Lythgoe v. Guinn

• Decision Date: 25 November 1994
• Docket Number: No. S-5696,S-5696
• Parties: Jacquelin LYTHGOE, f/k/a Jacquelin Wellman, Appellant, v. Janet GUINN, Ph.D., Appellee.
• Court: Alaska Supreme Court

Page 1085

884 P.2d 1085

Jacquelin LYTHGOE, f/k/a Jacquelin Wellman, Appellant, v. Janet GUINN, Ph.D., Appellee.

No. S-5696.

Supreme Court of Alaska.

Nov. 25, 1994.

J. Jeffrey Mayhook, Law Offices of J. Jeffrey Mayhook, Anchorage, for appellant.

Timothy A. McKeever and Matthew D. Regan, Faulkner, Banfield, Doogan & Holmes, Anchorage, for appellee.

Before MOORE, C.J., and RABINOWITZ, MATTHEWS, COMPTON and EASTAUGH, JJ.

OPINION

MOORE, Chief Justice.

INTRODUCTION

In the course of a child custody dispute between Jacqueline Lythgoe, f/k/a Jacqueline Wellman, and Paul Wellman, the superior court appointed Dr. Janet Guinn to act as an independent custody investigator. Subsequent to the preparation of Guinn's evaluation, which was not used by the court, Lythgoe filed suit against Guinn, alleging negligent and intentional torts in the course of her investigation and the preparation of her report. Guinn moved to dismiss, asserting quasi-judicial immunity, a doctrine heretofore unrecognized by this court. The superior court agreed with Guinn and dismissed Lythgoe's claims. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

In early 1992 the superior court Judge Andrews appointed Dr. Janet Guinn as an independent custody investigator in a divorce and custody proceeding involving Jacqueline Lythgoe, her ex-husband Paul Wellman, and their six-year-old son, Cooper. Under the terms of this appointment, the parties were each required to pay half of the costs and fees incurred by the investigator. The court further ordered the parties to fully cooperate with Dr. Guinn's investigation. Dr. Guinn's report recommended that Wellman be given sole custody of the child.

Lythgoe filed a motion requesting that a separate evaluation be performed, which was granted. Judge Andrews also ordered an in camera review of files maintained by the State Division of Occupational Licensing pertaining to an investigation of Dr. Guinn "to determine if there are any relevant documents ... relating to Guinn's qualifications or the weight to give her report or testimony." Following this inspection, the court ordered that "all reports and testimony produced by Dr. Guinn be stricken from the record." The court further directed that none of the documents produced by Dr. Guinn be provided to the new custody evaluator.

In October 1992 Lythgoe filed suit against Dr. Guinn, alleging that she performed the custody investigation negligently, willfully and wantonly, that she intentionally or negligently misrepresented statements of third parties in her report, that she failed to conform to the minimum professional standards for licensed psychologists in the State of Alaska, that she violated statutes governing such professionals, and that she breached her fiduciary duties to Lythgoe. In an amended complaint, Lythgoe further alleged that Dr. Guinn acted as an advocate for Wellman, thereby forfeiting any immunity she might have had.

Dr. Guinn responded to the suit by filing a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, alleging quasi-judicial and witness immunity. She also moved to stay discovery and any investigation by the Health Care Expert Advisory Panel convened to review the matter, pending the court's ruling on the motion to dismiss. The superior court, Judge Shortell, granted the stay and ultimately granted Dr. Guinn's motion to dismiss, finding that her actions fell within the scope of quasi-judicial immunity. Lythgoe now appeals.

DISCUSSION

I. Is Dr. Guinn, a court-appointed custody investigator, protected under the doctrine of absolute quasi-judicial immunity?

A. Absolute Judicial Immunity

It is well-settled that judges are accorded absolute immunity from liability for damages for acts performed in the exercise of their judicial functions. See Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219, 225, 108 S.Ct. 538, 543, 98 L.Ed.2d 555 (1988); Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 553-54, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 1217-18, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967); Howard v. Drapkin, 222 Cal.App.3d 843, 271 Cal.Rptr. 893, 896 (1990). This absolute immunity protects even the judge who acts maliciously or corruptly. Pierson, 386 U.S. at 555, 87 S.Ct. at 1218; Howard, 271 Cal.Rptr. at 897; Seibel v. Kemble, 63 Haw. 516, 631 P.2d 173, 177 (1981).

The United States Supreme Court has noted that absolute judicial immunity serves the twin purposes of protecting the finality of judgments and preserving judicial independence "by insulating judges from vexatious actions prosecuted by disgruntled litigants." Forrester, 484 U.S. at 225, 108 S.Ct. at 543 (citing Bradley v. Fisher, 80 U.S. 335, 348, 20 L.Ed. 646 (U.S.1871)).

If judges were personally liable for erroneous decisions, the resulting avalanche of suits, most of them frivolous but vexatious, would provide powerful incentives for judges to avoid rendering decisions likely to provoke such suits. The resulting timidity would be hard to detect or control, and it would manifestly detract from independent and impartial adjudication.

Id. 484 U.S. at 226-27, 108 S.Ct. at 544 (citations omitted).

The Court has further noted that the broad scope of the immunity is not intended to protect the malicious or corrupt wrongdoer, but instead is "for the benefit of the public, whose interest it is that the judges should be at liberty to exercise their functions with independence and without fear of consequences." Pierson, 386 U.S. at 554, 87 S.Ct. at 1218 (citation omitted); see also J. Randolph Block, Stump v. Sparkman and the History of Judicial Immunity, 1980 Duke L.J. 879, 922 (1980) ("Judicial immunity exists not to protect judges but to protect litigants.").

In Denardo v. Michalski, 811 P.2d 315 (Alaska 1991), this court recognized the existence of absolute judicial immunity in Alaska. However, we have not yet addressed or recognized the existence of quasi-judicial immunity, under which persons, other than judges, who perform judicial functions are granted immunity coextensive with that accorded judges.

B. Quasi-Judicial Immunity Caselaw

In the instant case, the superior court dismissed Lythgoe's suit, finding that her claims fell within the recognized scope of absolute quasi-judicial immunity. Indeed, with virtual uniformity, courts have granted absolute immunity to persons who perform functions analogous to those performed by Dr. Guinn in the present case. ¹

For example, in S.T.J. v. P.M., 556 So.2d 244 (La.App.1990), a Louisiana appellate court held that psychologists appointed by the court to aid in resolving custody disputes were absolutely immune from liability for the performance of their delegated functions. In reaching this conclusion, the court stated that "appointed psychologists are non-judicial persons fulfilling quasi-judicial functions and are classified as officers of the court with functions intimately related to the judicial process. Hence, ... they are entitled to absolute immunity protecting them from having to litigate the manner in which they perform those functions." Id. at 247.

An Arizona court reached the same result in Lavit v. Superior Court, 173 Ariz. 96, 839 P.2d 1141 (App.1992). In Lavit, the parties to a marriage dissolution sought to employ a psychologist to conduct a child custody evaluation. The court adopted the parties' stipulation asking that Dr. Lavit be named to fill the position. Id. at 1142-43. The court eventually incorporated Dr. Lavit's recommendations into its dissolution decree. Id. at 1143. Subsequently, however, the father sued Dr. Lavit, alleging that his evaluation was improperly biased in favor of the child's mother. Id.

The appeals court granted summary judgment in favor of Dr. Lavit, holding that "[j]udicial immunity protects a non-judicial officer performing a function pursuant to a court directive related to the judicial process." Id. at 1144. In reaching this conclusion, the court stated that "[t]he question becomes not how the psychologist was first chosen but whether his activity is an integral part of the judicial process so that to deny immunity would disserve the broader public interest that non-judicial officers act without fear of liability." Id.; see also LaLonde v. Eissner, 405 Mass. 207, 539 N.E.2d 538, 541 (1989) ("common law immunity protects persons appointed by a court to conduct medical or psychiatric evaluation and render an opinion or to provide other expert assistance because of their integral relation to the judicial process").

The superior court relied principally on Howard v. Drapkin, 222 Cal.App.3d 843, 271 Cal.Rptr. 893 (1990), in finding that Lythgoe's claims were precluded by quasi-judicial immunity. As in the cases discussed above, the Howard court held that a psychologist engaged by the court to evaluate the parties to a custody dispute is entitled to the protection of absolute quasi-judicial immunity. Id., 271 Cal.Rptr. at 894.

In Howard, the parties to a child custody dispute agreed to hire a licensed psychologist to conduct an independent custody evaluation. As in Lavit, the parties' stipulation regarding the appointment was approved by the trial court and converted into an order. Id. Following the preparation of the evaluation report, the mother sued the psychologist, alleging professional negligence, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud. Id. at 894-95. The trial court dismissed the claims. Id. at 896.

The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal, noting that quasi-judicial immunity applied

to people connected with the judicial process ... such as (1) mediators, guardians ad litem, therapists, receivers, bankruptcy trustees and other persons appointed by the courts for their expertise and (2) persons whose work product comes into the judicial process to be used by the court even though they were not court-appointed, such as social workers and probation department employees.

Id. at 899.

The court further noted that the psychologist performed a function "intimately related to the judicial process" and which involved "impartiality and neutrality." Id. at...