Christian v. N. Mariana Islands, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., Case No. 1:14-CV-00010
| Decision Date | 24 April 2015 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 1:14-CV-00010 |
| Parties | KAYE CHRISTIAN, Plaintiff, v. COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS, COMMONWEALTH HEALTHCARE CORP., EUSEBIO MANGLONA, DR. FRANCOIS CLAASSENS, ESTHER L. MUNA, JAMES C. DELEON GUERRERO, and DOES 1-10, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern Mariana Islands |
KAYE CHRISTIAN, Plaintiff,
v.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS,
COMMONWEALTH HEALTHCARE CORP., EUSEBIO MANGLONA,
DR. FRANCOIS CLAASSENS, ESTHER L. MUNA,
JAMES C. DELEON GUERRERO, and DOES 1-10, Defendants.
Case No. 1:14-CV-00010
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
April 24, 2015
DECISION AND ORDER
In her First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff Kaye Christian seeks injunctive and monetary relief against the Defendants1 for allegedly taking her from her home and holding her captive for approximately four days in Commonwealth hospitals. (ECF No. 10.) The Defendants ask the Court to dismiss most of the Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b). (See Claassens' Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 13; Commonwealth, CHC, and all other "official capacity" defendants' Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 14; Eusebio Manglona's Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 15.)
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The Court heard arguments on October 2, 2014, and requested further briefing from both parties. (See Min. Entry, Oct. 2, 2014, ECF No. 24.) Having now received the supplemental briefs, and having considered the arguments presented by the parties in all the materials filed, as well as during the hearing, the Court will grant the Defendants' motions in part and deny them in part. The Court will dismiss the following causes of action without prejudice: Count 1 to the extent it raises a claim of excessive force; Count 2; Count 3 for the claim based on physical restraint; Counts 4 through 6; Counts 9 through 11; Count 12 as it pertains to Claassens; and Count 13. Claassens will be dismissed with prejudice from Count 7. Manglona, Claassens, and Does 1-10 will be dismissed in their individual capacities from Count 8 with prejudice. To the extent that Count 8 asserts claims under Article I, section 5 of the Commonwealth Constitution, the Court will dismiss it with prejudice. The surviving claims will be: Count 1 for false arrest; Count 3 for chemical restraint; Count 7 against the Commonwealth and CHC; Count 8 against the Commonwealth, CHC, and Manglona, Claassens, and Does 1-10 in their official capacities; and Count 12 against the Commonwealth, CHC, and Does 1-10. The Court will grant leave for Christian to amend any claim dismissed without prejudice, consistent with this order.
Defendants also move the Court to order Christian to provide a more definite statement. (ECF No. 15.) The Court will grant the motion and order Christian to amend the pleadings.
At this pre-answer stage of the litigation, the Court assumes the truth of Christian's allegations as retold in this section, sans legal conclusions. See Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56 (2007).
Days before Christmas in 2011, Kaye Christian, who suffers from a mental illness, was
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involuntarily committed at the Rota Health Center. (Compl. ¶¶ 5, 16, 51.) During the three days she spent in custody, Christian was handcuffed and left alone for hours at a time without bathroom privileges. (Id. ¶ 51.) Her mistreatment led to a lawsuit, and then a settlement agreement, which she attached as Exhibit A to the Complaint.2 (Id. ¶ 53.)
The agreement contained six terms, mostly prospective in nature, aimed at alleviating Christian's "concern[] that neither she nor anyone else is ever again [mis]treated" at the Rota Health Center. (Settlement Agreement, Recital F, ECF No. 10-1.) Under those terms, the Commonwealth and CHC were required to "ensure that all employees and agents of the Rota Health Center and the Rota Department of Public Safety" receive compliance training with the Commonwealth's Involuntary Civil Commitment Act and Patient's Rights Act. (Id. § 2, ¶ 1.) The Commonwealth and CHC also agreed to ongoing training for all employees "who have direct patient contact" in the safe use of seclusion and non-violent restraint, as well as conflict management. (Id. ¶ 2.) Physical and chemical restraints were not to be used unless necessitated by emergency, and in no event would handcuffs be used on mentally ill patients; instead, Rota Health Center would "procure and implement the use of humane restraints" within 60 days of the agreement. (Id. ¶¶ 3-4.) Finally, a patient would have the right to "formulate advance directives" that would bind "hospital staff and practitioners" at Rota Health Center, including the right to have a person of his choosing promptly notified of his admission to the hospital. (Id. ¶¶ 5-6.)
The settlement agreement was signed in December 2012 and January 2013. (Id. ¶ 7.) A year later, Christian was given the opportunity to observe its effects.
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Early in the afternoon on New Year's Eve 2013, police officers, including Defendant Officer Eusebio Manglona, called on Kaye Christian at her Rota home to "talk." (Compl. ¶¶ 10, 15.) Christian agreed, but not before barricading the stairs to her home with a table. (Id. ¶¶ 17-18.) It did no good; explaining that "the doctor" ordered that Christian be taken in, Manglona went up the stairs, pushed aside the table, grabbed Christian's arm, twisted it up behind her, and carried her down the stairs. (Id. ¶¶ 19-25.) When Christian demanded to see papers or a medical referral, the officers stated that they did not have any. (Id. ¶¶ 21-22.) They then handcuffed Christian to a stretcher and transported her to the Rota Health Center. (Id. ¶¶ 25, 28.) Her protests fell on deaf ears. (Id. ¶ 29.)
After reaching the clinic, the officers handcuffed Christian to a bed. (Id. ¶ 30.) No one explained her rights or the reason for her detention and she was not allowed to make a phone call. (Id. ¶ 40-41, 49.) Dr. Claassens appeared and ordered Manglona and Does 1-10 to restrain Christian while he administered three successive injections. (Id. ¶¶ 31-36.) The drugs took effect; Christian fell into unconsciousness. (Id. ¶ 37.)
The next day, Claassens and Does 1-10 flew Christian from Rota to the psychiatric ward at CHC on Saipan. (Id. ¶ 44.) No one explained what Christian's rights were or allowed her to make a phone call. (Id. ¶¶ 46-47, 50.) For two more days, she was forbidden from using her cell phone, computer, backpack, or personal clothes. (Id. ¶¶ 48, 45.) Then, on January 3, 2014, CHC released her. (Id. ¶ 45.)
Christian asserts 13 causes of action, each against multiple defendants in official and individual capacities, for relief ranging from declaratory and injunctive relief to compensatory and punitive damages. The first six counts are based on federal law, and Counts 7-13 are based on
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Commonwealth law ("state law"). The chart below summarizes the counts, states which defendants are alleged liable in which capacities, and lists the relief sought.
| Cause of Action | Defendants | Relief Sought |
| 1. Unreasonable seizure in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
| 2. Deprivation of a liberty interest created by CNMI's Involuntary Civil Commitment Act in violation of Fourteenth Amendment due process: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
| 3. Deprivation of a liberty interest in freedom from physical and chemical restraint created by CNMI's Patient's Rights Act in violation of Fourteenth Amendment due process: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
| 4. Deprivation of a liberty interest in access to a telephone created by CNMI's Patient's Rights Act in violation of Fourteenth Amendment due process and the First Amendment: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
| 5: Deprivation of liberty in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment based on a failure to train: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Esther L. Muna (official capacity) James C. Deleon Guerrero (official capacity) | Injunctive Relief Declaratory Judgment |
| 6. Unlawful discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act: 42 U.S.C. § 12132: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | Commonwealth CHC Muna (official capacity) Deleon Guererro (official capacity) Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) | Declaratory Judgment Damages (Manglona and Claassens only) |
| 7. Breach of Settlement Agreement | Commonwealth CHC Claassens | Damages Injunctive Relief |
| 8. Unreasonable seizure in violation of Article I, §§ 3 & 5 of the Commonwealth Constitution | Commonwealth CHC Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
| 9. Deprivation of liberty interest created by CNMI's Involuntary Civil Commitment Act without due process in violation of Article I, § 5 of the Commonwealth Constitution | Commonwealth CHC Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
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| Cause of Action | Defendants | Relief Sought |
| 10. Deprivation of liberty interest in freedom from physical and chemical restraint created by CNMI's Patient's Rights Act in violation of Article I, § 5 of the Commonwealth Constitution | Commonwealth CHC Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities)) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
| 11. Deprivation of right to telephone access as established by CNMI's Patient's Rights Act in violation of Article I, §§ 2 & 5 of the Commonwealth Constitution | Commonwealth CHC Manglona (both capacities) Claassens (both capacities) Does 1-10 (both capacities) | Damages (Compensatory and Punitive) Declaratory Judgment |
| 12. Violation of Patient's Rights Act for failure to provide a copy of rights | Commonwealt |
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