Uhlrig v. Harder, 94-3190

• Citation: 64 F.3d 567
• Decision Date: 30 August 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-3190,94-3190
• Parties: Gregg D. UHLRIG, Executor of the Estate of Stephanie Uhlrig, Deceased; Gregg D. Uhlrig, Individually; Benjamin J. Uhlrig, a minor child; and Anika M. Uhlrig, a minor child, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert C. HARDER, acting in his individual personal capacity and as Secretary of the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services; Donna L. Whiteman, acting in her individual personal capacity and as Secretary of the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services; George D. Vega, acting in his individual personal capacity and as Commissioner of Mental Health and Rehabilitative Services; Mani Lee, acting in his individual personal capacity and as Director of Mental Health Programs; and Karen Thompson, acting in her individual personal capacity and as Superintendent of Topeka State Hospital, Defendants-Appellees, The State of Kansas, Defendant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)

Page 567

64 F.3d 567

Gregg D. UHLRIG, Executor of the Estate of Stephanie Uhlrig,

Deceased; Gregg D. Uhlrig, Individually;

Benjamin J. Uhlrig, a minor child; and Anika M. Uhlrig, a minor child, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert C. HARDER, acting in his individual personal capacity and as Secretary of the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services; Donna L. Whiteman, acting in her

individual personal capacity and as Secretary of the

Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services;

George D. Vega, acting in his individual personal capacity

and as Commissioner of Mental Health and Rehabilitative

Services; Mani Lee, acting in his individual personal

capacity and as Director of Mental Health Programs; and

Karen Thompson, acting in her individual personal capacity

and as Superintendent of Topeka State Hospital, Defendants-Appellees,

The State of Kansas, Defendant.

No. 94-3190.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Aug. 30, 1995.

William J. Skepnek of Stevens, Brand, Golden, Winter & Skepnek, Lawrence, KS (Scott J. Bloch of Stevens, Brand, Golden, Winter & Skepnek, Lawrence, KS and Daniel M. Welch of Carpenter Professional Ass'n, Topeka, KS, with him on the briefs), for plaintiffs-appellants.

Michael George, Chief of Litigation, Dept. of Social and Rehabilitative Services, Topeka, KS (Kenneth R. Smith, Litigation Atty., Dept. of Social and Rehabilitative Services, Topeka, KS, Hal E. DesJardins, Topeka, KS, and Deborah Purce-Jones, Jones & Jones, Topeka, KS, with him on the brief), for defendants-appellees.

Before EBEL, KELLY, Circuit Judges, and BRATTON, ^* District Judge.

EBEL, Circuit Judge.

This 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 ¹ action challenges the decision of a number of state mental health administrators ("Defendants") ² to terminate a special unit in a mental hospital that was reserved for the criminally insane. Plaintiff-Appellant Gregg Uhlrig ("Plaintiff"), as the executor of the estate of his deceased wife, Stephanie Uhlrig ("Uhlrig"), alleges that Defendants' reckless decision to terminate the special unit led to the placement of Kenneth Waddell ("Waddell"), a member of that special unit, into the general hospital population where Uhlrig worked as an activity therapist. Plaintiff further asserts that this chain of events ultimately caused Uhlrig's death. Thus, Plaintiff claims that Defendants are liable under Sec. 1983 for violating Uhlrig's substantive due process rights by recklessly creating the danger that led to her death. The district court rejected this claim and ruled for Defendants on summary

judgment, determining that Plaintiff failed to demonstrate that Defendants acted recklessly, and that, in any event, Defendants' qualified immunity shielded them from liability. We affirm. ³

I. BACKGROUND

Uhlrig worked as a music and activity therapist at the Topeka State Hospital. One of the patients at Topeka State Hospital was Waddell, who had been placed in the custody of state mental health authorities after having been found not guilty by reason of insanity for the charge of aggravated battery. Waddell was initially placed in the Larned State Security Hospital, but on April 1, 1987, he was transferred to the Topeka State Hospital where he was placed in the Adult Forensic Ward (referred to as the "AWL unit"), which was a special unit secluded from the other units because it contained higher risk patients. After three months in the AWL unit, Waddell's treatment team recommended that the hospital place him into a regular unit. However, after over a year in a regular unit, the hospital transferred Waddell back to the AWL unit because he had gone AWOL (and then voluntarily returned to the hospital) and the County Attorney who originally prosecuted him complained of Waddell's AWOL and requested that the hospital provide greater security. In March of 1991, while back in the AWL unit, Waddell had a physical altercation with a staff member and was placed in restraint.

Due to budgetary constraints, Robert Harder, Acting Secretary of the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services, and George Vega, Acting Commissioner of Mental Health and Retardation Services, decided to close the AWL unit. Dr. Mani Lee, Director of Mental Health Services, informed both Vega and Harder in a detailed memorandum that, as the AWL unit had been specially created to avoid mixing "murderers with my mother" and to serve high risk patients in a highly structured environment, a careful phase-out period would be necessary were the AWL unit to be closed. On June 21, 1991, Vega authorized Karen Thompson, who was the Acting Supervisor of Topeka State Hospital at the time of the phase-out, to close the AWL unit "in the most expeditious manner possible" so as to place the AWL patients into other appropriate wards. To administer the phase-out of the AWL unit, the hospital's Patient Care Consultation Team ("PCCT") met with the AWL treatment team and consulted with the nursing staff to determine where to place the patients who resided in the AWL unit. Defendants emphasize that they personally were not involved in the outplacement process from the AWL unit and did not examine the files of those residing in the unit, but rather broadly delegated this task to those with clinical expertise. Thus, none of the defendants personally participated in the process of determining where or how to outplace Waddell.

As a result of the phase-out, the PCCT recommended that the hospital transfer Waddell to Rappaport South, the unit in which he resided prior to being referred back to the AWL unit. After the transfer, Waddell raped and assaulted a female patient; as a result, he was then transferred to Boisen South, another unit in the general population, where Uhlrig worked as an activity therapist. When Waddell was transferred to the Boisen South Ward, Uhlrig's supervisor, who had previously alerted Uhlrig to the general dangers inherent in her job, specifically called Uhlrig's attention to Waddell's background and confirmed with Uhlrig that she had no problem escorting Waddell off grounds and working with him. Plaintiff concedes that Uhlrig had access to Waddell's files and may have made entries in them, but claims that such access (and any such entries in Waddell's files) do not establish that she understood that Waddell could pose a threat to her safety. Furthermore, upon taking her position, Uhlrig signed a job description informing On February 23, 1992, Uhlrig and another therapist took Waddell and other patients off grounds to watch a movie. Upon returning to the hospital and dropping off the other patients, Waddell attacked and killed Uhlrig, and her body was found in the bathroom in one of the buildings on the grounds. Uhlrig's estate and heirs then brought this action predicated upon her substantive due process rights as well as a number of pendent state law tort claims. The district court dismissed Plaintiffs' state law tort claims as barred both by the Kansas worker's compensation laws and by Defendants' discretionary function immunity under Kansas law. Moreover, the district court dismissed the State of Kansas as a defendant on Eleventh Amendment grounds, and it dismissed Uhlrig's husband and children as plaintiffs (in their role as surviving family members), and only allowed Uhlrig's estate to proceed in this action. ⁴

her that she would work with patients who were potentially assaultive and/or combative. In addition, Sally Schaffer, who trained Uhlrig as a music therapist, stated that she also communicated to Uhlrig that Uhlrig might be harmed by some patients in the hospital. Finally, Uhlrig's training period included instruction in how to reduce the risks of injury posed by potentially violent patients.

Finally, the district court granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff's Sec. 1983 claim, ruling that (1) Defendants' actions were not reckless; and (2) in any event, they were protected by their defense of qualified immunity. In ruling that Defendants were not reckless, the court concluded that (1) Defendants did not know of the danger that Waddell posed to Uhlrig; nor (2) did Defendants willfully conceal any evidence of that danger or mislead Uhlrig. In fact, the court found that Uhlrig understood the potential dangers she faced at work. Plaintiffs now appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

In granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity, the district court correctly followed the approach set forth in Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226, 232, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 1793, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991). That is, the court first determined that, under the facts of the instant case, Plaintiffs failed to state an actionable claim, and then concluded that, even if Plaintiff's claim was actionable, it was not clearly established under the law of the Tenth Circuit. In reviewing the district court's rulings, we also follow the approach set forth in Siegert, and affirm.

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment by applying the same legal standard used by the district court pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Universal Money Ctrs., Inc. v. AT & T, 22 F.3d 1527, 1529 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 655, 130 L.Ed.2d 558 (1994); Applied Genetics Int'l, Inc. v. First Affiliated Sec., Inc., 912 F.2d 1238, 1241 (10th Cir.1990). That is, we first consider whether there is a genuine issue of material fact in dispute; if not, then we must determine if the district court correctly applied the substantive law. Applied Genetics, 912 F.2d at 1241. In determining whether there is a genuine dispute of material fact, "we examine the factual record and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment." Applied Genetics, 912 F.2d at 1241.

In order to prevail on their substantive due process claim, Plaintiffs must demonstrate that the state acted in a manner that " 'shock[s] the conscience.' " Collins v. City of Harker Heights, Tex., 503 U.S. 115, 126,...