District of Columbia v. Peters

• Decision Date: 18 June 1987
• Docket Number: No. 85-484.,85-484.
• Citation: 527 A.2d 1269
• Parties: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellants, v. Deborah Y. PETERS, et al., Appellees.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

527 A.2d 1269

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellants, v. Deborah Y. PETERS, et al., Appellees.

No. 85-484.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued July 9, 1986.

Decided June 18, 1987.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Edward E. Schwab, Asst. Corp. Counsel, with whom John H. Suda, Acting Corp. Counsel at the time the brief was filed, and Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., were on brief, for appellants.

Robert Cadeaux, with whom Frederic W. Schwartz, Jr., Washington, D.C., was on brief, for appellees.

Before PRYOR, Chief Judge, and FERREN and BELSON, Associate Judges.

BELSON, Associate Judge:

This appeal presents, among other issues, the question whether a widow, as her deceased husband's personal representative, was properly awarded damages for his death by suicide. We hold that the evidence did not bring this case within the limited category of cases in which damages can be awarded for wrongful death by suicide. Because the jury returned a lump sum verdict which included both damages in a survival action, which we affirm, and damages for wrongful death, we reverse in part and remand for a new trial on damages in the survival action.

I.

A District of Columbia police officer shot Raymond Peters while trying to arrest him. Peters was paralyzed from the chest down as a result of the incident. He and his wife, Deborah Peters, sued the District and the officer, alleging that the officer had used excessive force and that the District had failed to train the police officer properly. Raymond Peters committed suicide two years later, before the case came to trial. Deborah Peters amended the complaint to make the action a survival action, D.C.Code § 12-101 (1981), and to seek damages for wrongful death, D.C.Code § 16-2701 (1981). A jury found that the police officer had used excessive force in arresting Peters and that the District had negligently failed to train its officers on how to deal with mentally disturbed persons and persons under the influence of drugs. The jury awarded Deborah Peters $400,000-$349,000 on her survival and wrongful death claims, and $51,000 for her loss of consortium.

The District of Columbia appeals from that judgment, raising the following four issues: (1) Peters' expert failed to establish a standard of care that the jury could have employed in finding that the District negligently failed to train its police officers regarding the handling of disturbed persons (2) the trial court erred in failing to give requested contributory negligence and assumption of the risk instructions, (3) the trial court erred in denying collateral estoppel effect to Peters' prior criminal conviction of assault on the police officer arising out of the same incident, and (4) Deborah Peters failed to show that the officer's use of excessive force caused Raymond Peters' death. We reject the District's first three contentions. We hold, however, that the evidence was insufficient to establish the defendants' liability for Raymond Peters' suicide. Accordingly, we set aside the wrongful death verdict in favor of plaintiffs.

Raymond Peters was a soldier in the United States Army. In December 1981, he returned home to be with his family over the Christmas holidays and to face a criminal charge of possession of phencyclidine (PCP). On the 24th, he went to his mother's house. While there, he found a mahogany cane he had owned for a number of years. He and some friends then bought some PCP and smoked it together.

Peters then left his friends to pick up his wife. She noticed that he was acting strangely; he was driving fast and talking loudly. After the two arrived at their house, Raymond Peters went outside to get some air, taking the mahogany cane with him. Once outside, he stood in the middle of the street and hit passing cars with his cane. Two drivers got out of their cars and attempted to disarm Peters, one using a nightstick and another using a metal pole.

While the drivers were struggling with Peters, someone called the police. Officer Norman Bell, a ten-year police veteran, arrived on the scene. After Bell disarmed the drivers, he told Peters to drop the cane. Instead, Peters jabbed the cane into the officer's stomach. Bell took a step back, and again told Peters to drop the cane. Peters swung at Bell's head. Bell blocked the blow, but Peters kicked him in the stomach. Peters turned and raised his leg, as if to deliver a karate-like side kick. Bell drew his gun and fired. The bullet entered Peters' back just below the shoulder blade. As a result, Peters was paralyzed from the chest down.

Peters was indicted on March 29, 1982, for assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon. On September 29, 1983, a jury found him guilty. On November 16, 1983, the trial judge denied Peters' motion for a new trial and scheduled his sentencing for January 3, 1984. On November 17, 1983, Raymond Peters committed suicide.

Before Peters' death, he and his wife had filed suit against the District and Officer Bell, alleging that Bell had negligently placed himself in a position to be hurt, and had used excessive force in subduing Peters. They also alleged that the District had negligently failed to provide police officers with training in handling mentally disturbed persons and persons under the influence of drugs. Following Peters' suicide, Deborah Peters amended the complaint to assert, as the personal representative of her deceased husband, a claim for his wrongful death and, as legal representative of her deceased husband, a survival action alleging the grounds for recovery he had pressed before his death.

After a two-week trial, a jury awarded Deborah Peters $400,000, of which $51,000 was awarded to her individually for loss of consortium prior to the time of her husbands' death, and the balance to her as personal and legal representative of her deceased husband. The District moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The trial court denied the motion. This appeal followed.

II.

The District asserts that Deborah Peters failed to put on sufficient testimony from which the jury reasonably could have found that the District negligently failed to train its police officers with regard to the handling of mentally disturbed persons or persons under the influence of drugs.¹

To establish that a defendant was negligent, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant deviated from the applicable standard of care. District of Columbia v. White, 442 A.2d 159, 164-65 (D.C. 1982). A plaintiff must put on expert testimony to establish what that standard of care is if the subject in question is so distinctly related to some science, profession, or occupation as to be beyond the ken of the average layperson. Id.; see also Meek v. Shepard, 484 A.2d 579, 581 n. 4 (D.C. 1984) (standard of care in medical malpractice cases ordinarily must be proven by expert testimony). Here, the question whether the District was negligent in failing to train its police officers adequately with regard to dealing with mentally disturbed persons or persons under the influence of drugs could be answered only if the jury was made aware of recognized standards concerning such training. Cf. White, supra, 442 A.2d at 164-65 (requiring expert testimony concerning adequacy of policy department's weapons safety training).

To show that the District failed to train its police officers properly, Peters called Professor George Kirkham, an associate professor of criminology at Florida State University, who is also a part-time police officer in the Tallahassee, Florida, police department. Kirkham testified that police departments throughout the country commonly instruct officers on certain procedures to use in handling mentally ill people and persons under the influence of drugs. He also testified that he knew of no metropolitan police department, other than the District's, which provided no training whatsoever regarding "the handling of disturbed persons in disturbance situations." He specifically named several departments that give such training, including the police departments in Seattle, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Miami, and Los Angeles, and the Virginia State Police.

After Kirkham completed his testimony, the District moved that his testimony be stricken.² The court took the District's motion under consideration.

The District did not renew its motion that Kirkham's testimony be stricken, and the trial judge never expressly ruled on it. We can conclude only that the court, by letting the jury consider the question whether the District was negligent, implicitly ruled against the motion to strike Kirkham's testimony on the issue of the requisite standard of care.³ We cannot say that decision was an abuse of discretion. See Hughes v. Pender, 391 A.2d 259, 262-63 (D.C. 1978) (admission of expert testimony based on evaluation of opinion's foundation within broad discretion of trial court).

Nor was Kirkham's testimony, once admitted, insufficient to establish the requisite standard of care governing District of Columbia police training. The record shows that Professor Kirkham, an expert in the field of criminology, testified that many police departments train their officers to handle mentally disturbed persons and persons under the influence of drugs. He also gave as examples specific law enforcement agencies which provide such training. We reject the District's contention that this testimony was insufficient to establish the proper standard of care. Cf. Meek, supra, 484 A.2d at 582 (trial court should have granted directed verdict when no reasonable juror could have determined appropriate standard from expert testimony).

III.

The District requested instructions that Raymond Peters was either contributorily negligent or assumed the risk of his injuries. The trial court refused to give the District's requested instructions. The District asserts that the court erred.

In the District of Columbia, a plaintiff may not recover for...