Judge Allows Ada Doss Wrongful Death Lawsuit To Move Forward Against DCH, Security Firm

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A Tuscaloosa County judge has denied a request from an attorney representing capital murder suspect Matthew James Taylor to temporarily halt a wrongful death civil lawsuit for all of its defendants following the May shooting death of DCH Health System nurse Ada Doss.

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Circuit Court Judge Corey Seale issued the order after a brief hearing Monday morning that was attended by more than a dozen of Doss' family members and friends.

Many of those in attendance sitting behind the plaintiff's table wore blue T-shirts with the words "For Ada, For All Of Us," printed on the front in white letters, along with buttons featuring a picture of the slain mother and her husband, Drew Doss, both smiling and wearing Boston Red Sox uniforms.

Judge Seale ultimately denied the motion to stay the civil action brought by Drew Doss against Taylor, the DCH Health Care Authority and Universal Protection Service LLC, which was doing business as Allied Security — but not without an important caveat.

Drew Doss is represented in his civil suit by father-son legal duo Paul Patterson and North Patterson of Tuscaloosa's Patterson Law Firm, along with Randy Dempsey of Birmingham's Dempsey Steed.

"At today's hearing, attorneys changed course at the last minute and asked Judge Seale for a 60-day stay of the case, which she denied," Paul Patterson told Patch. "Drew Doss and his family are thankful for a swift and immediate ruling by Judge Seale."

The motion was filed solely by J. Michael Comer, the Tuscaloosa attorney representing Taylor in the civil suit, and not at the request of attorneys for DCH or Universal Protection Service.

He also briefly aired his frustrations over the unexpected changes to the motion, pointing out to this reporter that it could have been handled "with a phone call" to save those in attendance supporting Drew Doss the trouble of coming to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse for a hearing that lasted only a few minutes.

The attorneys representing Taylor and the two larger entities in the lawsuit declined to comment ahead of the judge's ruling.

During Monday's hearing, Paul Patterson told the court that while the family has "struggled with what life is going to look like," Drew Doss — the father of two small children — was planning to return to work next week at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance.

He then said the young father and grieving husband has the family and support network to provide the necessary logistics to raise his children while also prosecuting the civil lawsuit to its conclusion.

Patterson also went on to raise questions Monday about what Allied Security's employees were doing during the two hours that Taylor was allegedly on the hospital's campus, in addition to claiming that Taylor had been admitted to DCH on at least one occasion under a "fictitious name" after the shooting.

Judge Seale declined to put the entire lawsuit on hold for DCH and Allied Security, but did enter a protective order shielding Taylor from participating in the discovery process for the time being after she raised the possibility during the hearing.

As Patch previously reported, Taylor is charged with capital murder after fatally shooting Doss on May 12 during a suspected robbery in one of the Tuscaloosa hospital's parking lots, with Paul Patterson saying Monday that a total of 47 witnesses were named in the felony pack for the criminal case.

Indeed, there is no dispute among any of the parties involved that Taylor fired the fatal shot that killed Ada Doss — a fact supported by a wealth of video and other evidence.

While questions abounded concerning how Taylor obtained the handgun used in the killing and who dropped him off at DCH Regional Medical Center that day, the key question at the moment is if Taylor will ever see the inside of a courtroom to stand trial for murder.

Taylor is currently being held in the nearby Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility while his mental evaluation is conducted.

The mental evaluation, as pointed out by Comer on Monday, will determine if the M'Naghten rule — a legal test used to determine if a criminal defendant is able to claim an insanity defense — should be applied to Taylor's case.

"Until further order of the Court, Defendant Matthew Taylor shall not be required to testify, respond, or otherwise participate in discovery," Judge Seale wrote.

ALSO READ: DCH Releases Detailed Timeline Of Events Leading Up To Fatal Shooting Of Ada Doss

During his brief stay in the Tuscaloosa County Jail following his arrest, psychiatrists reported that Taylor refused to take his medication and his behavior became even more erratic as his mental state seemed to further deteriorate.

Patch previously reported this behavior included Taylor also refusing to food, consuming and smearing feces in his cell, and requiring physical intervention from jail staff involving the use of electroshock weapons and OC spray.

Judge Seale ordered that the discovery phase of the civil case involving the other parties may proceed, provided Taylor's rights under the Fifth Amendment are protected.

The ruling represents a partial rejection of arguments raised by Comer, who asked the court earlier this month to stay the civil case and pause any discovery until Taylor's pending criminal charges are resolved.

It also follows a previous ruling by Judge Seale in July that denied DCH's request to be dismissed from the lawsuit.

In the denied motion for dismissal, DCH insisted that while the cases could proceed against the other two named defendants, the lawsuit by Ada Doss' estate could not legally proceed against the hospital because of the exclusivity provisions of the Alabama Workers' Compensation Act.

Taylor's family has also filed a civil lawsuit against DCH Health Care Authority, with Patch previously reporting on allegations that the hospital failed to provide emergency psychiatric treatment during a mental health crisis hours before the fatal shooting.

Comer offered his condolences to those present in Judge Seale's courtroom Monday, before referring to the 27-year-old mother's violent death as a "terrible, terrible thing."

In his seven-page motion to stay the lawsuit, Comer argued the parallel criminal and civil cases were "inextricably intertwined" and that allowing the civil case to proceed would threaten Taylor's constitutional protection against self-incrimination.

Taylor's attorney also referenced proceedings surrounding his mental condition, saying a May 29 court order followed a psychiatrist's assertion that Taylor suffered from a serious mental illness and had refused to take his medication.

Indeed, Comer reminded the court that Taylor has battled severe paranoid schizophrenia since he was 18 years old.

According to the motion, Taylor was transferred on June 3 from the Tuscaloosa County Jail to Taylor Hardin for an evaluation of his mental status to determine his competency to stand trial, while further proceedings in the criminal cases were continued pending a report from the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

No updates have been given as to the status of Taylor's mental evaluation.

Comer also pointed that Taylor's attorney in the criminal case, Tuscaloosa's Hunter Brown, has yet to have the opportunity to properly meet with his client months after his arrest, due to his present mental state and ongoing evaluations.

Brown previously told Patch that Taylor was still in the grips of a severe mental health crisis during their one brief meeting in the Tuscaloosa County Jail immediately following his arrest and Taylor did not appear at the time to understand the situation he had gotten himself into.

Comer argued that the overlap between the criminal prosecution and civil lawsuit presented a significant Fifth Amendment problem because information obtained through the broader discovery process available in civil litigation could potentially be used against Taylor in the criminal case.

While Comer asked Judge Seale for a 60-day temporary stay for the wrongful death lawsuit on Monday, his initial motion filed on Aug. 1 called for a stay to be imposed until the criminal case could be resolved.

Judge Seale then raised the possibility of a protection order during the hearing, which she ultimately granted for Taylor in her ruling later in the afternoon.

"Allowing this civil case [against DCH and Allied Security] to proceed while the criminal charges are pending forces Matthew to choose between asserting his Fifth Amendment rights or participating in the defense of the civil case," the motion said, arguing there was a "strong risk of self-incrimination" if the lawsuit moved forward.

The defense cited several Alabama Supreme Court decisions dealing with parallel civil and criminal proceedings, and argued courts have discretion to stay civil litigation, postpone discovery or impose protective orders when necessary to safeguard a defendant's constitutional rights.

Comer further argued that delaying the civil lawsuit would not unduly prejudice Doss' estate because evidence would be preserved through the criminal investigation and many of the same witnesses were expected to be involved in both cases.

The original motion also maintained that the criminal and civil cases proceeding simultaneously could result in duplicative discovery, additional disputes between the parties and an unnecessary expenditure of judicial resources.

"The civil and criminal cases are inextricably intertwined because both cases involve the exact same set of operative facts and circumstances," Comer wrote.

Despite the last-minute push by the defense for a different motion, Judge Seale stopped short of granting the requested stay.

Instead, Monday's order effectively allows the Doss estate's lawsuit against the two other larger entities named as defendants to continue through discovery while insulating Taylor from being compelled to testify, respond to discovery requests or otherwise participate in that process until the court orders otherwise.

The protection order also requires that any continuing discovery be conducted in a manner that protects Taylor's Fifth Amendment rights.

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