Appeals Court Revives Claims Against Colorado County for Sheriff’s Civil Rights Abuses

An inmate argued that the county should be liable for the $8 million judgment because it failed to adequately oversee the sheriff.

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A federal appeals court in Denver has overturned a lower court’s dismissal of claims in a civil rights case involving a former Colorado sheriff convicted of misconduct and an intellectually disabled prisoner.

A split panel from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by a lower court that had dismissed claims against Sedgwick County. The claims were in relation to then-Sheriff Tom Hanna, who was found guilty in 2018 of official misconduct and found liable for civil rights abuses against then-inmate Peatinna Biggs while transporting her between county jails on Aug. 10, 2016.

Ms. Biggs argued that the sheriff’s actions should impose liability on the county.

On July 5, the 10th Circuit found in favor of Ms. Biggs, holding that Mr. Hanna’s actions, though personal in motivation, were carried out under the guise of his official duties regarding the custody and care of prisoners.

“The central question before us is whether a final policymaker’s assault of a county prisoner in the course of carrying out official duties for which he was charged with setting policy subjects the municipal defendants to liability,” U.S. Circuit Judge Harris Hartz wrote in the majority opinion. “We answer yes.”

According to court documents, in 2016, Mr. Hanna deviated from his duty to transport Ms. Biggs to another county jail and instead took her to his home. Ms. Biggs accused the sheriff of sexually assaulting her in his home, but he was acquitted of these charges.

In 2018, Ms. Biggs filed a civil rights lawsuit through her guardian ad litem, Hollis Ann Whitson, accusing the former sheriff, who had been recalled from his position by this time, of violating Ms. Biggs’s civil rights. She also sought to extend liability to the county.

Sedgwick County and its sheriff’s department asked a federal judge to dismiss the claims against them. The judge granted that request, leaving Mr. Hanna as the sole defendant to face trial. A jury ultimately found him liable for excessive use of force, cruel and unusual punishment, and false imprisonment.

In March 2023, U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico for the District of Colorado said that Mr. Hanna was acting in a personal capacity rather than as an agent of the county. He awarded Ms. Biggs $3.2 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages against the former sheriff.

Ms. Whitson appealed the decision, contending that the county should be liable for the $8 million judgment because of its failure to adequately oversee Mr. Hanna, who was responsible for setting policies regarding inmate care. The appeals court agreed.

Ms. Biggs’s attorney, Sean Ouellette from the nonprofit Public Justice, welcomed the decision.

“The Tenth Circuit’s decision makes clear that a municipality can be liable when its top officials use their power to commit sexual assault,” he said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times. “We are thrilled for Peatinna that she will finally have the chance to hold the sheriff’s department accountable for the abuse she suffered.”

Mr. Ouellette added that the majority opinion would ensure other survivors of abuse could do the same.

Allegations

According to court documents, a sheriff’s deputy noted that Mr. Hanna had Ms. Biggs change into street clothes before transporting her in his personal vehicle. The deputy drove past Mr. Hanna’s house and saw his empty vehicle parked there.

Court documents say that Mr. Hanna offered Ms. Biggs $60 for sex, which she refused. He then sexually assaulted her, with his gun visible on a coffee table throughout. He later threatened that she'd spend life in prison if she told anyone what happened. Ms. Biggs didn’t report the assault because of the threat.

The sheriff’s deputy reported it to the Logan County District Attorney’s Office on Aug. 22, 2016.

The district attorney’s office charged Mr. Hanna two days later with sexual assault on an at-risk adult, sexual conduct in a correctional institute, soliciting prostitution, and first-degree official misconduct. Mr. Hanna was later removed from office and sentenced to seven months in prison for official misconduct in 2023.

What’s Next?

The case has been remanded to Judge Domenico to determine whether the county is bound by the existing judgment against Mr. Hanna under legal doctrines such as law-of-the-case or preclusion principles.

In a dissenting opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Gregory Phillips argued that the decision overreaches by attributing an individual’s rogue actions to the municipality.

“The majority opinion goes too far for me in approving as municipal policy a rogue sheriff’s one-time, secret action,” Judge Phillips wrote, saying that the assault was “unquestionably outside of the sheriff’s realm and legitimate policymaking authority.”

The judge also expressed concern that the ruling would leave the municipality open to excessive liability.

Responding to the dissenting opinion, Judge Hartz said that local governments are responsible for the actions of their policymakers, especially when those actions involve the treatment of prisoners under their care. He noted that Mr. Hanna had not only the authority but also the responsibility to set policy regarding prisoner treatment.

“When an official takes action over which he or she has final policymaking authority, the policymaker is the municipality, so it is fair to impose liability on that entity for that action,” the judge wrote.

Sedgwick County is represented by Denver attorney Jonathan Eddy, with the firm SGR. The Epoch Times contacted him for comment but received no response by press time.