Butts v. Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Soc'y
| Decision Date | 09 February 2012 |
| Docket Number | CIV. No. 10–4063–KES. |
| Citation | 852 F.Supp.2d 1139 |
| Parties | Michael BUTTS, as Special Administrator for the Estate of Beverly Butts, Plaintiff, v. The EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN GOOD SAMARITAN SOCIETY, individually and d/b/a Good Samaritan Society Albert Lea, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Dakota |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Bruce M. Ford, Ford Law Office, Watertown, SD, James P. Carey, Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey, Joel E. Smith, Mark Robert Kosieradzki, Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm, LLC, Minneapolis, MN, for Plaintiff.
Barbara A. Zurek, Nicole L. Brand, Meagher & Geer, P.L.L.P., Minneapolis, MN, Thomas J. Von Wald, Bangs, McCullen, Butler, Foye & Simmons, Sioux Falls, SD, for Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Defendant, The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, moves for summary judgment alleging that because Minnesota law applies to this claim, plaintiff's personal injury claims abate under the Minnesota survival statute. Docket 36. Alternatively, Good Samaritan alleges that plaintiff cannot satisfy the elements of his claims, Minnesota statute § 626.557 provides no right of action, and res judicata bars subsequent litigation in this case. Id.; Docket 83. If this action continues, Good Samaritan moves to seal a number of confidential business documents. Docket 34. Plaintiff, Michael Butts, as Special Administrator for the Estate of Beverly Butts, resists all motions. Docket 41; Docket 56; Docket 84. For the foregoing reasons, Good Samaritan's motion for summary judgment is granted, and the motion to seal is denied as moot.
The facts viewed in the light most favorable to Butts, the nonmoving party, are: Between January and May of 2008, four teenage nursing assistants who worked at the Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea, Minnesota, engaged in systematic abuse of a number of elderly adult residents of Good Samaritan's facility. Docket 37 at 3. One of the victims of this abuse was Beverly Butts. Butts's power of attorney brought a personal injury action on her behalf in Minnesota state court on January 20, 2010. Docket 83 at 2. Also joined in that action were three other victims: Kenneth Hojberg, Clare Knutson, and Sylvia Wulff. Docket 81 at 1. Three of the four plaintiffs died during the course of litigation. The claim of the fourth plaintiff was arbitrated. Id. at 1–2. The causes of death are unrelated to the abuse.
After the decedents' deaths, Good Samaritan moved for summary judgment as to each of the deceased plaintiffs because it alleged that the causes of action abated upon death under Minnesota law. Docket 71 at 2. The Minnesota court allowed the estates to voluntarily dismiss their claims without prejudice in Minnesota so the claims could be brought in South Dakota. The court reasoned that plaintiffs “had sought the voluntary dismissals early in the litigation and that [Good Samaritan] would not be prejudiced merely by having to defend the same claims in South Dakota federal court.” Butts ex rel. Iverson v. Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Soc'y, 802 N.W.2d 839, 840 (Minn.Ct.App.2011). Michael Butts then filed this complaint on behalf of Beverly's estate in June of 2010. Docket 1. Since that time, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's dismissal of the Minnesota Butts decision and held that Good Samaritan was entitled to summary judgment and dismissal with prejudice. Butts, 802 N.W.2d at 843. The Minnesota Supreme Court denied further review in October of 2011. Docket 83–4.
Meanwhile, four different actions involving the victims of the nursing abuse were pending in front of this court. In June of 2010, Good Samaritan moved to dismiss one of those cases, claiming that Minnesota, rather than South Dakota, law applied to the action. Minnesota law provided that a personal injury cause of action abates with the death of the claimant. This court denied Good Samaritan's motion on December 28, 2010, and applied South Dakota's then-existing choice-of-law rule to conclude that South Dakota had “the most significant relationship” to the claim. Jacobs ex rel. Jacobs v. Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Soc'y, No. 10–4035, 2010 WL 5439767, *1 (D.S.D. Dec. 28, 2010). On February 2, 2012, this court granted summary judgment in favor of Good Samaritan finding that South Dakota choice-of-law rules directed the court to apply Minnesota substantive law to plaintiffs' survival actions, and all claims abated upon the residents' deaths. Jacobs ex rel. Jacobs v. Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Soc'y, 849 F.Supp.2d 893, 898–901, No. 10–4035, 2012 WL 346670, *4–6 (D.S.D. Feb. 2, 2012). Good Samaritan now moves for summary judgment on Butts's claim. Docket 36.
Summary judgment is appropriate if the movant “shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The moving party can meet this burden by presenting evidence that there is no dispute of material fact or that the nonmoving party has not presented evidence to support an element of his case on which he bears the ultimate burden of proof. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322–23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “The nonmoving party may not ‘rest on mere allegations or denials, but must demonstrate on the record the existence of specific facts which create a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Mosley v. City of Northwoods, Mo., 415 F.3d 908, 910 (2005) (quoting Krenik v. County of Le Sueur, 47 F.3d 953, 957 (8th Cir.1995)).
If there is a dispute in facts that could affect the outcome of the case, summary judgment is precluded. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). What is a material fact is determined by the applicable substantive law in the case. Id. If there is a genuine dispute in facts such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party, then summary judgment is inappropriate. Id. Under this analysis, the nonmoving party receives “the most favorable reading of the record as well as the benefit of [all] reasonable inferences that arise from the record.” Eng v. Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho, PLC, 611 F.3d 428, 432 (8th Cir.2010) (citation omitted). “Where the unresolved issues are primarily legal rather than factual, summary judgment is particularly appropriate.” Aucutt v. Six Flags Over Mid–America, Inc., 85 F.3d 1311, 1315 (8th Cir.1996) (citation omitted).
Good Samaritan argues that res judicata bars plaintiff's claims because both causes of action involve the same parties or their privies and the same operative facts, there was a final judgment on the merits, and plaintiff had a full and fair opportunity to litigate his claim in Minnesota. For these reasons, Good Samaritan concludes that the Minnesota and South Dakota claims are the same cause of action and cannot be relitigated. Plaintiff claims that res judicata is not applicable because the parties and types of action are distinct in each case. In the alternative, plaintiff argues that the court should apply the exception to res judicata because its application would contravene public policy considerations.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that res judicata is a substantive issue in a diversity case and is controlled by state law. Hillary v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 123 F.3d 1041, 1043 (8th Cir.1997) (citations omitted). “In determining which state's res judicata law applies, ‘it is fundamental that the res judicata effect of the first forum's judgment is governed by the first forum's law, not by the law of the second forum.’ ” Id. (citations omitted). Because the first Butts cause of action was decided in Minnesota, Minnesota law will apply to the res judicata analysis. Minnesota law provides:
A judgment on the merits constitutes an absolute bar to a second suit for the same cause of action, and is conclusive between parties and privies, not only as to every matter which was actually litigated, but also as to every matter which might have been litigated therein.
Hauschildt v. Beckingham, 686 N.W.2d 829, 840 (Minn.2004) (citation omitted). Res judicata bars a subsequent claim when: “(1) the earlier claim involved the same set of factual circumstances; (2) the earlier claim involved the same parties or their privies; (3) there was a final judgment on the merits; (4) the estopped party had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the matter.” Id. (citations omitted).
The first determination is whether the two claims arise from the same set of factual circumstances. Plaintiff alleges that the Minnesota cause of action is materially different because the Minnesota claims were for civil assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and failure to report the maltreatment of vulnerable adults. Docket 72 at 2. Conversely, the South Dakota action is for negligent management, negligent supervision, negligent retention, and strict liability. Id. Good Samaritan claims that the facts identified in both the Minnesota and South Dakota complaints are the same and derive from the same conduct, and plaintiff has but one cause of action. Docket 87 at 2.
Res judicata applies not just to claims that were actually litigated but to all claims that stem from the same set of factual circumstances that could have been litigated in an earlier action. Hauschildt, 686 N.W.2d at 840. And “a plaintiff may not split his cause of action and bring successive suits involving the same set of factual circumstances.” Hauser v. Mealey, 263 N.W.2d 803, 807 (Minn.1978). One test to determine whether the first action bars the second action is to ask whether the same evidence is used to sustain both actions. Hauschildt, 686 N.W.2d at 840–41 (citation omitted).
The Minnesota Butts case stems from the same set of operative facts and...
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