Bailey v. Pataki
| Decision Date | 10 July 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 08 Civ. 8665 (JSR).,No. 08 Civ. 9609 (JSR).,No. 08 Civ. 8925 (JSR).,No. 08 Civ. 8923 (JSR).,No. 08 Civ. 8563 (JSR).,No. 08 Civ. 8924 (JSR).,08 Civ. 8563 (JSR).,08 Civ. 8665 (JSR).,08 Civ. 8923 (JSR).,08 Civ. 8924 (JSR).,08 Civ. 8925 (JSR).,08 Civ. 9609 (JSR). |
| Citation | 636 F.Supp.2d 288 |
| Parties | Kenneth BAILEY, Plaintiff, v. George PATAKI, et al., Defendants. George Brooks, Plaintiff, v. George Pataki, et al., Defendants. Louis Massei, Plaintiff, v. George Pataki, et al., Defendants. Jorge Burgos, Jr., Plaintiff, v. George Pataki, et al., Defendants. Robert Trocchio, Plaintiff, v. George Pataki, et al., Defendants. Robert Warren, Plaintiff, v. George Pataki, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Ameer Nadav Benno, New York County District Attorney's Office, Justin M. Blitz, Shandell, Blitz, Blitz & Bookson, LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.
Rachael C. Anello, Edward J. Curtis, Jr., Attorney General of The State of New York, New York, NY, for Defendants.
Article 9 of the New York Mental Hygiene Law provides for the involuntary psychiatric commitment of "any person alleged to be mentally ill and in need of involuntary care and treatment." N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 9.27. Plaintiffs, all convicted sex offenders, each individually allege that shortly before being released from prison, they were involuntarily committed to state-run psychiatric facilities based on their sex offender status. Plaintiffs contend that defendants' invocation of Article 9 to effectuate their transfer to these psychiatric facilities deprived them of the procedural protections to which they were constitutionally entitled, and seek damages under federal and state law. Defendants moved pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) to dismiss plaintiffs' Complaints on the basis of qualified immunity, or, in the alternative, for a stay pending the resolution of certain pending state court proceedings. On June 8, 2009, the Court denied defendants' motion. This Memorandum Order explains the reasons for that determination.
Article 9, which is applicable to persons generally who develop mental illnesses requiring involuntary hospitalization, permits involuntary psychiatric commitments "upon the certificates of two examining physicians, accompanied by an application for the admission of such person[s]." N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 9.27(a). Such application must be made by someone with personal knowledge of the individual in question, id. § 9.27(b), and must "contain a statement of the facts upon which the allegation of mental illness and need for care and treatment are based." Id. § 9.27(c). A confirmatory examination is conducted by a doctor at the hospital upon the patient's arrival, id. § 9.27(e), and, after the patient has been hospitalized, he or she may request a judicial hearing on his or her need for hospitalization. Id. § 9.31. Moreover, written notice of the patient's involuntary admission must "be given forthwith to the mental hygiene legal service," and written notice of the admission, including a list of the patient's rights under Article 9, must be given, within five days of the patient's admission, to (1) "the nearest relative of the person alleged to be mentally ill, other than the applicant, if there be any such person known to the director," and (2) "as many as three additional persons, if designated in writing to receive such notice by the person so admitted." Id. § 9.29.
Article 9 does not, however, require that the psychiatric examination underlying a patient's admission be conducted by a court-appointed independent physician, does not require pre-transfer notice to the patient, to his friends or relatives, or to the Mental Hygiene Legal Service, and does not afford the possibility of a pre-commitment judicial hearing. In light of these and other alleged inadequacies, plaintiffs contend that defendants, in their invocation of Article 9 to effectuate plaintiffs' transfer to state-run psychiatric facilities, failed to afford plaintiffs adequate procedural due process protections.
Against this background, defendants argue that they are entitled to qualified immunity from suit because the procedures set forth in Article 9 were constitutionally adequate to protect against any alleged interference with plaintiffs' existing liberty interests, and, to the extent that they were not adequate, any rights that were violated in effectuating plaintiffs' transfer were not clearly established at the time of plaintiffs' commitment.
In assessing the adequacy of the procedural protections afforded by Article 9, this Court must determine whether an existing liberty or property interest was interfered with by the state, Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 571, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972), and, if so, whether the procedures attendant upon that deprivation were constitutionally sufficient. Zinermon v. Burch, 494 U.S. 113, 126, 110 S.Ct. 975, 108 L.Ed.2d 100 (1990). The existence of a liberty interest is plainly present, since involuntary commitments to mental institutions entail "a massive curtailment of liberty," Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 491, 100 S.Ct. 1254; 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980) (citation omitted). See Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418, 425, 99 S.Ct. 1804, 60 L.Ed.2d 323 (1979) ().
As for interference with that interest, the Supreme Court in Vitek considered whether the Due Process Clause "entitles a prisoner ... to certain procedural protections, including notice, an adversary hearing, and provision of counsel, before he is transferred involuntarily to a state mental hospital for treatment of a mental disease or defect." 445 U.S. at 482, 100 S.Ct. 1254. The Court answered in the affirmative, concluding that a convicted felon "is entitled to the benefit of procedures appropriate in the circumstances before he is found to have a mental disease and transferred to a mental hospital." Id. at 493, 100 S.Ct. 1254 (emphasis added). In so holding, the Court emphasized that "notice is essential to afford the prisoner an opportunity to challenge the contemplated action and to understand the nature of what is happening to him." Id. at 496, 100 S.Ct. 1254. Included among the pre-confinement procedures that the Court deemed "appropriate" were written notice, a hearing at which evidence supporting the inmate's transfer would be disclosed and at which the inmate would have an opportunity to be heard and to present evidence opposing the transfer, an independent decision-maker, a written statement by the decision-maker of the reasons for the transfer, the assistance at the hearing of competent assistance (though not necessarily an attorney), and written notice of the foregoing rights. Id. at 494-97, 100 S.Ct. 1254.
Here, all six plaintiffs allege that they were involuntarily transferred to state-run mental institutions based on the certification of doctors designated by the New York State Office of Mental Health and/or the New York Department of Correctional Services, instead of independent, court-appointed doctors. See Bailey Amended Complaint for Damages ("Bailey Compl.") ¶¶ 47-49; Brooks Amended Complaint ("Brooks Compl.") ¶¶ 43-45; Burgos Amended Complaint for Damages ("Burgos Compl.") ¶¶ 47-50; Massei Amended Complaint for Damages ("Massei Compl.") ¶¶ 42-43; Trocchio Amended Complaint for Damages ("Trocchio Compl.") ¶¶ 44-46; Warren Complaint for Damages ("Warren Compl.") ¶¶ 48-49. Plaintiffs Bailey, Burgos, Brooks, Massei, and Trocchio were never served with notice of a petition for their involuntary commitment, Bailey Compl. ¶¶ 43-44, 46; Brooks Compl. ¶ 47; Burgos ¶ 51; Massei Compl. ¶ 45; Trocchio Compl. ¶ 47, nor was any notice ever provided to any of the plaintiffs' friends and family, or to the Mental Hygiene Legal Services. Bailey Compl. ¶ 51;1 Brooks Compl. ¶ 47; Burgos ¶ 51; Massei Compl. ¶ 45; Trocchio Compl. ¶ 47; Warren Compl. ¶ 55. No plaintiff had an opportunity to request or was afforded a pre-commitment hearing and opportunity to be heard. Bailey Compl. ¶¶ 43-44, 46-47; Brooks Compl. ¶ 47; Burgos ¶ 51; Massei Compl. ¶ 45; Trocchio Compl. ¶ 47; Warren Compl. ¶ 55. In addition, plaintiff Burgos did not receive an Article 9 retention hearing until approximately October 2007, two years after his initial involuntary commitment, Burgos Compl. ¶ 62, and plaintiffs Bailey and Trocchio allege that they never received an Article 9 retention hearing period. Bailey Compl. ¶ 57; Trocchio Compl. ¶ 55.2
When viewed in light of the Supreme Court's clear admonition in Vitek that prisoners are entitled to certain pre-transfer procedural safeguards, the foregoing allegations sufficiently demonstrate that defendants denied plaintiffs such procedures as were essential to protect plaintiffs from erroneous deprivations of their "substantial liberty interest[s] in not being confined unnecessarily for medical treatment." Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 600, 99 S.Ct. 2493, 61 L.Ed.2d 101 (1979).
In response, defendants argue that Vitek v. Jones did not establish a federal right to pre-commitment notice and hearing, because that case only addressed a Nebraska statute that permitted commitment of a prisoner on the certification of a single physician or psychologist without any judicial or medical review. This is far too narrow a reading of Vitek, which is plainly premised on the Court's conclusion that "the transfer of a prisoner from a prison to a mental hospital must be accompanied by appropriate procedural protections," and that pre-commitment "notice is essential to afford the prisoner an opportunity to challenge the contemplated action and to understand the nature of what is happening to him." 445 U.S. 480, 491, 496, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980).
Defendants also point to Project Release v. Prevost, 722 F.2d 960, 963 (2d Cir.1983), in which the Second Circuit considered the question of "whether standards and procedures [for...
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