakota.
She died in her cell at 12:42 a.m. on June 4, roughly nine hours after she was admitted. She left a young son.
According to her mother's court filings, the jail's video showed her exhibiting obvious signs of someone who needed urgent medical attention, and no correctional officer took any action. The two officers named as defendants, April Azure and Myles Brunelle, are both former employees.
In April 2025 Rolette County, on behalf of itself and the two officers, made an offer of judgment of $2,000,000. Her mother accepted it. Because it was an accepted offer of judgment under Rule 68 rather than a private settlement, it was entered as a judgment, and there is no post-trial or appellate step left that could reduce it.
The figure is the whole lesson of North Dakota public-entity litigation, and it is worth understanding precisely. N.D.C.C. § 32-12.1-03(2) limits a political subdivision's liability to five hundred thousand dollars per person and two million dollars for any number of claims arising from a single occurrence, and separately bars punitive damages against a political subdivision altogether. A pure state-law wrongful-death claim for one decedent against Rolette County could not have exceeded $500,000.
Federal claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 are not subject to that cap at all. That is what made $2,000,000 possible. It is also worth noticing that $2,000,000 is exactly the statute's per-occurrence figure, which suggests the number is bounded by the county's coverage as much as by anything else.
Her lead counsel called it the largest outcome for a jail death in North Dakota, and described the situation as preventable.
The family was represented by Andrew Noel as lead counsel with Marc Betinsky and Julie Moroney of Robins Kaplan, and Timothy Q. Purdon.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.InForum: the $2 million to be paid by the Rolette County jail defendants, the offer-of-judgment mechanism, the county and former-officer defendants, and counsel named independently of the firm, with Andrew Noel as lead and Marc Betinsky and Julie Moroney as additional Robins Kaplan attorneys, plus counsel's statements that this is the largest outcome for a jail death in North Dakota and that the situation was preventable
- 2.Associated Press: the $2,000,000 figure, the decedent, the Rolette County Jail and the June 2020 dates
- 3.D.N.D. docket No. 3:22-cv-00093, Allen v. Brunelle et al., establishing the federal venue and case number
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