Maricopa County v. Cowart

• Decision Date: 10 July 1970
• Docket Number: No. 9845,9845
• Citation: Maricopa County v. Cowart, 471 P.2d 265, 106 Ariz. 69 (Ariz. 1970)
• Parties: MARICOPA COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Arizona, Appellant, v. Bette Miller COWART, Appellee.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 265

471 P.2d 265

106 Ariz. 69

MARICOPA COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Arizona, Appellant, v. Bette Miller COWART, Appellee.

No. 9845.

Supreme Court of Arizona, In Banc.

July 10, 1970.

O'Connor, Cavanagh, Anderson, Westover, Killingsworth & Beshears, by John H. Westover, and James .a, Teilborg, Phoenix, for appellant.

Gibbons, Kinney, Tipton & Warner, by Jack C. Warner, Phoenix, for appellee.

JACOBSON, Judge of the Court of Appeals.

The liability of Maricopa County for a suicide occurring in the Maricopa County Juvenile Home is presented in this appeal from a jury verdict and judgment in favor of the decedent's mother.

Plaintiff-appellee, BETTE MILLER COWART, instituted a wroungful death action against defendant-appellant, MARICOPA COUNTY, a political subdivision, to recover damages for the death of her son, CHARLES DENNIS METTINGER, age 15. (The deceased will hereinafter be referred to as 'Dennis.') The matter was tried to a jury which returned a verdict in the plaintiff's favor in the sum of $35,000.00, judgment being entered thereon. Defendant's post-trial motions were denied and this appeal followed.

It would add little to this opinion to recite in detail the traumatic history of the deceased, and the pros and cons of the type of mother the plaintiff was, although a good deal of the trial time was devoted to this type of testimony. Suffice it to say the deceased was a product of a broken home, the plaintiff having married five separate times prior to his death, and the deceased held rather deepseated resentments toward his mother which became manifest when he reached the age of 13. At this age he became rebellious, refused to apply himself to school work and refused to follow any authority. While Dennis and plaintiff lived in California, and at the suggestion of California school authorities, plaintiff sought counseling for Dennis, which proved ineffectual. In April of 1963, the parties moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where Dennis first came to the attention of police authorities on approximately May 1, 1963. On this date plaintiff called the Phoenix Police Department and reported that Dennis would not obey her orders and threatened her with a hammer. Plaintiff on this occasion requested that Dennis be taken to the County Detention Home. This request was complied with and he remained at the Home for approximately two days. Dennis was allowed to return to plaintiff's home with the understanding he comply with certain rules pertaining to school and obeying his mother.

On May 22, 1963, plaintiff again called the Phoenix City Police concerning Dennis' refusal to obey rules, which call resulted in his again being placed in the Detention Home. As a result of this detention a hearing was held in Maricopa County Juvenile Court which resulted on July 10, 1963, in Dennis being made a ward of the court and placed with an uncle. The deceased subsequently returned to live with his mother for approximately two or three days and then lived with the parents of an ex-husband of the plaintiff until he again ran away in September, 1963, while being prepared for registration in school. This last runaway resulted in Dennis' being committed to the Maricopa County Juvenile Home on September 12, 1963.

Prior to this time, Dennis had showed no suicidal tendencies. A psychiatric evaluation of Dennis was made on August 19, 1963, which disclosed no suicidal tendencies.

On September 18, 1963, Dennis was taken to the Maricopa County Hospital after he had informed personnel at the detention home that he had taken ten or eleven aspirin tablets. Treatment at the County Hospital consisted of giving him an antidote. He also informed detention home personnel at this time that he wished to die.

Both prior to Dennis' going to the County Hospital and subsequent to his return he had been kept with other juveniles at the detention home in large ward-type rooms. On September 25, 1963, Dennis was taken to the office of Dr. Lee S. Cohn for a further psychiatric consultation preparatory to obtaining his admission to a California psychiatric treatment center. While at Dr. Cohn's office he bolted and was not returned to the detention home until the following morning. While Dr. Cohn was unable to complete his examination of Dennis, he did conclude that he needed special psychiatric treatment. He did not consider that Dennis had immediate suicidal potentials but rather was of the opinion that Dennis' actions were directed outward toward others, rather than inward toward himself. However, he did concede at trial that in his opinion, Dennis did possess greater suicidal tendencies than a normal person. There is no evidence this latter conclusion was ever conveyed to personnel at the Detention Home.

After running away from the doctor's office, Dennis was again returned to the normal routine of the Detention Home. On that same day he again ran away from the Detention Home but was apprehended about twenty minutes later. On the following day, September 27, 1963, Dennis again made an attempt to escape from the home. Following this third escape attempt, a staff conference was called to determine what measures were to be taken concerning Dennis' conduct. Because of his repeated statements that he intended to kill his mother and his repeated escapes, the decision was made to confine Dennis. This confinement was in no manner precipitated by Dennis' prior alleged suicide attempt. Confinement in this case consisted of placing Dennis in a six-foot by eight-foot room constructed of reinforced concrete, having one steel door with a small peep slot and one window which was covered by a steel plate except for one or two inches at the top. Furnishings in the room consisted of a double bunk bed, a toilet and washbasin. Light to the room was furnished by a recessed single bulb which was covered by a metal frame.

On September 29, 1963, after being confined for approximately two days, Dennis hung himself by a bedsheet wrapped around his neck and tied to the metal frame cover of the recessed light. Strangulation occurred by Dennis merely collapsing his knees and causing the bedsheet to become taut. All supervisory personnel of the home testified that the boys placed in confinement were checked on fifteen-minute intervals and that on the night of the suicide Dennis was so checked. On the other hand, a boy who was in a confinement room next to Dennis testified that Dennis had not been checked for over three hours.

The matter was submitted to the jury on two basic issues: (1) the negligence of the County in maintaining and constructing the detention facility; and (2) the failure of personnel of the detention home to adequately supervise the deceased, thus allowing him to take his own life.

The defendant raises several issues on appeal including the argument that the Maricopa County Detention Home is under the supervision of the Superior Court, and since the judges of the Superior Court are 'state officers,' the County would not be liable for the acts of state personnel. However, we need not decide this issue in reaching a determination in this matter, since a more basic obstacle confronts the plaintiff in this case and requires a reversal.

This obstacle can best be expressed by answering the question 'what is the liability for suicide occurring in a juvenile detention home?'

Of course, before liability attaches there must be a breach of duty owed. Hersey v. Salt River Valley Water Users' Assn., 10 Ariz.App. 321, 458 P.2d 525 (1969). In those cases in which a Specific duty of care is absent, that is cases involving a wrongful act by the defendant and a subsequent suicide by the injured party, the almost universal rule is that the suicide by the injured party is a superseding cause which is neither foreseeable nor a normal incident of the risk created and therefore relieves the original actor from liability for the death resulting from the...