Spokane County files suit against jail contractor seeking reimbursement related to $27 million wrongful death decision

Spokane County has filed a lawsuit against the private contractor it hired to provide medical services within county detention facilities.

The suit asks that NaphCare reimburse the county for paying the company’s portion of the attorneys fees and costs incurred in the $27 million wrongful death award won three years ago by the estate of Cindy Lou Hill. Hill died in 2018 in the Spokane County Jail.

Spokane County Chief Executive Officer Scott Simmons declined to comment on the suit.

Hill was arrested on Aug. 21, 2018, for heroin possession and booked into the Spokane County Jail. Four days later, the 55-year-old died in her cell from an infection caused by a ruptured intestine.

Hill’s estate sued Spokane County and NaphCare, arguing her death could have been avoided if she’d received proper medical care. A U.S. District Court jury agreed and decided in 2022 that NaphCare would pay the estate $26.5 million in damages, while Spokane County was ordered to pay $275,000.

The entities’ fiscal obligations are directly correlated to the extent they were found at fault in Hill’s death. In addition to deciding the damages to be awarded, the jury in the initial lawsuit were asked to apportion responsibility for Hill’s death. They decided NaphCare would pay 90% and Spokane County would pay 10%.

Spokane County’s lawsuit claims NaphCare did not uphold their end of the split when it comes to covering the estate’s legal expenses. While NaphCare launched a failed appeal against the decision, Spokane County covered the entirety of the fees with a check from the Washington Counties Risk Pool to avoid interest while NaphCare’s appeal was ongoing and obligation to pay was suspended, the lawsuit states.

“Spokane County and the Washington Counties Risk Pool made the payment that NaphCare jointly and severally owed, thus benefitting NaphCare,” the lawsuit states. “It would be unjust for NaphCare to retain that benefit without payment to Spokane County and the Washington Counties Risk Pool.”

In addition to seeking NaphCare’s initial share of the attorney fees, the county has asked for the reimbursement of the legal costs to bring the lawsuit forward. The company has yet to respond to the litigation in official court filings.

Lawsuit filed six months after controversial contract expansion

Everhealth, a subsidiary of NaphCare, has provided medical, dental and pharmaceutical care in the Spokane County Jail since 2017.

In January, the county commissioners voted to expand NaphCare’s responsibilities in county detention facilities to include behavioral health services and awarded the company another three-year, multimillion-dollar contract.

That decision led to layoffs for all 10 members of the county’s behavioral health team in detention facilities, which was followed by grievances and unfair labor practice complaints from the union representing those county employees.

Greg Beeman, president of the union at the time, said the county failed to do its due diligence in working with the union prior to the contract being awarded, as well as in negotiating measures to mitigate the impacts on those being let go.

The state’s Public Employment Relations Commission has not issued a decision related to those complaints, according to a review of its online portal.

Under the contract approved in January, NaphCare will be paid $15.9 million for the first year, $16.8 million for the second and $17.3 million for the third. That agreed-upon rate is in addition to a $700,000 contract extension to cover January 2025 while a larger contract was fleshed out, as well as $250,000 for an upgraded health records system.

The county will also pay the company an additional $850,000 over the next three years for the implementation of an agreement between the state and the federal government to offer Medicaid coverage to youth and adult detainees up to 90 days before they are released.

The rate for the first year of services, with the January extension, transition costs and off-site medical claims included, is a nearly 62% increase from what the county paid in 2024 for its in-house behavioral team and NaphCare’s medical services combined.

Commissioners Chris Jordan and Amber Waldref, who voted against the new contract, cited concerns over those costs and the impact to county employees in voicing their dissent.

In an interview earlier this year, Simmons said bringing all medical services back in-house would have had its own lofty price tag. Staffing would cost nearly $10 million, additional insurance and liability coverage would cost around $1 million and the county would need to stand up a liability fund totaling at least $10 million. Also included in the calculus was an expected $1.2 million in IT costs to stand up an inhouse department, according to county records.

Simmons said it would take the county years to get services to the level provided by NaphCare, even if the county could fill all available positions as it struggled to do prior to the NaphCare years.

“Then you have to measure the successes, going back to retention, recruitment and doing things outside of our core competency,” Simmons said. “And we’re competing for the same group of people that those in the profession, that really focus on health care, do on a daily basis.”