Vernon County Jail “Fight Night” suit finally settled

What began as allegations against Vernon County Sheriff Jason Mosher, jail deputies, jailers and the county commissioners in May of 2017, finally ended with an amended complaint, a small settlement and dismissal on Monday.

The lawsuit was originally filed by local attorney Dustin Dunfield on behalf of Alexander Trexel, who was then an inmate at the Vernon County Jail. The suit alleged that Trexel was forced to participate in what was dubbed “Fight Night” during the time of his incarceration, and originally sought around $150 million in punitive damages.

The case was removed from the Vernon County Circuit Court to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in June of 2017 as it was seeking damages for civil rights violations. It continued through mediation and finally, a settlement conference. The July 25, 2019 settlement conference ended with agreement by the parties on the best way to proceed with the matter.

An amended complaint was filed on Aug. 8, 2019, which stated the complaint is “solely against Vernon County and involves only a claim that his (Trexel’s) constitutional right to protection from inmate-on-inmate violence has been violated.” All accusations against staff and accusations of “Fight Night” were omitted from the amended complaint, although some staff and officials were dropped from the complaint prior.

On Monday, Aug. 12, 2019, the case was dismissed with prejudice.

According to Sheriff Mosher, “The remaining suit was a medical claim from Mr. Trexel. The county in general and the insurance company opted to negotiate based on cost to defend, which is common in any medical claim case.”

Mosher stressed that the settlement is a decision made by the insurance company. “It isn’t the county or the department making that decision. The settlement was to avoid further costs to defend in court. The county will not be paying anything.”

“I would also point out that the insurance company deciding to settle as a cheaper option, rather than continuing to pay attorneys in court, has nothing to do with the facts of how jail staff operates in the jail,” Mosher wrote in correspondence from the Sheriff’s Convention he is attending this week. “The insurance company did not recommend any changes for improvements. They have stated to us that they take into account the cost of a case to get to trial and if a settlement can be reached that would save them money, they base it off that amount regardless of our position on the case.”

Although there were no recommendations for changes to how the jail operates, Mosher says they are still working on additional camera installation to areas of the jail that did not have good coverage in order to help detention officers monitor the inmates. “We have also started the jail academy to better train staff on dealing with violent inmates.”

Mosher says since there are currently no legal standards for jail staff training in Missouri, “One of my long-time goals has been to increase the amount of training we offer in our jail compared to the requirements. However, these training improvements were already in the planning stages at the time this lawsuit was filed and have nothing to do with this case specifically.”

Editor's Note: Nevada Daily Mail has reached out to Mr. Trexel's attorney for comment, but hadn't received a response as of press time.