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Callens v. Jefferson County Nursing Home2/11/2000
OCTOBER TERM, 1999-2000
Bettye Callens, individually and as the administrator of the estate of her mother, Julia Presley, appeals a judgment dismissing her amended complaint and a summary judgment (as to her original complaint) in favor of the defendants Jefferson County Nursing Home ("JCNH"); Jefferson County; and the Jefferson County Commission and its Commissioners. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
I. Facts and Procedural History
From February 1992 through April 4, 1996, Presley was a resident at JCNH, a nursing home facility owned and operated by Jefferson County. Callens claims that, when Presley was admitted, JCNH contracted to provide care and treatment for Presley. Callens also alleges that, from September 1995 to March 1996, she made numerous complaints to JCNH, the Jefferson County Commission, and the Alabama Department of Public Health ("DPH") regarding the services and treatment Presley was receiving at JCNH and regarding the health and safety conditions at JCNH. These complaints included the complaint that her mother was living in unsanitary conditions (for example, that she was occupying an ant-infested bed); that her mother was frequently dressed in unclean and soiled clothing; and that JCNH was not carefully supervising her mother. After Callens made her complaints, the DPH investigated JCNH, served JCNH and Jefferson County with a notice of the deficiencies at JCNH, and asked them to submit a plan of correction.
On December 11, 1995, while JCNH employees were attempting to insert a Foley catheter, Presley suffered a fracture to her right hip and her right and left pubic bones. Callens alleges that the fractures were caused by negligence on the part of JCNH employees while they were restraining Presley in their attempt to insert the catheter. The nurse's notes regarding the incident indicate that several JCNH employees were restraining Presley and that the employee holding Presley's right leg bent it toward the head of Presley's bed until her leg popped audibly. Callens alleges that this incident caused Presley to have surgery on her right hip, on February 16, 1996. Callens also alleges that JCNH employees intentionally withheld from her information about this incident, and that, when she asked JCNH employees about her mother's injury , they told her that Presley herself had somehow injured her knee.
On April 2, 1996, Callens, as Presley's legal guardian, filed a notice of claim with the Jefferson County Commission regarding Presley's December 11, 1995, injury . On April 4, 1996, Presley experienced a fracture to her left hip and, on April 8, 1996, had surgery to replace her left hip. After this surgery, Presley's doctors released her from the hospital to a different nursing home in Jefferson County, where she resided until she died on May 9, 1996.
On June 17, 1997, Callens, individually and as personal representative of Presley's estate, sued JCNH; Jefferson County; the Jefferson County Commission and its Commissioners; Augmentation, Inc., a corporation that contracts to supply nurses to work at nursing homes and hospitals; and Steve Cox, who the plaintiff alleged to be an employee of either JCNH or Augmentation. Callens, in her representative capacity, claimed damages for an alleged wrongful death; in both her individual and representative capacities, she alleged, and sought damages for, a civil conspiracy; in her individual capacity she claimed damages for breach of an alleged contract between her and JCNH; and, in her individual capacity she alleged, and sought damages for, the tort of outrage. On June 18, 1998, Callens filed an amended complaint stating claims, made in her representative capacity, allegin
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