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Case Law Alerts

Reckless Disregard to Medical Needs: Calling Paramedics Is Not Enough

Heeter v. Bowers, 99 F.4th 900 (6th Cir. Apr. 29, 2024)

July 1, 2024

by Jillian L. Dinehart

The Sixth Circuit considered appellate jurisdiction when there is a question of fact, the extent that a self-serving affidavit can be used in cases with body camera footage, and the bounds of an officer’s responsibility to respond to a medical emergency. 

Columbus, Ohio, officers, including Officer Bowers, responded to a call for a suicidal man, with a gun, in his own residence. The man was not making threats to his family, just to himself. From outside of the house, the officers saw that the man was sitting at his kitchen table with the gun in his right hand. The officers ordered him to drop the weapon, and he responded that he would put the weapon away if they police just left him alone. The police, instead, entered the home. Upon entry, the man got up from the table and stepped away with his hands in his pockets. The officers continued to order him to show his hands, but the man refused. At one point, Officer Bowers asked aloud where the gun was. The officers again ordered the man to show his hands. The man started to bring his hands out of his pockets and leaned forward. Officer Bowers opened fire, claiming that he saw the outline of the gun in the man’s pocket and that the man was lunging towards him. No other officer took a shot, and one officer was attempting to speak to the man as the shots were fired. 

After the shooting, Officer Bowers ordered another officer to cuff the man as he was lying face down in a puddle of blood. As he was being cuffed, the man audibly groaned and was breathing. Despite this, no one offered him medical assistance beyond calling for paramedics, who arrived eight minutes after the shooting. The man succumbed to his wounds.

The Sixth Circuit was very critical of Officer Bowers’ actions and denied him both state and federal immunity. This case is impactful in the fact that it was accepted for review at all. A case is not appropriate for appellate review if there is a question of fact. The court found that the video evidence was sufficient to allow them to examine the evidence despite the existence of a fact dispute between the parties. The court admitted that the video did not show the man’s right side and did not show the gun on the table through surrounding clutter. However, they found that the video was obvious in that there was no gun in the man’s pocket and that he did not lunge at Officer Bowers but, instead, leaned forward. Officer Bowers argued that his self-serving and unopposed affidavit attesting that he saw the outline of the gun in the man’s pocket was sufficient to find in his favor. However, the court held that a self-serving affidavit cannot fill the gaps in video evidence where the benefit of the doubt belongs to the plaintiff pursuant to dispositive motion standards.

The court also underlined the new approach to reviewing deliberate indifference claims. The court wrote that the new standard is a reckless disregard and that Officer Bowers did not reasonably respond to the man’s threat of harm from his medical condition. Officer Bowers pointed to Stevens-Rucker v. Columbus, 739 F.App’x 834 (6th Cir. 2018) to argue, calling paramedics was sufficient intervention for immunity purposes. This court distinguished Stevens-Rucker, holding that it is “unreasonable to stand idle—even for a few minutes and even while paramedics were on their way—rather than administer the first aid (Bowers) was trained to provide.” Stevens-Rucker allows an officer to just call for paramedics and do nothing more when there is a reasonable belief that the officer’s aid would not have helped. In this matter, Bowers’ complete inaction was reckless and immunity was not warranted. 

 

Case Law Alerts, 3rd Quarter, July 2024 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2024 Marshall Dennehey, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.

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Thought Leadership

The Enforceability of Online Arbitration Agreements Remains Unresolved in Pennsylvania, But the Pennsylvania Superior Court has Provided Substantive Guidance on the Issue

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Feb. 18, 2026) (citation omitted). They are largely regarded as the “if you keep using this, you agree to everything buried in this link” terms embedded into almost every online agreement consumers and users sign before proceeding with purchases of goods and/or services. While consumers are generally aware of them, many almost never click on the link, nor read them in their entirety. This leaves many consumers and users ignorant of the terms and impact of such agreements. However, one’s ignorance of the otherwise neatly-tucked-away terms rarely renders them unenforceable. The issue of the enforceability of browsewrap agreements has been up for debate for some time in many jurisdictions, including Pennsylvania. Indeed, Pennsylvania had a brief grip on this issue for a period in time. Specifically, in 2023, an en banc Superior Court set forth heightened standards for companies to meet in order to secure assent and enforce browsewrap arbitration agreements. See Chilutti v. Uber Techs., Inc., 300 A.3d 430 (Pa.Super. 2023) (en banc) (“Chilutti I”) Chilutti I involved a husband and wife who sued Uber and its subsidiaries after the wife, a wheelchair bound passenger using Uber’s rideshare service, fell, struck her head, and lost consciousness due to her uber driver failing to provide a seatbelt and making an aggressive turn during the trip. The Chilutti’s filed a negligence lawsuit against Uber and its subsidiaries. In response, the defendants moved to compel arbitration, arguing that “the couple’s conduct on the company’s website and application — when they registered for the ridesharing service — signified that they agreed to be bound by the mandatory arbitration provision found in the hyperlinked terms and conditions.” The trial court granted the defendants’ petition and stayed the proceedings pending the results of arbitration, and the Chilutti’s appealed. On appeal, the Superior Court addressed two issues. First, it addressed the issue of whether it had jurisdiction to hear the appeal. A divided Superior Court determined that it did, with its basis for the holding being that the order from which the Chilutti’s appealed was a collateral order. Next, the Superior Court set out to address the merits of the Chilutti’s substantive claim. The Superior Court concluded that the parties lacked a valid agreement to arbitrate. Its rationale was that Uber’s website and application did not provide reasonably conspicuous notice of the terms to the Chiluttis. In reaching this decision, the en banc Superior Court held that browsewrap arbitration agreements are enforceable in Pennsylvania only if the registration website and application screens explicitly inform consumers that they are waiving the right to a jury trial, the registration process cannot be completed until the consumer is fully informed of this waiver, and, when the agreement is available via hyperlink, the waiver appears at the top of the first page of the terms in bold, capitalized text. Since the ruling, Pennsylvania courts have applied Chilutti I to determine if browsewrap agreements are enforceable.  For instance, the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas invoked Chilutti I to reject an agreement that lacked an express jury-trial waiver on the assent screen.  See Miller v. Festival Fun Parks, LLC, 92 WDA 2025 (C.P. Alleg. Cnty. Mar. 24, 2025). Similarly, the Superior Court has held that notice which failed to explicitly state the consumer was waiving a jury-trial right did not “me[e]t the strict burden set forth by our en banc Court in Chilutti I.” Pierce v. FloatMe Corp., 348 A.3d 1077, 1088 (Pa. Super. 2025). While the issue of enforceability of browsewrap agreements appeared to have been resolved by Chilutti I, Pennsylvania courts’ grip on this issue has been slackened by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s January 21, 2026, opinion in Chilutti II. See Chilutti v. Uber Techs., Inc., 349 A.3d 826 (Pa. 2026) (“Chilutti II”). Therein, the Supreme Court did not address the merits of the Chiluttis’ substantive claim, but rather the issue of whether the Superior Court had appellate jurisdiction to immediately review the orders staying litigation pending arbitration. The Court ultimately vacated the en banc opinion on jurisdictional grounds, holding that the Superior Court did not have appellate jurisdiction because the trial court’s order from which the Chiluttis appealed did not qualify as a collateral order and, thus, the Superior Court erred in holding to the contrary and lacked jurisdiction to entertain the merits” of the Chiluttis’ substantive claim. As such, Chilutti II has rendered Chilutti I nonbinding, and the issue of enforceability of online arbitration agreements remains unresolved. However, in light of the fact the Supreme Court did not address or comment on the merits of the Chiluttis’ appeal, Chilutti I is still meaningful. Specifically, it provides guidance as to the standards a company should strive to meet to ensure they have obtained users’ assent so that they are able to enforce online arbitration agreements. Additionally, it may serve as persuasive authority in judges’ evaluations of petitions and/or motions to compel browsewrap arbitration agreements until this particular issue is properly put before our appellate courts. Keanna works in our Pittsburgh, PA office. She can be reached at (412) 803-1174 or KASeabrooks@MDWCG.com.

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