Niki Capaci, a mother of seven, died last year while incarcerated in a New York jail. Her family is suing Wellpath, a top provider of medical care in that jail and hundreds of other facilities around the country, alleging medical neglect in the death of their loved one.
But that case and dozens of other wrongful death, personal injury and medical negligence lawsuits filed by incarcerated individuals and their families are delayed because the multimillion-dollar company filed for bankruptcy last month.
"I'm more frustrated about the fact that I feel like [Wellpath is] kind of trying to shirk responsibility," said Layla Capaci, Niki Capaci's sister. "I don't care as much about my day in court or the money. I care about there being some accountability, someone saying, 'Hey, we f****d up.' And I feel like this is kind of a way for them to avoid having to do that."
The company says that, while bankruptcy proceedings are ongoing, it will continue operating services in more than 400 facilities, including prisons, jails and hospitals, as it attempts to reduce approximately $550 million in debt and plans a reorganization of its Wellpath Correctional Healthcare division.
For years, Wellpath, the largest commercial provider of health care in jails and prisons across 37 states, has been the target of federal lawsuits and scrutiny by lawmakers for its practices that have been alleged to cause long-term health problems and the deaths of dozens of incarcerated individuals.
As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, a federal judge in Texas granted a pause in all lawsuits that involve Wellpath. Legal proceedings in such cases can take years in normal circumstances, but Wellpath's bankruptcy means dozens of those cases, like the Capaci case, are on hold for the foreseeable future.
Niki Capaci, 40, died while incarcerated in a New York jail cell in May 2023. Her family sued the jail, some members of its staff and Wellpath in federal court for damages for wrongful death. According to the lawsuit and the family, Capaci was exhibiting symptoms of severe withdrawal from opioids and was given buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorders, even though she was intolerant to the medication. That "only exacerbated her symptoms and contributed to her premature death," the lawsuit alleges.
A New York State Commission of Correction report has since agreed that jail staff failed to adequately evaluate Capaci, that they failed to send her to a medical provider or to transfer her to an emergency room when her symptoms indicated the need for further care. The report also found that corrections officers failed to properly monitor Capaci during their rounds.
The impact of the bankruptcy goes much deeper than just a delay to those involved in lawsuits against Wellpath.
Tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars of alleged damages are potentially being given up as some individuals look to drop claims against Wellpath, one attorney said. And for others who turned to the courts as a way to receive justice, they now wonder whether accountability will ever happen.
Representatives for Wellpath didn't immediately reply to NPR's request for comment. Chief Executive Officer Ben Slocum said in a statement announcing the bankruptcy that the company continues "to put patient care first and made significant investments to ensure our patients received the highest level of care."
Bankruptcy offers companies "advantages"
Wellpath has been dogged by more than 1,400 lawsuits filed across the country. A 2019 CNN investigation found that in lawsuits filed between 2014 and 2018, Correct Care Solutions (CCS), Wellpath's predecessor, was accused of contributing to more than 70 jail deaths.
It's unclear how many lawsuits or settlements naming Wellpath as a defendant are now directly impacted by this bankruptcy, but court documents list at least around 30 cases tied to individuals in prison.
Bankruptcy has been a tactic used by corporations facing mass tort liability and it's a trend that appears to be growing, said Jonathan Lipson, a law professor at Temple University specializing in bankruptcy.
"It seems to be a more attractive path for companies to use to try to manage" liability brought by these civil cases, he said.
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has attempted a similar maneuver as has correctional health care company Corizon.
Taking this path "can give the company significant advantages through the bankruptcy process that they never have in ordinary litigation, including halting those other litigations, halting the discovery process, halting determinations of liability on the merits, and many other things that can be quite valuable to the company but might be costly to victims," Lipson said.
It will cost the plaintiffs in more ways than one. The filing forces alleged victims from the lawsuits to proceed with those unresolved complaints in bankruptcy court. That could mean alleged victims could get far less in damages compared to what they could have received if the case continued in civil court.
"There's really no way that you can collect everything that you would otherwise be entitled to" once a company goes bankrupt, said Jaehyun Oh, the attorney representing the Capaci family.
Letting go
D Dangaran, the director of Gender Justice at Rights Behind Bars, represents three clients with claims against Wellpath.
Two of those cases, one yet to be filed and the other filed in December 2023, involve incarcerated individuals who are transgender who allege corrections staff and Wellpath were delaying access to necessary gender affirming care.
The needs Dangaran's clients have are urgent, Dangaran said. With the bankruptcy pausing litigation, the ability to get those medical needs addressed is further delayed, Dangaran said.
Dangaran said the advocacy group's clients now have two options: Drop claims against Wellpath, and with it potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars and the chance to hold the company accountable for harms they allegedly faced, or wait while critical health care continues to be allegedly withheld.
"You have to let [Wellpath] go or your entire case can be stayed. [The clients] want surgery so badly. They were willing, before bankruptcy, to negotiate down their monetary awards in favor of guaranteeing gender affirming care," Dangaran said. "It was disappointing to them, but the money potential is not as important as pursuing their care."
"I don't care how big a company you are"
Discovery in the Niki Capaci case should have started this winter, but it has been delayed by the bankruptcy filing, Oh said. The Capaci family was hoping to get full access to a great deal of information — including the unredacted report from the New York State Commission of Correction.
Oh has filed a request to the judge to allow the case to continue against the other defendants in the Capaci lawsuit including jail staff and Orange County, N.Y., while Wellpath continues its bankruptcy proceedings.
A response from the judge is expected soon.
The family say they've dug in their heels and promise to continue with their case.
"I don't really think any of us planned on stopping anything until we got all of those changes and justice that my mom, and everybody else this has happened to, deserves," said Aryana Davila, Capaci's oldest daughter. "I don't care how big a company you are."
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