Desai v. SSM Health Care
| Decision Date | 02 November 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 62363,62363 |
| Parties | Ketan DESAI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SSM HEALTH CARE, et al., Defendants-Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Michael A. Gross, and Cofman & Townsley, Stuart Cofman, St. Louis, for plaintiff-appellant.
Brinker, Doyen, & Kovacs, P.C., Paul Kovacs, David Ott and Dean Gallego, St. Louis, for defendants-respondents.
Before CRANE, P.J., and KAROHL and CRAKAN, JJ.
A jury awarded plaintiff, Dr. Ketan Desai, damages of $75,000 for false imprisonment in his suit against SSM Health Care System, d/b/a Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, and two parking lot security guards. The trial court granted defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and plaintiff appealed. Desai contends the trial court erred in (1) granting JNOV on the false imprisonment claim, (2) granting defendants' motions to dismiss a punitive damage claim at the close of plaintiff's evidence, and (3) granting defendants' motions for partial summary judgment on a malicious prosecution claim following plaintiff's acquittal on a trespass charge. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with directions.
Dr. Desai completed medical school and a surgical residency in India, his place of birth. In 1987, following a fellowship in immunology at the Mayo Clinic, Desai came to St. Louis University for a residency and doctoral program. As part of his graduate studies, Desai worked at St. Louis University Medical School's Institute of Molecular Virology. He was under the tutelage of a doctor whose office was in Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, located in close proximity to the Institute. At approximately 10:30 p.m. on October 24, 1989, Desai was walking across the parking lot of Cardinal Glennon, apparently a shortcut, on his way to the Institute. He planned to tend to his research project and get a card for photocopying certain articles for his supervising doctor at Cardinal Glennon. Desai was wearing a blue jogging suit and tennis shoes, and he carried only his papers to copy and his keys. He did not have any identification.
The evidence, presented in a light most favorable to the verdict, is as follows. Gary Mealey and William Windam were both on duty as security guards for the Cardinal Glennon parking lot that evening. As Desai walked across the lot, Mealey stopped Desai, who heard the guard say, "Hey, you minority shit," before asking Desai to identify himself. Desai asked the guard to be more polite and explained that he was a doctor on his way to the Institute of Molecular Virology. Upon being asked for identification and being told that he was trespassing, Desai argued and waved his hands. The two guards grabbed Desai's arms and Windam shoved Desai's head against the trunk of a car. They handcuffed Desai and escorted him back to the security office. Security supervisor Earl Bolton joined them.
Mealey contacted a nursing supervisor who instructed the guards to release Desai upon verification that he was a doctor employed at St. Louis University Hospital. Someone called the St. Louis University campus police, who verified that a Dr. Ketan Desai was affiliated with the Institute. The handcuffs were removed. Shortly thereafter, a St. Louis University officer asked Desai to apologize to Mealey, and Desai in turn said he had no reason to apologize. Instead, Desai asked that the police be called because he had been assaulted by Windam. Desai was immediately re-handcuffed, and when the St. Louis City police arrived he was arrested for trespassing at the behest of the security guards. The guards testified their purpose in having Desai arrested was to avoid getting into trouble. Desai was not released from jail until noon the following day. Desai suffered headaches and seizures from the time of his arrest through the time of trial.
Desai filed a four count action against the security guards and their employer asking for actual and punitive damages for false imprisonment, and actual damages for battery and malicious prosecution. On June 10, 1991, defendants' motion for partial summary judgment was granted concerning the malicious prosecution count. The motion was supported with an affidavit of a city counselor attesting to probable cause for prosecuting Desai.
The trial on the remaining counts began on June 8, 1992. At the close of plaintiff's evidence on June 10, the trial court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the claim for punitive damages. On June 11, 1992, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Desai and awarded damages in the amount of $75,000 on the false imprisonment claim, and found in favor of defendants on the battery claim. On July 2, 1992, the trial court sustained defendants' motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for directed verdict, the latter of which had been taken under submission during the trial. Following denial of Desai's motion to enter judgment on the verdict or for new trial, this appeal ensued.
In reviewing Desai's first point, whether the trial court erred in granting judgment notwithstanding the verdict, Desai is entitled to the benefit of all reasonable inferences favorable to the verdict, and evidence unfavorable to the verdict is disregarded. Duren v. Kunkel, 814 S.W.2d 935, 936 (Mo. banc 1991), Stark v. American Bakeries Co., 647 S.W.2d 119, 121 (Mo. banc 1983). We need not, however, disregard all evidence unfavorable to plaintiff; we must disregard only defendants' evidence unfavorable to plaintiff. Missouri Highway and Transp. Comm'n v. Keeley, 780 S.W.2d 84, 87 (Mo.App.1989).
The first issue is whether Desai met his burden of establishing his case by substantial evidence. Id. at 87. A false arrest or false imprisonment occurs when there is confinement without legal justification by the wrongdoer of the person wronged. Day v. Wells Fargo Guard Serv. Co., 711 S.W.2d 503, 504-505 (Mo. banc 1986); Rustici v. Weidemeyer, 673 S.W.2d 762, 767 (Mo. banc 1984); Warrem v. Parrish, 436 S.W.2d 670, 672 (Mo.1969). The constituent elements of false imprisonment are the detention or restraint of the plaintiff against his will, and the unlawfulness of the detention or restraint. Liability attaches where it is shown that defendants instigated, caused or procured the arrest. Smith v. Lewis, 669 S.W.2d 558, 562 (Mo.App.1983).
The evidence concerning what transpired from the time Desai was taken to the security office to the time the police arrested him includes the following testimony, some of which was read into the record from depositions:
[Plaintiff's Attorney]: So it was verified [Desai] was, in fact, a doctor at St. Louis University?
[Defendant Windam]: Yes.
. . . . .
Defendants' own testimony provides a jury with sufficient evidence to conclude Desai was intentionally restrained unlawfully, for private reasons of the individual defendant and not for the reason he was a trespasser. The evidence would support an inference the guards knew he was not a trespasser. Plaintiff did not give any testimony to negate such a conclusion. He stated he usually avoided Cardinal Glennon's parking lot, believing he had no right to use it, unless he had business with his supervising doctor who had an office in Cardinal Glennon, as he did on October 24, 1989. On these facts the trial court's finding "that as a matter of law there was probable cause for the restraint of plaintiff" is erroneous as a matter of fact and law when the evidence is viewed in the light of the verdict.
Defendants attempt to support this ruling by citing statutes enabling the St. Louis City Police Department to regulate licensed security officers and rules promulgated by the Board of Police Commissioners specifying security officers have certain police powers. This argument ignores the conduct of the guards in re-handcuffing Desai and having him arrested for trespassing for their own reasons after he was identified and released. This conduct supported a finding the re-arrest amounted to a false and self-serving restraint. Defendants' response that Desai was never released, and that the entire transaction amounted to a justified arrest, is at most a question of fact and unsupported by the verdict.
There is evidence in the record from which a jury could find that defendants lacked justification to re-handcuff Desai and have the police arrest him for trespassing. By defendants' own testimony, Desai would have been released if he did not accuse one of the guards of assaulting him. Defendants' argument ignores the difference in arrest based on a reasonable belief Dr. Desai trespassed with their need to justify their manner of detaining him and...
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