Cedar Rapids law firm wins $3.5 million settlement for jail demise

Mason City guy died in Cerro Gordo Co. jail thanks to neglect of treatment

Dave O’Brien (courtesy photo)

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids attorney said he hopes additional Iowa community governments abide by the lead of Cerro Gordo County officials, who didn’t include up wrongdoing and acknowledged responsibility for a guy who died in jail.

Dave O’Brien reported the four kids of Ricky Christianson, 61, of Mason Metropolis, hope the $3.5 million settlement with Cerro Gordo County can assistance avert yet another dying owing to neglect of care although in a county jail.

O’Brien stated open conversation with protection lawyers resulted in a honest resolution for all events.

“This was a awful, horrible slip-up, but at least, it’s not compounded by not admitting the wrongdoing or attempting to address it up,” O’Brien instructed The Gazette Friday.

Lawyers for the county and other staff members sued in November 2021 did not file any motions to dismiss or for summary judgment on competent immunity — protecting regulation enforcement accused of violating rights. Rather, they “acted swiftly and correctly to take care of the matter.”

In other related wrongful dying lawsuits O’Brien has dealt with, this does not happened, he reported. He is taking into consideration filing a few equivalent lawsuits — none in Linn County.

“Too generally other localities attempt to protect up wrongdoing and refuse to admit when law enforcement officers violate peoples’ civil legal rights,” O’Brien observed. “This kind of reaction just encourages extra wrongful perform and extra lawsuits as a result.”

“This (circumstance) gives the (Christianson loved ones) wonderful self confidence that these kinds of a error is extremely unlikely to be recurring,” O’Brien added.

O’Brien stated the surveillance video clip taken from the jail aided show what transpired Nov. 18, 2020, when Christianson died.

Christianson was arrested and booked into the Cerro Gordo Jail Nov. 17, 2020, on a warrant for a parole violation on his conviction for violating the sexual intercourse offender registry needs for second time.

Christianson instructed deputies he was becoming taken care of for lifetime-threatening seizures connected to alcoholism and that he experienced experienced a seizure the preceding day.

Surveillance footage showed Christianson began obtaining seizures Nov. 18 and he was moved to a padded solitary mobile, O’Brien claimed. He was uncovered dead an hour and a half later when an staff checked on him.

The workers stated they carried out online video evaluation checks of him when in the cell but didn’t physically look at his mobile for an hour and a 50 percent.

O’Brien stated he preferred to thank Christianson’s youngsters — Samantha Christianson Bashir, Cody Bashir, Cody Christianson and Zachariah Halvorson — for the “honor and privilege of representing them.” He also thanked Ben Novotny and Nick Rowley of Trial Legal professionals for Justice who have law places of work in Des Moines and Decorah, for their know-how on the circumstance.

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