Hopkins v. O'Connor

• Citation: 925 A.2d 1030,282 Conn. 821
• Decision Date: 03 July 2007
• Docket Number: No. 17743.,17743.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Eric T. HOPKINS v. Michael J. O'CONNOR.

925 A.2d 1030

282 Conn. 821

Eric T. HOPKINS v. Michael J. O'CONNOR.

No. 17743.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued April 18, 2007.

Decided July 3, 2007.

Jeffrey W. Kennedy, for the appellant (defendant).

Joseph M. Merly, New Haven, for the appellee (plaintiff).

BORDEN, NORCOTT, KATZ, VERTEFEUILLE and ZARELLA, Js.

KATZ, J.

The plaintiff, Eric T. Hopkins, brought the present action against the defendant, Michael J. O'Connor, a Madison police officer, in his individual capacity, alleging that the defendant, after causing the plaintiff to be transported to Yale— New Haven Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, falsely and maliciously had defamed him in a police incident report and unreasonably had published private information about that incident to the plaintiff's coworkers. The defendant moved for summary judgment, claiming that he is entitled to absolute immunity from suit because the statements at issue were in furtherance of a judicial proceeding, namely, a commitment proceeding. The trial court determined that, because a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether "the defendant's conduct in taking the plaintiff into custody or any subsequent proceeding that occurred as a result ... constituted a hearing before a tribunal performing a judicial function," the defendant had not established that he was entitled to absolute immunity and that summary judgment, therefore, was not appropriate. The defendant now appeals from that decision. We conclude that, although certain statements by the defendant were made within the scope of a judicial proceeding, the trial court properly denied the defendant's motion for summary judgment on the ground that the defendant was not entitled to absolute immunity in light of the specific allegations in the plaintiff's complaint. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's decision.

The record discloses the following undisputed facts. On September 2, 2003, pursuant to General Statutes § 17a-503(a),¹ the defendant took the plaintiff into involuntary custody and caused him to be transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation based on the defendant's reasonable belief that the plaintiff was suicidal. The genesis of the decision to transport the plaintiff had been a telephone call to the Madison police department from the plaintiff's friend, Steven Shaw, an emergency medical technician at a Madison ambulance service, who informed the police that the plaintiff had threatened to kill himself. The plaintiff, who owned several firearms, recently had been placed on leave from his position as a correction officer for the department of correction. The defendant was dispatched to Shaw's place of employment and, following his determination that the plaintiff was in need of help, executed the written form mandated under § 17a503 (a) prior to transporting the plaintiff. Later that day, the defendant prepared an incident report, pursuant to police department requirements, in which he stated that Shaw had told him that the plaintiff stated that he "was going to kill his [former] coworkers . . . and [then] shoot himself." The defendant also contacted the department of correction as part of his investigation to verify that the plaintiff was an employee and to apprise the department that the plaintiff had been committed to a psychiatric facility because he was suicidal.

The plaintiff thereafter commenced the present action against the defendant in his individual capacity, alleging that the defendant had committed: (1) defamation per se by falsely and maliciously stating in the incident report that the plaintiff had threatened to kill his coworkers; and (2) an invasion of privacy by the unreasonable publication of details of his private life in disclosing to persons at the department of correction that the plaintiff had been committed to a psychiatric facility because he was suicidal. The defendant filed an answer admitting that he had transported the plaintiff to the hospital, prepared an incident report, provided that report to the department of correction and spoken to a department of correction representative. He denied that he had acted falsely, maliciously or unreasonably. He also asserted six special defenses, including that he is shielded from suit by the doctrine of absolute immunity.

Thereafter, the defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming that he is entitled to absolute immunity because his conduct occurred during his participation in a judicial proceeding. Specifically, he contended that his actions were merely the initial steps of a commitment proceeding and that the plaintiff's involuntary commitment to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation was, therefore, a "judicial proceeding where the plaintiff was being protected from hurting himself and possibly putting the lives of others at risk." Additionally, he contended that the statements to the plaintiff's employer were "an integral part of his investigation in furtherance of the commitment proceeding." In support of his motion, the defendant submitted a number of exhibits, none of which, according to the trial court, demonstrated that "any subsequent proceeding that occurred as a result [of the defendant's actions] . . . constituted a hearing before a tribunal performing a judicial function."

Before reaching that conclusion, however, the trial court began with a brief synopsis of the pertinent legal principles that guided its analysis of the issue. First, the court cited to the "long-standing common law rule that communications uttered or published in the course of judicial proceedings are absolutely privileged so long as they are in some way pertinent to the subject of the controversy." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Petyan v. Ellis, 200 Conn. 243, 245-46, 510 A.2d 1337 (1986). Additionally, the court recognized that the absolute privilege that is granted to statements made in furtherance of a judicial proceeding extends to every step of the proceeding until final disposition. Kelley v. Bonney, 221 Conn. 549, 565-66, 606 A.2d 693 (1992). The court noted that the effect of an absolute privilege in a defamation action is that damages cannot be recovered for a defamatory statement even if it is published falsely and maliciously. Craig v. Stafford Construction, Inc., 271 Conn. 78, 84, 856 A.2d 372 (2004).

Turning to the case at hand, the court recognized that "[t]he judicial proceeding to which [absolute] immunity attaches has not been defined very exactly"; (internal quotation marks omitted) id.; and opined that an absolute privilege likely would apply to a Probate Court proceeding held to determine whether a person should be committed to a psychiatric facility. It concluded, however, that the evidence did not provide any basis that would enable it to conclude that "the events giving rise to the plaintiff's claims occurred before, during or after any such proceeding. Essentially, the only facts that are established by the evidence are that the defendant, a police officer, took the plaintiff into custody pursuant to § 17a-503(a), because he had reasonable cause to believe that the plaintiff had psychiatric disabilities or was gravely disabled and in need of immediate care. Without more, however, these facts do not establish that the defendant's conduct occurred in the context of a judicial proceeding to which absolute immunity applies. Such a scenario does not fit even the broadest definition of `judicial proceeding....'" In reaching its decision, the court turned to the language of § 17a503, and reasoned that it "applies to actions taken prior to a commitment proceeding and, therefore, prior to a judicial proceeding. ... Pursuant to this language, therefore, proof that the defendant took the plaintiff into custody is not, in and of itself, sufficient to establish the existence of a judicial proceeding." (Citation omitted; emphasis added.) Finally, the court remarked that the defendant's contention assumed that the issue of the plaintiff's involuntary commitment had been addressed by a court and that the safeguards of the commitment proceedings had attached, but concluded that the evidence did not demonstrate that any commitment proceeding had been held. Therefore, the trial court concluded that the defendant was not entitled to absolute immunity and, accordingly, denied his motion for summary judgment. This appeal followed.² We affirm the decision of the trial court, albeit on different grounds as to one of the two counts. See Kelley v. Bonney, supra, 221 Conn. at 592, 606 A.2d 693 ("[w]here the trial court reaches a correct decision but on mistaken grounds, this court has repeatedly sustained the trial court's action if proper grounds exist to support it" [internal quotation marks omitted]).

I

We begin with a brief discussion of our jurisdiction to consider this appeal, noting that, as a general rule, an interlocutory ruling may not be appealed pending the final disposition of a case. See State v. Curcio, 191 Conn. 27, 30, 463 A.2d 566 (1983) (right of appeal is purely statutory and "is limited to appeals by aggrieved parties from final judgments"). The denial of a motion for summary judgment ordinarily is an interlocutory ruling and, accordingly, is not a final judgment for purposes of appeal. "We previously have determined [however] that certain interlocutory orders have the attributes of a final judgment and consequently are appealable under [General Statutes] § 52-263." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Esposito v. Specyalski, 268 Conn. 336, 345-46 n. 13, 844 A.2d 211 (2004). We have recognized that the denial of a motion for summary judgment is immediately appealable when the motion is predicated upon a colorable claim of absolute immunity based on sovereign immunity. See Shay v. Rossi, 253 Conn. 134, 164-67, 749 A.2d 1147 (2000), overruled in part on other grounds by Miller v. Egan, 265 Conn. 301, 327, 828 A.2d 549 (2003). In so concluding, we observed "that the...