Jury finds firm not negligent in toddler’s death
A San Antonio jury decided Tuesday that a Guatemalan immigrant failed to prove her toddler got sick at a South Texas immigration facility in 2018 and, as a result, died six weeks after their release — the main allegation of the mother’s federal lawsuit against the operator of the complex.
By an 8-1 verdict, jurors found Memphis, Tenn.-based Corecivic was not negligent while housing Mariee Camyl Newberry Juárez and her mother, Yazmin Juárez Coyoy, who spent 20 days in the South Texas Family Residential Center in March 2018.
After they were released on March 25, Mariee spent six weeks in hospitals in New Jersey and Philadelphia and died on May 10, 2018, from complications from two viruses. She was 21 months old.
Juárez, now in her mid-20s, cried as U.S. District Judge Fred Biery read the verdict. She was consoled by her lead lawyer, Stanton Jones.
Corecivic defended its Dilley complex in a written statement.
“We care about every person entrusted to us, especially vulnerable populations for which our partners rightfully have very high standards that we work hard to meet each day,” Corecivic said in a statement. “Our hearts continue to go out to this family for the tragic loss of their child.”
The jury, whose nine members were all Hispanic, deliberated a day and a half after closing arguments Friday in a trial that ran all of last week.
After the jury sent a note to the judge Tuesday morning, both sides agreed to inform the jury that they would accept an 8-1 verdict. The jury reached a decision about an hour and a half later.
Juárez sued Corecivic in 2019, claiming Mariee was healthy when the pair arrived at the facility but contracted two viruses while they were held in crowded conditions in a housing unit. Initially, the suit sought up to $40 million in damages, but Juárez’s lawyers did not specify to the jury how much they were seeking in damages.
‘They failed’
Lawyers for Juárez argued in court last week that a boy in the same housing unit was sick and that Mariee may have contracted the viruses from him. They also argued that Corecivic should have had isolation protocols in place to separate the sick from the healthy.
“They failed to provide safe conditions appropriate for small children detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center,” Jones said in his closing argument Friday. “They had a duty to provide safe living conditions for children in their care and, as you have heard all week, they did not do that.”
But attorneys for Corecivic said it is impossible to prove that the child was infected at the facility — and countered that she was either already sick before leaving Guatemala or infected along the way.
The pair slept for four nights on the floor of a makeshift structure near Mcallen — with about 50 other mothers and children — operated by Border Patrol before Juárez and Mariee were moved to the Dilley facility.
“They didn’t even come close to proving liability in this case,” Daniel Struck, one of Corecivic’s lawyers, said in his closing argument Friday. “They have to prove that defendants breached the standard of care by having beds too close together in an unsanitary environment, and that Mariee caught these two viruses from a boy there. We all know they didn’t prove that.”
Multiple clinics
During the weeklong trial, a vice president for Corecivic and a former warden said those held at the complex have access to multiple onsite health clinics that were administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The clinics were open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for appointments and medical emergencies.
The complex is about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio and can hold up to 2,400 people. Corecivic opened it in 2014 under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold women and children migrants.
Juárez also sued ICE in 2020 in federal court in New Jersey, alleging negligent medical care at the Dilley facility. The government agency, not Corecivic, handles medical care at the Dilley complex.
Jones also represents Juárez in that lawsuit, and said in closing arguments that he planned to hold “ICE responsible.”
That case is pending in New Jersey.