When Kelly Rhodes was severely injured while working in unsafe conditions at a Michigan prison, she turned to Michigan Legal Center for support and help pursuing accountability.
Kelly was working as a laundry porter while incarcerated at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility. Evidence and testimony later described a series of safety concerns leading up to the day Kelly was seriously hurt.
A big portion of the job was unloading industrial carts from a delivery truck. The lift gate did not have the stopper needed to prevent carts from tipping. Witnesses testified that new laundry porters received very little formal training and that the facility lacked a consistent unloading procedure, even though carts had tipped during earlier deliveries.
On her second day of the job, Kelly was helping unload industrial laundry carts from a delivery truck. According to testimony discussed in the Sixth Circuit’s opinion, the truck driver was rushing, did not make his usual check that Kelly had control of the cart, and pushed it toward her too quickly. Witnesses disagreed about whether the lift had begun to lower before the cart tipped.
The loaded cart fell from the hydraulic lift gate and hit Kelly, knocking her to the concrete.
Kelly was transported to a nearby hospital with a traumatic brain injury, multiple intracranial hemorrhages, skull and nasal fractures, and serious wounds to her face and scalp. After surgery to repair the scalp laceration, she required intensive care, followed by weeks of post-acute care in the prison infirmary.
She continued feeling the impact of the injuries long after leaving the hospital. She suffered from severe loss of hearing and smell, chronic headaches, vertigo, memory problems, and weakness across her left side. In addition to the physical symptoms, she also dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety from the accident.
After being released, Kelly needed home physical and occupational therapy and couldn’t walk without a walker and another person’s supervision. Even after leaving prison and receiving extensive medical treatment, the injuries prevented her from returning to her job as a school bus driver.
Kelly pursued legal actions in both state and federal court. In the state case, she settled most of her state-law claims for $50,000. That agreement separately preserved her federal claims and a claim for future costs of treating her head injury under Michigan’s No-Fault law.
The district court later granted summary judgment to the two remaining prison officials, ending Kelly’s Eighth Amendment and substantive-due-process claims before they could proceed to a jury.
Amy DeRouin of Christopher Trainor & Associates argued Kelly’s appeal and was on her brief before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision in part. The court held that, when the evidence was viewed in Kelly’s favor at the summary-judgment stage, a reasonable jury could find that both officials acted with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm.
The decision revived Kelly’s Eighth Amendment claims and returned them to the district court. It left the dismissal of her substantive-due-process claims in place and did not decide that the officials were ultimately liable.
On May 11, 2023, the parties reached a resolution during a federal court settlement conference, and the case was dismissed with prejudice. Michigan’s official report of settlements paid by the State lists a $300,000 payment in Kelly’s laundry-cart injury case.
The appeal gave Kelly the opportunity to keep pursuing her Eighth Amendment claims. After the case returned to federal district court, it ended in a $300,000 settlement.
Past results are not a guarantee. Each case depends on its facts and law.