FDP v. Ferrara

• Decision Date: 08 July 2002
• Citation: 804 A.2d 1221
• Parties: F.D.P. and J.A.P., Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Daughter, S.M.P., Appellants v. Richard Albert FERRARA, Jr., Silvia Ferrara, Individually and as Guardian of Richard Albert Ferrara, Jr.; the Indiana Guidance Center Inc., and Indiana County Group Homes, Inc., Appellees. F.D.P. and J.A.P., Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Daughter, S.M.P., Appellees v. Richard Albert Ferrara, Jr., Silvia Ferrara, Individually and as Guardian of Richard Albert Ferrara, Jr., the Indiana Guidance Center, Inc., and Indiana County Group Homes, Inc., Appellees. Appeal of Community Living and Learning, Inc., Formerly Known as Indiana County Group Homes, Inc., Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

804 A.2d 1221

F.D.P. and J.A.P., Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Daughter, S.M.P., Appellants v. Richard Albert FERRARA, Jr., Silvia Ferrara, Individually and as Guardian of Richard Albert Ferrara, Jr.; the Indiana Guidance Center Inc., and Indiana County Group Homes, Inc., Appellees.

F.D.P. and J.A.P., Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Daughter, S.M.P., Appellees v. Richard Albert Ferrara, Jr., Silvia Ferrara, Individually and as Guardian of Richard Albert Ferrara, Jr., the Indiana Guidance Center, Inc., and Indiana County Group Homes, Inc., Appellees.

Appeal of Community Living and Learning, Inc., Formerly Known as Indiana County Group Homes, Inc., Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued January 16, 2002.

Filed July 8, 2002.

Reargument Denied September 12, 2002.

Sandra Neuman, Pittsburgh, for F.D.P., J.A.P. and S.M.P.

Rhonda J. Sudina, Pittsburgh, for Indiana County Group Homes. Inc.

Jeanette Ho, Pittsburgh, for Indiana Guidance Center. Inc.

Before: DEL SOLE, P.J., BOWES and KELLY, JJ.

BOWES, J.:

¶ 1 F.D.P. and J.A.P., individually and on behalf of their minor daughter, S.P. ("Appellants"), filed the appeal at no. 1195 WDA 2001 from the June 18, 2001 order granting the preliminary objections of the Indiana County Guidance Center ("Guidance Center"). Community Living and Learning, formerly known as Indiana County Group Homes, Inc. ("Group Home") filed the appeal at no. 1217 WDA 2001 from the portion of the same order that denied its preliminary objections. The trial court certified that order pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 341(c). This action involves a tragic incident that occurred on June 14, 1996, when Richard Albert Ferrara, Jr. ("Ferrara") sexually molested S.P. We affirm the appeal at 1195 WDA 2001 and quash the appeal at 1217 WDA 2001.

¶ 2 On May 29, 1998, Appellants instituted this action by writ of summons against Ferrara, Sylvia¹ Ferrara, both individually and in her capacity as legal guardian of Ferrara, the Guidance Center, and Group Home. Appellants then unsuccessfully tried to obtain Ferrara's treatment records from the Guidance Center prior to filing their complaint. After being ruled to do so, Appellants filed a complaint that contained the following allegations. ¶ 3 Guidance Center is a non-profit corporation that provides mental health and mental retardation services in Indiana County. Group Home is a non-profit corporation that operates a community residential group home for mental health and mental retardation patients in Indiana County. From 1984 and continuing until the June 14, 1996 incident, Ferrara was a resident of the group home operated by Group Home in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and was there pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement. Ferrara had been placed there by Guidance Center, which served as the base service unit for Ferrara pursuant to 55 Pa.Code § 4210. Under the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act of 1966, 50 P.S. §§ 4101, et seq. (the "MHMR Act"), local authorities are required to create base service units such as Guidance Center. As a base service unit, Guidance Center was responsible for planning a comprehensive treatment program for Ferrara and making available the necessary services to him on a continuing basis under 55 Pa.Code § 4210.21.

¶ 4 Pursuant to 55 Pa.Code § 4210.21, Guidance Center, as Ferrara's base service unit, had the following responsibilities with respect to Ferrara: 1) facilitate and coordinate his movement from service to service; 2) insure continuity of care; 3) maintain a continuing relationship with him; 4) provide an intake study and make recommendations about Ferrara's care; and 5) develop a comprehensive treatment program for him.

¶ 5 Pursuant to the MHMR Act, local authorities also are empowered to contract with others for the provision of living arrangements for persons in need of care, and the Group Home provided for Ferrara's living arrangements under that agreement with the local authority. Under the Pennsylvania code of regulations promulgated pursuant to the MHMR Act, Group Home, as the provider of community living arrangements for Ferrara, had the responsibility to 1) perform an initial assessment of him to determine the necessary level of care; 2) develop an individual program plan for him; 3) review that program every three months; and 4) revise the program if Ferrara showed no progress toward a goal or if new goals were required.

¶ 6 As of the date of the incident in question, Guidance Center and Group Home knew that Ferrara had "a longstanding history of sexually deviant behavior including sexual assault of minor children, sexual aggressiveness towards others, sexual relations in public places; and inappropriate touching of staff and residents." Complaint, 11/16/00, at 12. On June 14, 1996, Appellants resided in Rossiter, Pennsylvania, and Ferrara's parents, Mary and Richard Ferrara, were neighbors of Appellants. Both Mary and Richard Ferrara were physically and mentally handicapped.

¶ 7 In the complaint, Appellants alleged, "On June 14, 1996, Richard A. Ferrara, Jr., was released by the Group Home into the custody of his aunt, the defendant Sylvia Ferrara, who in turn permitted him to go to his parents' home on First Street, Rossiter, PA 15722, where he was unsupervised." Id. at ¶ 14. While at his parents' home, Ferrara lured then six-year-old S.P. into the basement where he sexually molested her. As a result, S.P. experienced severe mental, physical, and emotional trauma.

¶ 8 Appellants alleged in relevant part that Guidance Center breached its duty of care to Appellants by engaging in the following negligent acts: 1) failing to provide and arrange for appropriate treatment of Ferrara's sexually deviant behavior; 2) failing to house him in a more restrictive environment than Group Home; 3) allowing him to be at his parents' home unsupervised when it knew or should have known that he would be in contact with young children; 4) failing to seek or pursue a civil commitment. Id. at ¶ 20.²

¶ 9 Appellants alleged that Group Home breached its duty of care to Appellants by engaging in the same negligent acts as well as the following additional negligent acts: releasing Ferrara into his aunt's custody when it knew or should have known that he would be in contact with young children and permitting Ferrara to leave its premises on June 14, 1996. Id. at ¶ 23.

¶ 10 Sylvia Ferrara filed an answer that contains the following relevant allegations. First, she asserted that Mary Ferrara was deceased in June 1996. Second, Sylvia denied that Ferrara was released into her custody on June 14, 1996. Specifically, she contended that she notified the parties with custody of Ferrara not to permit him to return to his parents' home or to Rossiter. Thus, Ferrara was present in Rossiter without her knowledge or consent, but rather had been taken by personnel of Group Home directly to his parents' home. She always demanded that those in charge of Ferrara's custody keep him under supervision and appropriate care at the Group Home and she told his mental health supervisors that Ferrara should not be allowed to stay in his father's custody.

¶ 11 Guidance Center and Group Home filed preliminary objections on the ground that Appellants had failed to state a cause of action. In its preliminary objections, Group Home alleged that it had an agreement with Sylvia Ferrara whereby it would release Ferrara into her custody for home visits. Further, Group Home asserted that on June 14, 1996, Ferrara was released into Sylvia's custody for the purpose of one of those home visits and that was during such a visit that the minor plaintiff was harmed.

¶ 12 In response, Appellants filed an amended complaint containing additional allegations. On June 14, 1996, Appellants were aware that Ferrara had engaged in the following conduct. In the early and mid-1970s, he was the subject of allegations that he had engaged in sexually inappropriate activity with young children in the community of Rossiter. In 1978, he was cited for sexual misconduct with a young child and in lieu of criminal prosecution, he was sent to a residential facility. In the mid-1980s, he was suspected of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl at a local church. In the mid-1990s, he was suspected of engaging in sexual relations with an underage girl on numerous occasions. In countless evaluations conducted by Guidance Center and Group Home between 1984 and 1996 while Ferrara was a resident at Group Home, he was described as lacking the ability to control his sexually deviant behavior. In the 1990s, he was cited for having sexual relations in open public while he was a resident of Group Home. He was constantly reprimanded for inappropriate sexual contact with staff members throughout his stay at the Group Home.

¶ 13 The preliminary objections were renewed, and on May 21, 2001, the trial court entered an opinion and order granting Guidance Center's preliminary objections, but denying Group Home's preliminary objections. The trial court concluded that, based on Sylvia's responsive pleading, there was an issue as to whether Group Home had released Ferrara directly into the care of his incompetent father. In addition, the trial court noted that Appellants had abandoned their claim that Group Home and Guidance Center had a duty to warn them of Ferrara's propensity to commit sexual misconduct against minors.

¶ 14 Appellants and Group Home separately petitioned for an order of finality pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 341(c). On June 18, 2001, the court entered an order determining that an immediate appeal would facilitate resolution of the entire case and designated the May 21, 2001 order as final under Pa.R.A.P. 341(c). Appellants and Group Home filed the present appeals from the order.

¶ 15 Initially, we must address our jurisdiction over these appeals. Under Pa. R.A.P. 341(b), a final order is defined in relevant part as one that disposes of all claims and all parties....