Collins v. Lochard, No. 14-1915 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, a civil detainee in Illinois, appealed an adverse jury verdict in his deliberate indifference suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against a facility physician. Plaintiff alleged that the district court should have declared a mistrial after the physician violated a pretrial ruling by the court by mentioning to the jury that plaintiff was incarcerated for 26 years. Plaintiff also challenged the strength of the evidence supporting the jury’s verdict. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in not declaring a mistrial where the jury could already infer from plaintiff's testimony and the medical issues that plaintiff had dating back to 2002 that plaintiff had spent a long in prison. Because plaintiff did not preserve his second argument, the court cannot reach the issue. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
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