Woman Who Suffered Miscarriage in Jail Must Refile Suit

A $55-million lawsuit filed against Orange County and Sheriff Brad Gates by a woman who suffered a miscarriage when she was in Orange County Jail was dismissed Monday by a federal judge who said it lacked important detail.

The judge gave the woman’s attorneys 10 days to file a new, more detailed complaint.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this year on behalf of Michele Rene Holtan by the American Civil Liberties Union, did not provide enough detail surrounding Holtan’s March, 1986, miscarriage, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie said. He said he also needed more information about the jail’s policies on treating pregnant inmates.

The case stemmed from Holtan’s arrest by Buena Park police in a drug raid on March 20, 1986. The police took Holtan and a group of her friends to the Buena Park police station. She was about to be released without being charged when a computer check revealed an outstanding warrant for an unpaid speeding ticket, according to the complaint.

Holtan, then 15 weeks pregnant, was booked into Orange County Jail. When she began bleeding, jail officials sent her to a hospital. She was examined and returned to the jail with a doctor’s orders to remain lying down. Her lawsuit contends that she was forced to stand up for 15 hours and subsequently lost the baby.

“I am confident we can put it together and refile the complaint,” said Harry Lerner, Holtan’s ACLU attorney. “We want them to stop killing babies in the Orange County Jail.”

In court papers arguing for dismissal, attorneys for the county said that Holtan “failed to establish deliberate indifference on the part of the county defendants.” They also contended that negligent treatment was not enough to support a claim that her constitutional rights were violated.

Orange County wants a second plaintiff, John Donald Eich, the unborn child’s father, removed from the case, but the judge did not rule on that issue.

Holtan, 30, formerly of Buena Park, is now living in Long Beach. She and Eich are no longer involved in a relationship, Lerner said.

David A. Sprowl, a private attorney representing the county, said Rafeedie’s ruling was not significant because complaints are amended all the time.

“Their complaint was technically deficient,” said Sprowl. “They just didn’t plead it correctly.”