Simpson Thacher Overturns Ninth Circuit Model Jury Instruction For Eighth Amendment Medical Care Cases
10.25.16
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Attorneys in the Palo Alto office succeeded in overturning a model jury instruction in the Ninth Circuit applicable to Eighth Amendment medical care cases. Following a 2010 decision applicable to other Eighth Amendment claims, the Ninth Circuit model jury instructions were amended to permit a so-called “deference instruction,” which instructed jurors to defer to prison officials on matters of safety and security. After the Ninth Circuit adopted Simpson Thacher’s argument that a deference instruction was inappropriate in medical care cases, the 2016 Ninth Circuit model instructions now provide that this instruction should not ordinarily be given in medical cases. Associate Stephen Blake argued the pro bono case before the Ninth Circuit and was supervised by Litigation Partner Alexis Coll-Very.