United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

____________ FILED August 28, 2024 No. 23-40369 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Frances Earline Sims, Individually and as dependent administrator of the Estate of Steven Mitchell Qualls,

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus City of Jasper, Texas; Toderick D. Griffin; Sterling Ramon Linebaugh; Heather Rene O’Dell; Joshua L. Hadnot,

Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas USDC No. 1:20-CV-124 ______________________________ Before Southwick, Haynes, and Graves, Circuit Judges. Leslie H. Southwick, Circuit Judge: This appeal requires us to decide whether a district court abused its discretion in refusing to bifurcate the liability and damages phases of trial. The Plaintiff, individually and as dependent administrator of her son’s estate, sued the City of Jasper, Texas, and certain police officers after her son died while in custody. The Plaintiff argued that the liability and damages phases of the jury trial needed to be bifurcated to avoid evidence related to damages Case: 23-40369 Document: 70-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/28/2024

No. 23-40369

from swaying the jury on the Defendants’ liability. The district court denied the motion, and the jury found for the Defendants. We AFFIRM. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Steven Mitchell Qualls, who was 28 years old, died in police custody from an overdose of methamphetamine on January 30, 2019. Sims v. Griffin, 35 F.4th 945, 947–48 (5th Cir. 2022). Less than 72 hours earlier, on the night of January 28, emergency medical services (“EMS”) took Qualls to Jasper Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Texas, for “chest pains, agitation, and tachy- cardia.” Id. at 948. After treatment, Qualls refused to leave the hospital. Id. Police were called, and they escorted him outside. Id. He was then arrested for public intoxication. Id. Sergeant Toderick Griffin and Officer Sterling Linebaugh, two of the Defendants, took Qualls to the Jasper City Jail for booking. Id. He was booked at around 10:22 p.m. on January 28. At the time, Qualls was highly intoxicated and could not answer standard booking questions, so the officers placed him in a detox cell. Id. The officers did not change Qualls out of his street clothes as would have been customary policy. Id. At some point, pos- sibly around the time he was being booked, Qualls swallowed a baggie that likely contained methamphetamine. Id. “Once in his cell, Qualls’s medical condition steadily worsened.” Id. “He started incoherently calling out to jail staff,” yelling for help several times. Id. At approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 29, Qualls began vomiting “a dark black liquid, which he smeared around on the floor and rubbed his face in.” Id. Dispatcher Heather O’Dell, another Defendant, instructed Qualls to “roll” out of his vomit, but he was unable to comply. Id. Linebaugh then picked Qualls up to clean him and his cell, causing Qualls to scream in pain. Id. O’Dell asked Griffin if they should call EMS for help and “Griffin told her not to.” Id. When O’Dell asked what she should do if Qualls vomited

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