An appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of separate lawsuits by two Unified Fire Authority firefighters who alleged their constitutional rights were violated when a Cottonwood Heights police detective accessed a state database containing their prescription drug records.
Assistant Fire Chief Marlon Jones and firefighter Ryan Pyle sued after Detective James Woods ran queries in 2013 on all 480 UFA employees after prescription drugs disappeared from some ambulances.
The search was done on the Controlled Substance Database, which was created in 1995 by the Utah Legislature to track prescriptions issued by doctors to identify potential misuse or overprescribing.
The search led to allegations that Jones and Pyle were using multiple doctors to obtain excessive medications and prescription fraud charges were filed against them in 3rd District Court. The charges were later dismissed.
The Associated Press has reported that Pyle and Jones were not linked to the thefts and that they showed that all their medications were properly prescribed. According to court records, the theft case was closed with no charges brought against anyone.
The firefighters’ suits, filed in the spring of 2015 in federal court in Salt Lake City, claimed violations of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The cases — which named as defendants Woods, Cottonwood Heights and Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore, who also was a member of the UFA governing board — were assigned to two different judges.
Both judges dismissed the cases in late 2015, ruling the detective was entitled to immunity because the law governing warrantless access to prescription drug information by law enforcement was not clearly established. In addition, they threw out the FCRA claims because the defendants’ actions fit within an exemption in the act, according to court records.
Meanwhile, the Utah Legislature passed a law in 2015 requiring police to get a warrant to access the database.
Jones had testified in February 2015 before a Senate committee, telling lawmakers about the investigation, his arrest and court appearances, and the effect on him and his family.
Attorney Scott Michelman of the group Public Citizen, who argued on behalf of the firefighters, said giving police unfettered access to the database is unconstitutional, according to an Associated Press story. He compared putting names onto the database without probable cause to kicking down people’s doors and rifling through their medicine cabinets, the AP story says.
The 10th Circuit issued its 3-0 decision upholding the rulings in both cases on Wednesday.
Tyler Ayres, a Draper attorney who represents the firefighters in their suit, said Thursday it seemed the court had “bent over backwards” to find in favor of the defendants.
“We’re very disappointed in the decision,” Ayres said.