Dr. Amy R. Woods v. MHM Health Professionals, LLC, d/b/a Centurion Professionals; Management & Training Corporation; Jesse Williams, Individually
Dr. Amy R. Woods v. MHM Health Professionals, LLC, d/b/a Centurion Professionals; Management & Training Corporation; Jesse Williams, Individually
U.S.D.C., Northern District of Mississippi, Oxford Division
Cause No. 3:19-cv-00234-NBB-RP
On March 24, 2022, a jury in the United States District Court in Oxford, Mississippi, returned a total verdict of $1,167,000.00 in favor of Dr. Amy Woods in the above-styled cause of action. Judge Neal B. Biggers presided over the four-day jury trial.
Dr. Woods alleged she had been wrongfully terminated by MHM Health Professionals, LLC, d/b/a Centurion Professionals because she had complained about the company’s failure to provide adequate medical care to the inmates at the Marshall County Correctional Facility, where she served as the onsite physician and medical director from November 9, 2016, until June 25, 2019. She also alleged that Management & Training Corporation, the company who staffed the prison, and Jesse Williams, the warden during a portion of her tenure, intentionally interfered with her employment and revoked her security clearance in violation of her First Amendment rights.
Warden Williams claimed that he revoked her security clearance, costing her the job as medical director, because she had complained about Management & Training Corporation’s refusal to provide adequate numbers of security staff to transport prisoners both to the onsite medical facility and to offsite medical appointments to receive treatment for their serious medical needs.
The total compensatory damage award was $167,000.00, with $67,000.00 being for lost income and $100,000.00 for emotional distress.
The Court also instructed the jury that they could award punitive damages against Management & Training Corporation. The jury returned a punitive verdict of $1 million dollars.
Plaintiff was represented at trial by Jim Waide and Rachel Pierce Waide of Waide & Associates, P.A., in Tupelo, Mississippi. Defendant MHM Health Professionals, LLC, d/b/a Centurion Professionals was represented at trial by David W. Long-Daniels, Austin Harrison, and M. Allyson Lumpkin of Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP, in Atlanta, Georgia. Defendants Management & Training Corporation and Jesse Williams were represented at trial by Timothy M. Peeples of Daniel Coker Horton and Bell, P.A., in Oxford, Mississippi.