Scott County Pays $12.2 Million After Jail Staff Let an Infection Go Untreated Until Both of a Man's Arms Had to Be Amputated
After trial: Settlement paid and the lawsuit dismissed; final. Split $10.2 million from Scott County and $2 million from the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust. Counsel described it as the largest settlement of its kind in Minnesota to date, a characterization we have not independently confirmed.
Won by Robins Kaplan LLP.
Terrance Winborn was booked into the Scott County Jail on a suspected DUI. A bacterial infection went untreated in custody until it caused septic shock, a heart attack and gangrene, and surgeons amputated both of his arms below the elbows. The county and its insurer settled his Section 1983 claim for $12.2 million.
What happened
Terrance Dwayne Winborn was booked into the Scott County Jail in Shakopee, Minnesota on August 27, 2020, on driving and alcohol-related charges. He was in custody for about a day. He came out of it having lost both of his arms.
A bacterial infection took hold while Winborn was in the jail and was allowed to progress without treatment. It moved into septic shock. He suffered a heart attack and hemorrhaging beneath the skin, and gangrene set into both hands and forearms. Surgeons amputated both arms below the elbows. His attorneys said medical experts concluded that if he had been treated during those hours in the jail, he would still have both arms.
The case against the county rested on what jail staff did not do. The complaint alleged deliberate indifference to Winborn's medical needs by a registered nurse at the jail, who it said disregarded the obvious warning signs of his deteriorating condition and did not provide care during the critical hours he was in custody. That is the constitutional standard for holding a jailer liable under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for a prisoner's untreated illness. Two further failures came out afterward: county officials did not report the incident to the Minnesota Department of Corrections inside the ten-day window the state requires, and roughly 39 hours of jail video that would have shown his condition in custody was allowed to be deleted.
Winborn was represented by a Robins Kaplan team of Katie Bennett, Andrew Noel, Greta Wiessner, Robert Bennett and Marc Betinsky, the civil rights group the firm brought on in January 2020. The failure to give Winborn constitutionally required care, Katie Bennett said, was inhumane and offensive on every level.
In October 2023 the case settled for $12.2 million, with $10.2 million paid by Scott County and $2 million by the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust. The lawsuit was dismissed on the settlement.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.KSTP: Scott County reaches the $12.2 million settlement after deliberate indifference led to amputated arms; booked Aug. 27, 2020 on a suspected DUI; bacterial infection, heart attack, skin hemorrhages, septic shock and gangrene; $10.2 million from Scott County and $2 million from the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust; failure to report to the Minnesota DOC within ten days; roughly 39 hours of archived video deleted; represented by Robins Kaplan, statement from Katie Bennett
- 2.MPR News, Oct. 5, 2023: ignoring the inmate's infection costs Scott County $12.2 million
- 3.Star Tribune: $12.2 million settlement for the man who lost his limbs after deliberate indifference by the Scott County jail
- 4.Law and Crime: former inmate whose arms were amputated after nearly dying of a bacterial infection following one day in jail gets the $12.2 million settlement; the nurse allegedly failed to heed obvious warning signs; experts concluded he would still have both arms had he been treated; 39 hours of video allowed to be deleted
- 5.CBS Minnesota: Scott County agrees to pay the $12.2 million settlement to the inmate who alleges mistreatment led to a double amputation
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