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KNOXVILLE — A civil case involving the Town of Oneida and an Oneida woman who says the negligence of police officers contributed to her husband’s death is headed back to court.
Wanda F. Dykes filed a lawsuit against the Town of Oneida in 2006, after her husband, Ronald Dykes, died of a heart attack at his home. Officers had visited the home earlier at the request of a family friend but believed an unresponsive Dykes was sleeping.
Attorneys for the Town of Oneida successfully sought summary judgment in Scott County Circuit Court in February 2009, after Dykes was unable to produce testimony from a medical expert that officers’ inaction caused her husband’s death.
However, a state appellate court on Friday vacated that decision and remanded the case back to Circuit Court for further proceedings.
According to the original complaint, Ronald Dykes visited his wife at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge on Sept. 27, 2006. His wife attempted to phone him after he returned home, and contacted a family friend to check on him after her calls went unanswered.
The friend found Dykes’ door unlocked and contacted the Oneida Police Department. Allegedly, officers found Dykes lying in a recliner, “snoring.” They called his name without response, according to testimony, but saw his chest rise and fall as he breathed and continued snoring.
Officers “were aware that Mr. Dykes had been spending time that day with his wife at the hospital and surmised that he was just tired from that experience” and left the residence, court documents show.
The following morning, the friend returned to the home with Wanda Dykes’ father, where Ronald Dykes was discovered dead in the same position as the evening before.
The cause of death was determined to be a heart attack. Dykes had a lengthy cardiac history, having suffered 11 previous heart attacks.
In her complaint, Wanda Dykes claimed that her husband would have survived if officers had summoned medical assistance to the home.
Attorneys for the town charged that Dykes could not prove a connection between her husband’s death and the actions or inactions of officers, and presented testimony from Dr. Charles Perry, who testified that he could not say for certain that Ronald Dykes would have lived even if he had received prompt medical treatment.
After four postponements to allow attorneys for Wanda Dykes the opportunity to produce testimony to the contrary by a medical expert, Judge John McAfee granted the Town of Oneida summary judgment in February 2009.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals at Knoxville, however, cited Supreme Court precedent stating that an assertion that the plaintiff (Dykes) cannot prove his or her claim is insufficient for a summary judgment order.
“While we empathize . . . with this trial court in particular in light of the careful and patient consideration it gave this case, we are simply unwilling and unable to sustain a summary judgment based on a deadline artifically imposed by a mistaken premise,” Judge Charles D. Susano wrote in his opinion, which was joined by Herschel P. Franks and D. Michael Swiney.
