Pacelli v. deVito

• Decision Date: 25 August 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-1086,91-1086
• Citation: Pacelli v. deVito, 972 F.2d 871 (7th Cir. 1992)
• Parties: Nancy PACELLI, as Independent Administrator of the Estate of Huron Loyd Cain, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert deVITO, et al, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 871

972 F.2d 871

Nancy PACELLI, as Independent Administrator of the Estate of Huron Loyd Cain, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert deVITO, et al, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 91-1086.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Dec. 3, 1991.

Decided Aug. 25, 1992.

Linda K. Stevens (argued), Deborah A. Golden, Robert H. Riley, Beth A. Stone, James R. McDaniel, Carol R. Prygrosky, Robert B. Foster, Schiff, Hardin & Waite, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Gary E. Medler, Paul Millichap, Office of the Atty. Gen., Thomas C. Crooks (argued), Kalish & Colleagues, Jennifer A. Keller, Asst. Atty. Gen., Civ. Appeals Div., Patricia Borner, Janet A. Richmond, Debra J. Anderson, Katherine Novak, Donald R. Zoufal, Illinois Dept. of Corrections, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.

Before CUMMINGS and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges, and FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge.

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

Huron Loyd Cain was trapped in a mental institution by two common features of bureaucracy: specialization and apathy. Although Cain was held 19 months after a psychiatrist concluded that he was no longer dangerous and ordered his discharge, each person he accuses has a plausible reply that he saw such a small portion of the picture that he cannot properly be called on to pay damages, and that his job description did not require him to learn more. Only one person knew the full truth: Cain himself, who was released promptly after he called the problem to the attention of a state court. Nancy Pacelli, Cain's sister and the administrator of his estate (he died in 1985), contends that the many defendants should have informed themselves. Because what state officials "should have known" is an insufficient basis of constitutional liability, McGill v. Duckworth, 944 F.2d 344 (7th Cir.1991), we agree with the district court that this deplorable indifference is not actionable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

I

Cain was sent to prison in 1971 under the Illinois Sexually Dangerous Persons Act, Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38 p 105-8 (1969). He was confined at the Menard Correctional Center and moved to the Menard Psychiatric Center in 1974. This court held the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act unconstitutional because it employed a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard rather than the reasonable-doubt standard. Stachulak v. Coughlin, 369 F.Supp. 628 (N.D.Ill.1973), affirmed, 520 F.2d 931 (7th Cir.1975). While the district court's order in Stachulak was on appeal, Cain asked the Circuit Court of Cook County for discharge, asserting that custody was unconstitutional because the court committing him had used the preponderance standard. Judge Epton of the Circuit Court granted that request in part on May 9, 1975. Instead of releasing Cain outright, the court put Cain on "conditional release" under § 9 of the Act, a status equivalent to parole. Judge Epton's order reads:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that there is a finding that the defendant's [Cain's] and society's interests would best be served by committing the defendant as in need of mental treatment, Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 91 1/2. Accordingly, it is ordered that, subject to commitment of the defendant as in need of mental treatment, he appears to be no longer dangerous and is conditionally released as a Sexually Dangerous Person, Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 38, sec. 105-9, to the care of the Department of Mental Health. If committed as in need of mental treatment, he may not be released from the Department of Mental Health without a further order from this court.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) released Cain to the Department of Mental Health (now the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, or DMHDD), which interpreted the "subject to commitment" and "[i]f committed" language in this order as calling for a civil commitment hearing. One was held before Judge Collins of the Circuit Court on May 19, 1975. Judge Collins, after finding Cain mentally ill and "in need of immediate hospitalization", committed him to the custody of the DMHDD.

The DMHDD held Cain at its Tinley Park Mental Health Center until the end of June 1976, when it sent him to another mental hospital at Manteno, Illinois. While Cain was at Tinley Park he obtained leaves, sometimes being allowed to join his relatives for as long as a week. Manteno was less accommodating; he had but a single home leave during the remainder of his stay, which was to last until April 1980. But the staff at Manteno began to question the need for his confinement. In January 1977 Cain's case worker suggested that preparations be made for discharging him to a nursing home. By September 1978 Cain's psychiatrist, Garth Smith, concluded that he was no longer in need of mental treatment; he drew up discharge papers in December 1978. These instructions were not followed, apparently because higher-ups in the DMHDD were not keen on releasing persons with a history of sexual abuse (recidivism would carry political repercussions) and because Maureen Mudron, a supervising attorney with the DMHDD, concluded back in 1975 that Cain could not be released on a finding that he was no longer in need of treatment. That finding would satisfy Judge Collins but not Judge Epton, whose order said that "[i]f committed as in need of mental treatment, [Cain] may not be released from the Department of Mental Health without a further order from this court." Judge Collins's commitment order satisfied the "if" clause, so release seemed to depend on the Circuit Court's approval. John Posch, another attorney, found Mudron's memorandum and informed others about it in 1978 and 1979.

A note in the file of another of DMHDD's employees shows that Mudron believed that Judge Epton's continuing hold on Cain was improper and should be challenged. But it was not challenged--not by the DMHDD, anyway. It received two challenges from other sources. One was a class action designed to obtain the benefit of Stachulak for all persons who had been committed under the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act. In United States ex rel. Morgan v. Sielaff, No. 76 C 1562 (N.D.Ill.1976), the court issued a class writ of habeas corpus directing the respondents (who were officials of the DOC) to release "[e]ach member of the class who is presently on conditional release from confinement under Section 105-9 of the Illinois Sexually Dangerous Persons Act ... on May 31, 1977, unless by that date a new commitment hearing, wherein the standard of proof will be in accordance with [Stachulak ] ... has been commenced."

The DOC, which knew about Judge Epton's order (but apparently not about Judge Collins's), informed the court that Cain was a member of the class. The court issued a conditional writ of habeas corpus in favor of Cain and 20 other persons. This document was delivered to Herbert Gentsch, the Records Supervisor at Menard. By the time Gentsch received the writ, Cain was at Manteno in the custody of the DMHDD, none of whose officials was a party to the class action. Gentsch could not release Cain from Menard (he wasn't there) or even from the custody of the DOC. So he did nothing, putting the writ in the files at Menard. Gentsch's lassitude was matched by that of the attorneys for the class, who did not follow up to see what happened to the persons they were representing vicariously. (Cain was not one of the named representatives of the class.) Because the writ stayed in the file room at Menard, and Judge Grady, who issued it, did not publish an opinion explaining his action, the DMHDD's attorney Mudron did not know that Judge Collins's order really was the only one she need be concerned about, for Judge Epton's order had been nullified.

There were, as we said, two challenges. Cain raised the second. Represented by counsel, on February 22, 1980, he asked the Circuit Court of Cook County for release. Illinois had two lawyers at the hearing, held in April 1980. An assistant state's attorney told the court that Judge Epton's order "is ineffective" because superseded by Judge Collins's. Judge Brodkin suggested that a hearing was therefore unnecessary--that the DMHDD could release Cain without an order. Posch, representing the DMHDD, expressed greater concern about Judge Epton's order, and Judge Brodkin remarked: "It does cast a cloud on what rights they [officials of the DMHDD] have and what rights they don't have." Posch was worried that if Judge Brodkin concluded that the order was transparently defective or had lapsed, employees of the DMHDD might face liability. No one mentioned the writ of habeas corpus. The court took seven pages of testimony from Dr. Smith. Judge Brodkin immediately ordered Cain's release. Cain walked out a free man on April 17, 1980.

Posch was right to be worried. A year later Cain filed this suit, contending that the delay violated his rights under federal and state law. Posch found himself among the defendants. It took six years and five months for Cain's new lawyers to draft a complaint that satisfied them. By the time the fifth amended complaint was filed in September 1987, bringing the list of defendants to 11, Cain had been dead for almost three years. All of the defendants moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted in substantial measure. 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14824 (N.D.Ill.). The court reserved only the pendent claims under state law, writing that a plaintiff should not have to start in state court nine years after filing in federal court. Administrator Pacelli dismissed these state claims to make the judgment final. As things reach us, then, Cain is asserting exclusively violations of the Constitution of the United States. (We refer to Cain and his estate alike as "Cain" for simplicity.)

II

Cain believes that the defendants--not only the persons responsible for his day-to-day custody but also the directors of the DOC and the DMHDD and the lawyers who represented the agencies--violated his constitutional rights by disregarding...