Bandfield v. Wood

• Decision Date: 19 March 1985
• Docket Number: No. 16,Docket No. 67682,16
• Citation: 364 N.W.2d 280,421 Mich. 774
• Parties: James BANDFIELD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Donald WOOD; Lieutenant Roberts; Robert Mallette; Perry Johnson; Paul Maynard and John Doe, Employees of the Michigan Department of Corrections, jointly and severally, Defendants-Appellants. Calendar
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 280

364 N.W.2d 280

421 Mich. 774

James BANDFIELD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Donald WOOD; Lieutenant Roberts; Robert Mallette; Perry Johnson; Paul Maynard and John Doe, Employees of the Michigan Department of Corrections jointly and severally Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 67682.

Calendar No. 16.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Argued April 6, 1983.

Decided March 19, 1985.

John A. Obee, John G. Konkel, Charfoos, Christensen, Gilbert & Archer, P.C., Detroit, for plaintiff-appellee.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Louis J. Caruso, Sol. Gen., Thomas C. Nelson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Corrections Div., Criminal Appeals Section, Lansing, for defendants-appellants.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff was an inmate at a small minimum security facility operated by the Department of Corrections. He went to the facility's first-aid room complaining of a cough and was given what appeared to be cough syrup. Plaintiff drank the liquid and suffered injury. Subsequent analysis disclosed that the liquid he drank contained lye or other chemical substances generally found in cleaning fluid. Plaintiff instituted this negligence action against the individual defendants, employees of the Michigan Department of Corrections. We granted leave following the Court of Appeals reversal of the defendants' summary judgment.

Pursuant to the rule announced in the recently decided Ross v. Consumers Power Co., 420 Mich. 567, 363 N.W.2d 641 (1984), we need only determine whether the activities complained of in the instant case are "discretionary-decisional" or "ministerial-operational."

The Court of Appeals analyzed plaintiff's negligence allegations as follows:

"Plaintiff, in his complaint, alleged that defendants failed to properly supervise the employees and personnel entrusted with the care of the first-aid room. Since this contention can be readily construed as an allegation that defendants' supervisory acts fell short of established procedures, this Court finds that defendants' complained-of acts were ministerial. See Vargo v. Svitchan, [100 Mich.App. 809, 816, 301 N.W.2d 1 (1980) ] and Cook [ v. Bennett, 94 Mich.App. 93, 101, 288 N.W.2d 609 (1979) ]. Plaintiff's allegations that defendants breached their duties to keep the first-aid area locked and to see that the medicines were not tampered with can similarly be construed as allegations that defendants neglected to follow established security procedures, and thus that these alleged acts or omissions were ministerial. Therefore, the lower ...