Fine v. Kolodny

• Decision Date: 10 December 1971
• Docket Number: No. 93,93
• Citation: 284 A.2d 409,263 Md. 647
• Parties: Margaret B. FINE v. A. Lewis KOLODNY et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 647

263 Md. 647

284 A.2d 409

Margaret B. FINE v. A. Lewis KOLODNY et al.

No. 93.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Dec. 10, 1971.

William E. Chamberlain and Philp F. Bennett, Baltimore, for appellant.

Frank J. Vecella, Baltimore (Anderson, Coe &amp King, Baltimore, on the brief), for Taylor Manor Hospital and others.

David L. Bowers, Baltimore (Miles & Stockbridge, Baltimore), for A. Lewis Kolodny and others, submitted on brief by Norman P. Ramsey and Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore, for Paul C. Wolman, Jr.

Argued before HAMMOND, C. J., and McWILLIAMS, FINAN, SINGLEY, SMITH and DIGGES, JJ.

FINAN, Judge.

Mrs. Margaret B. Fine, plaintiff-appellant, filed suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County against Dr. A. Lewis Kolodny and Mildred Kolodny, his wife; Paul C. Wolman, Jr., Esq.; Taylor Manor Hospital; and Isaac H. Taylor and Dr. Irving J. Taylor, licensees of Taylor Manor Hospital, defendants and appellees, for false imprisonment. The case was tried before a jury with Maguire, J., presiding and upon conclusion of the appellant's case, the court directed verdicts in favor of the defendants. Mrs. Fine has appealed from these judgments.

The court below in entering the directed verdicts ruled that the plaintiff's evidence showed that she voluntarily consented to her own admission and treatment at the Taylor Manor Hospital (hospital) a private psychiatric clinic in Howard County, and submitted to confinement in that institution.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Fine acted as her own counsel in the court below and her case was not enhanced by her lack of knowledge of court procedure and the rules of evidence. On appeal her counsel contend that there was evidence in the record from which the jury could have found that Mrs. Fine did not voluntarily submit to admission and treatment at the hospital and hence the lower court erred in granting the directed verdicts in favor of the defendants. Tully v. Dasher, 250 Md. 424, 440, 244 A.2d 207 (1968); Trionfo v. R. J. Hellman, Inc., 250 Md. 12, 15, 214 A.2d 554 (1968). After reviewing the record we are of the opinion that the undisputed evidence compels the conclusion that she did voluntarily enter the hospital for treatment. It would serve no useful purpose to relate in detail the sequence of bizarre and sad events which led to Mrs. Fine's confinement, since her act of voluntarily submitting herself to admission and treatment at the hospital rendered her previous actions and those of the defendants only tangentially relevant. However, in fairness to the defendants, we would characterize their roles as that of 'good Samaritans.'

The evidence discloses that close to midnight of September 25, 1965, Dr. Kolodny, a family friend and neighbor of the Fines, was aroused by the sound of firearms being discharged in the vicinity of the Fine residence. Knowing that Mrs. Fine was at that time separated from her husband and probably alone, Dr. Kolodny, fearing for her safety, summoned the police and accompanied a police officer in an unmarked car to the Fine home. The house was in darkness. The police officer placed a portable red light behind the windshield of the police vehicle and they attempted to locate Mrs. Fine, calling her by name. A bullet narrowly missed the police officer as he proceeded, flashlight in hand, around the corner of the house. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Fine emerged from a wooded area near the home carrying a rifle and a revolver. Strung between the trees and between the trees and the house was a trip-wire with bells attached. The trio then entered the house where it appeared that several windows had been shot out from within the home. Mrs. Fine appeared to be in a highly emotional state. A police lieutenant, another policeman and the Fines' family attorney, Paul Wolman, Jr., Esq., shortly arrived on the scene.

Mrs. Fine was eventually persuaded to go to the hospital. Efforts were made to reach Mr. Fine but to no avail and Dr. Kolodny made arrangements for her admission. Dr. Kolodny, Mrs. Kolodny and Paul Wolman, Jr. accompanied Mrs. Fine in an automobile to the hospital. One of the police officers followed in the unmarked police car. The testimony of the police officers who were present at the Fine home and that of the officer who followed the car transporting Mrs. Fine was that she went voluntarily to the hospital and no threats or restraints were employed. This was uncontroverted. The evidence reveals that upon arrival at the hospital Mrs. Fine was at first reluctant to sign a voluntary admission form but several hours thereafter, around 9 a.m., she did. The execution of this form was witnessed by Dr. Henry Klark, a reputable psychiatrist, who testified that he spent most of the night trying to relieve Mrs. Fine's overwrought condition. Dr. Klark's psychiatric impression of Mrs. Fine was 'schizophrenic reaction paranoid, probably long time latent.' The Taylor Manor Hospital records also contain certificates of two independent physicians, Dr. McGrath and Dr. Herbert, dated October 2nd and 7th respectively, certifying her to be mentally incompetent. On October 8, 1965, at her husband's request she was transferred to Seton Institute. Dr. James Miller and Dr. Charles Williams also examined Mrs. Fine the day after she entered Seton Institute and certified her as mentally incompetent. Doctors Hyman S. Rubenstein, Jonas Rappaport and George Lasson, all witnesses called by Mrs. Fine, testified as to her mental instability. The record reveals that she left Seton Institute on October 21, 1965, against medical advice.

In any action for false imprisonment it is necessary for the plaintiff to prove by a proponderance of evidence that he was deprived of his liberty by another without his consent and without legal justification. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company v. Paul, 256 Md. 643, 654, 261 A.2d 731 (1970). The witnesses called by Mrs. Fine supported the opposite conclusion. Recognizing the weakness of her case, Judge Maguire gratuitously inquired...