Hilton Head Daily News
Mentally ill man's estate awarded $28.5 million
Associated Press
SUMTER, S.C. - The family of a mentally ill man who died in a jail four years ago was awarded $28.5 million following two weeks of testimony in a wrongful death trial.
A Sumter County jury found that Eastern Health Care, the company contracted to provide care for inmates in 2001, should pay the family of the Rev. Ronel Huggins, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and diabetes.
The 43-year-old was charged with indecent exposure two days before he was found dead in the early morning hours of Dec. 27, 2001. The attorney representing Huggins' estate said the company violated policies, including one that said inmates should be screened and a nurse contacted before lockup.
Witness testified that Huggins was observed naked at least 70 times by jail employees during several shift changes, but the staff never interacted with him.
The coroner had attributed Huggins' death to natural causes, but also said he died because he did not receive the insulin he needed.
"We've said from the beginning this was a case of disturbing facts and disturbing consequences," said attorney Ed Bell. "Clearly the jury believed that as well. Not only that, they saw that a man's value is not necessarily gauged on what he makes financially in his profession, but what he gives to other people."
Huggins was a clergyman and pastor at Oaks AME Church in Summerton.
Eastern Health attorney Bill Hopkins said the company thought many factors caused Huggins' death.
"We felt like the factors and the actions of our client - Eastern - played a very small part in that death and that the actions of some other parties played a substantial role in his death, so that was our defense," he said.
Another defendant, Sumter County, settled the case after a unanimous council vote earlier this week. Details of the settlement were not released.
The Tuomey Regional Medical Center and physicians Luis Muniz, Martha Cushman and Richard Alexander also have been named as defendants. Huggins was treated at the hospital three times before he was arrested, according to testimony.
Tuomey spokeswoman Brenda Zilch said Thursday she wouldn't talk about the case, but the hospital hadn't received any official word the case was over.
