Ivermectin claims moot, defendants argue in motion

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County jail officials and a jail doctor argue in a motion filed Tuesday claims about ivermectin being used to treat detainees with covid-19 at the facility are moot and the case should be dismissed.

Defendants include Tim Helder, in his official capacity as sheriff; Karas Correctional Health; Dr. Robert Karas; and the Washington County Detention Center.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed the federal lawsuit in January.

Four detainees contend in the lawsuit that they were unknowingly given ivermectin at the jail without being told the nature, contents or potential side effects of the drug. The lawsuit says they were told the treatment consisted of “vitamins,” “antibiotics” and/or “steroids.”

The lawsuit contends detainees were given ivermectin as early as November 2020 and didn’t become aware of what the treatment was until July 2021.

Helder told the Quorum Court’s Finance and Budget Committee in August that Karas Correctional Health had been prescribing ivermectin as a treatment at the jail, according to the ACLU.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved ivermectin for use in treating nor preventing covid-19 in humans, according to the lawsuit. It’s approved to treat some parasitic worms, head lice and skin conditions but isn’t an antiviral drug.

Under Arkansas law, medical providers must warn a patient of potential hazards of future medical treatment, according to the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs in the case include Edrick Floreal-Wooten, Jeremiah Little, Julio Gonzales and Dayman Blackburn, who were housed in a quarantine block at the jail. The lawsuit says the men were given inappropriately high doses of ivermectin.

The motion for judgment based on the pleadings, filed Tuesday, contends the claims are moot because the plaintiffs are no longer in the jail and any chance of them returning is purely speculative, so the court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case.

The motion argues the four plaintiffs seek only an injunction to stop the further use of ivermectin to treat them at the jail and a plaintiff seeking injunctive relief to guard against future unlawful conduct must be under a real and immediate threat of injury.

“There is no present case or controversy regarding any of the named Plaintiffs. None of the named Plaintiffs are currently incarcerated in the WCDC and it would require rank speculation for the Court or parties to submit that any of the Plaintiffs will again be incarcerated in the WCDC, contract covid-19 while there at some hypothetical time and for some hypothetical reason in the future, and be treated with ivermectin,” according to the motion.

All of the plaintiffs are now at the Arkansas Department of Correction, according to the motion. Floreal-Wooten, Little, Blackburn and Gonzales are serving sentences of seven, 10, three and six years, respectively.

Courts have held an action seeking an injunction to alter prison conditions becomes moot once the plaintiff transfers to another facility, according to the motion. It makes no difference that it’s theoretically possible the plaintiff could return to the original facility and once again face the same conditions.

“There are no allegations in the complaint that any of the Plaintiffs are at risk of being incarcerated in the WCDC soon or ever again,” according to the motion.

Where the circumstances change and that change eliminates the need for court action, the matter is moot, according to the motion.

The four also cannot raise constitutional rights claims of third parties who aren’t parties to the case, the motion argues.

In an answer to the lawsuit filed in January, the defense denied any wrongdoing and contended there can be no constitutional violation or deliberate indifference because physicians are permitted to exercise medical judgment in the treatment of inmates.