Baxley v. Jividen

Opinion

 [*540]  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs' Motion to Strike Affidavit of Dr. Lawrence H. Mendel. ECF No. 318. Dr. Mendel's  [*541]  affidavit was submitted by the Defendant¹ as an exhibit to her Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification. ECF No. 307-2.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs in this case seek to certify a class of pretrial detainees and convicted inmates in West Virginia Regional Jails. Mot. Certify, ECF No. 264. They assert [**2]  that Defendant violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Their Complaint and Motion for Class Certification rest largely on assertions that West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and its Commissioner Betsy Jividen have provided inadequate medical and mental health care to persons housed in the West Virginia Regional Jails. Second Am. Compl, ECF No. 67; Mot. Certify, ECF No. 264.

In her Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification, Defendant relies heavily on an affidavit written by Dr. Lawrence H. Mendel. Dr. Mendel is a physician and the Director of Outpatient Services by Maryhaven, "an organization that provides comprehensive behavioral health and substance abuse treatment in the central Ohio area." Mendel Aff. ¶1, ECF No. 307-2. Dr. Mendel reports that he is a Certified Correctional Healthcare Professional and a Fellow in the American College of Correctional Physicians. Id. at ¶ 3. Previously, he served as an Accreditation Surveyor for the National Commission on Correctional Health Care ("NCCHC"). Id. Additionally, amongst other positions in the field of correctional medicine, Dr. Mendel has served as a Medical Director [**3]  at Leavenworth Detention Center, Acting Medical Director for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and Assistant Medical Director for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Id. at 26-27.

In his affidavit, Dr. Mendel states that he based his findings on a review of numerous documents including the Second Amended Complaint, medical records of the Named Plaintiffs, NCCHC jail standards, NCCHC accreditation documents, an Annual Report by the West Virginia Regional Jail authority, PrimeCare annual statistics, PrimeCare intake policies, WVDCR's contracts with PrimeCare and Wexford, Wexford's Change Orders, discovery responses, the testimony of Plaintiffs' expert Dr. Cheryl Wills, and the preliminary report of Plaintiffs' expert Dr. Homer Venters. Mendel Aff. ¶ 11, ECF No. 307-2.

Full case includes Shepard's, Headnotes, Legal Analytics from Lex Machina, and more.