A Lowndes County jail inmate has filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming administrators refused to provide him with medical treatment.
John Douglas Easley, who had been charged with burglary, domestic violence and possession of marijuana, fell down a stairway in the jail Aug. 4, according to his complaint filed Oct. 26.
The fall caused him to have several medical issues, including severe pain in his groin area and a hernia, he claims.
In the complaint, Easley says he needed surgery for the hernia, but was told to wait until he was discharged so the county wouldn”t have to foot the bill.
Administrators also ignored his many complaints of pain after several false alarms that resulted in emergency trips to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, he says in the complaint.
Easley was only treated after jail officials learned he was filing a lawsuit, he claims.
VFW suit
A former Lowndes County Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4272 bartender has sued Comdr. Malcolm Gerry Moore for sexual harassment.
Estelle Diane Johnson filed an amended complaint in federal court Nov. 22 claiming she had been fired after accusing Moore of a “daily barrage of sexual remarks and lewd comments” during her work hours at the post.
As commander, Moore supervised Johnson after she was hired in August 2008. She was fired Nov. 29, 2009, after complaining of the harassment, when Moore falsely accused her of criminal actions, slandering and libeling her to that effect, Johnson said.
The VFW post house committee, who are also named as defendants in the lawsuit, ignored her complaint, she also claims.
The defendants have yet to file their response to the complaint.
Johnson is demanding at least $19,371 in missed and overtime pay from the VFW post, in addition to punitive damages to be determined by a jury.
The lawsuit was dismissed Sept. 7 from the federal court docket because its claims were outside federal court jurisdiction. Since then, the complaint has been amended to allege the Fair Labor Standards Act was violated.
No hearing dates have been set for the cases.
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