Kenney v. Hatfield

• Decision Date: 06 July 1955
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 2415.
• Citation: 132 F. Supp. 814
• Parties: Edward James KENNEY, Jr., Plaintiff, v. Malcolm K. HATFIELD, Thomas N. Robinson, Dr. Roy A. Morter, and Dr. Joseph McCarthy, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

132 F. Supp. 814

Edward James KENNEY, Jr., Plaintiff, v. Malcolm K. HATFIELD, Thomas N. Robinson, Dr. Roy A. Morter, and Dr. Joseph McCarthy, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 2415.

United States District Court W. D. Michigan, S. D.

July 6, 1955.

Edward James Kenney, Jr., Benton Harbor, Mich., for plaintiff.

Alexander, Cholette, Buchanan, Perkins & Conklin, Grand Rapids, Mich., Charles W. Gore, Benton Harbor, Mich., Perry Maynard, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendants.

KENT, District Judge.

Plaintiff files this action under Section 1983 of Title 42, U.S.C.A. (formerly Sec. 43 of Title 8),¹ and under Section 1343 of Title 28, U.S.C.A.,² and under certain sections of the Statutes of the State of Michigan.³

It appears that plaintiff, on or about the 18th day of November, 1950, was adjudged mentally ill by the defendant, Malcolm K. Hatfield, Judge of Probate for the County of Berrien, Michigan, and was ordered committed to a hospital for the mentally ill. The commitment was pursuant to a petition made by one William J. Pugh, a deputy sheriff of Berrien County, Michigan. It is alleged by the plaintiff that the making of such petition by Pugh was on recommendation of defendant, Thomas N. Robinson, who was then a licensed attorney, practicing law in the City of Benton Harbor, County of Berrien, Michigan.

On November 28, 1950, plaintiff was taken into custody and delivered to the Kalamazoo State Hospital, an institution for the mentally ill maintained by the State of Michigan in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he was confined until on or about the 17th day of August, 1952.

Subsequent to his release from the hospital, plaintiff filed an action in the Circuit Court for Berrien County, Michigan, to test the validity of the proceedings leading to his commitment. After hearing the commitment was determined to be void because the proceedings did not comply with the provisions of the applicable statutes of the State of Michigan.

Defendant, Roy A. Morter, is the Medical Superintendent of the Kalamazoo State Hospital. Defendant, Joseph McCarthy, is a physician on the staff of the Kalamazoo State Hospital. It is claimed by the plaintiff that the said Dr. McCarthy was the Medical Director of Receiving Hospital and of the North Wing of the Male Center Building, which establishments are a part of the Kalamazoo State Hospital.

The plaintiff and all of the defendants are residents of the State of Michigan.

It is the theory and claim of the plaintiff that the defendant Hatfield was acting under color of State law but without jurisdiction and contrary to the law and contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of the United States in the proceeding which resulted in plaintiff's commitment to the hospital. Plaintiff alleges that the defendant doctors, Morter and McCarthy, knew or should have known that the plaintiff was illegally committed, and further alleges that the defendants McCarthy and Morter refused to take any action to secure his release from the hospital, although they knew or should have known that the plaintiff was not mentally ill. Plaintiff claims that in so acting the said defendants were acting under color of Michigan law but in violation thereof and in violation of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States.

There are no specific allegations relative to any conspiracy among the four defendants, and a reasonable reading of the complaint as amended, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, does not disclose any implication that such a conspiracy existed. There is no claim on the part of the plaintiff that any of the defendants acted because of any malice, either actual or implied, directed toward this plaintiff as an individual, or directed toward any other individual alleged to be mentally ill.

Basically, plaintiff alleges that each of the parties participated, at some point, in a series of acts which resulted in the confinement of the plaintiff in the hospital referred to, and in his continued detention in that institution. It is the theory and claim of the plaintiff that the acts of the several defendants amounted to a deprivation of his rights, privileges and immunities contrary to the Constitution of the United States and the laws on which the action is based.

Each of the named defendants has filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint. Each motion suggests a number of theories and reasons why the complaint should be dismissed, making reference to the court's jurisdiction. In each motion the ground which appears to the Court to be most material is the allegation that the complaint of the plaintiff, as amended, does not state a claim upon which relief can be granted in this court. It should be stated at the outset that if the complaint states a cause of action based upon a deprivation of plaintiff's Civil Rights which are protected by the statutes and the Constitution of the United States, then a diversity of citizenship is not required. Further, it is the court's opinion that under Rule 20, Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., covering permissive joinder of parties, all of the parties are properly joined in this one action.

As to the defendant Malcolm K. Hatfield, who was at the time of the alleged improper action, and is now, the Judge of Probate for Berrien County, Michigan, the determination of the liability of such defendant depends primarily on the liability of judges, for civil damages, because of errors in assuming jurisdiction, or because of errors in the exercise of jurisdiction, in cases which are properly before the court over which said judge presides. This question has been thoroughly reviewed in a recent case in this court, in which the plaintiff in this case was also the plaintiff, entitled — Kenney v. Fox, 132 F.Supp. 305, a copy of which opinion has been previously furnished to this plaintiff. This court is aware of the circumstances upon which that action was based and is in entire accord with the conclusion reached by Chief Judge Raymond W. Starr in dismissing that action on the motion of the defendant, who is one of the Circuit Judges for Kalamazoo County, Michigan. It is the conclusion of this court, for the reasons therein stated, which are herein adopted, that judges are not liable for civil damages under the statute under which this action is brought. For the reasons therein stated the allegations of plaintiff's complaint, as amended, in relation to the defendant, Malcolm K. Hatfield, do not state a claim on which relief could be granted, assuming each and every allegation in the complaint to be true.

As to the defendant, Thomas N. Robinson, the allegations of plaintiff's complaint are to the effect that said defendant, then an attorney in private practice, advised Deputy Sheriff Pugh in connection with the preparation of the petition which was filed as the first step in the proceedings which resulted in plaintiff's commitment to the Kalamazoo State Hospital. There is no allegation that the defendant Robinson was acting in any official capacity or that any of his acts, proper or improper, could be classed as the acts of the State of Michigan, except as the petition was made allegedly pursuant to the provisions of the statutes of the State of Michigan. No case has been discovered wherein the Civil Rights Statute, on which plaintiff bases his action, has been held to give one in the position of the plaintiff an action against a private individual not acting "under color of law" for wrongs done, even though the acts of such individual may have ultimately resulted in a deprivation of constitutional rights, privileges or immunities. Rather such statute appears to have been limited in application to persons who have used or misused the powers granted to them by virtue of political offices, held by them, for the purpose of wilfully depriving a person of constitutional rights, privileges or immunities. Williams v. Yellow Cab Co. of Pittsburgh, 3 Cir., 1952, 200 F.2d 302; Shemaitis v. Froemke, 7 Cir., 1951, 189 F.2d 963; Watkins v. Oaklawn Jockey Club, 8 Cir., 1950, 183 F.2d 440.

As stated in Whittington v. Johnston, 5 Cir., 1953, 201 F.2d 810, at page 811 —

"It is a non sequitur to say that merely by instituting the lunacy proceeding, the defendants `caused' plaintiff to be deprived of her right to due process within the meaning of 8 U.S.C.A. § 43. If there was any denial of due process, the efficient cause thereof was the omission of the state probate judge to give notice of the proceeding. That failure is not attributable to these defendants. Whether or not notice should be given is committed by the Alabama statute to the discretion of the probate judge. These defendants had no duty in that behalf. They simply instituted the lunacy proceeding as the Alabama statute authorized them to do, and left the conduct thereof wholly to the discretion of the probate judge whose duty and function it was to give any necessary notice."

It appears to this court that the reasoning set forth in the quotation applies to the claims asserted by the plaintiff against the defendant, Thomas N. Robinson.

It is the conclusion of this court that the allegations of fact and the statute on which this action is based do not permit the granting of relief for the actions of persons acting as private citizens.

Plaintiff's complaint as amended does not allege a claim, on which relief could be granted, against the defendant, Thomas N. Robinson.

The defendants, Morter and McCarthy, were, at the time of plaintiff's commitment, and are now employed by the State of Michigan in a hospital for the mentally ill maintained at Kalamazoo by the State of Michigan.

It is difficult to conclude that the acts of these defendants, in receiving the plaintiff at the Kalamazoo State Hospital and in detaining him, were not under color of law. It is noted, however, that these defendants were required to receive the plaintiff at the hospital by virtue of the order of the Probate Court of Berrien County, and...