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Abstract: 

In Ryan v. County of Nassau, 2018 WL 354684 (E.D.N.Y.), Judge Joanna Seybert, in a lengthy Memorandum and Order, granted defendants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, a new trial on the negligence claim, overturning a jury verdict and $8 million award to plaintiffs. In our analysis, we examine how the judge arrived at her ruling in a case where the jury found the Nassau County jail deliberately indifferent to an inmates threats to commit suicide, which he subsequently acted upon; why the precedents she cited were misapplied; and why that misapplication means that the ruling is very likely to be overturned.

Keywords: Kingsley v. Hendrickson; Darnell v. Pineiro; substantial risk of suicide

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.