R.D. v. W.H.

• Decision Date: 27 May 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-90,93-90
• Citation: 875 P.2d 26
• Parties: R.D., individually and in his capacity as personal representative for the Estate of G.D., and further in his capacity as next friend and legal guardian of K.D., a minor child, Appellant (Plaintiff), v. W.H., Appellee (Defendant).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 26

875 P.2d 26

R.D., individually and in his capacity as personal representative for the Estate of G.D., and further in his capacity as next friend and legal guardian of K.D., a minor child, Appellant (Plaintiff), v. W.H., Appellee (Defendant).

No. 93-90.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

May 27, 1994.

George Zunker, Cheyenne, and Mitch Geller, Denver, CO, for appellant.

Julie Nye Tiedeken, Cheyenne, for appellee.

Before MACY, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, GOLDEN and TAYLOR, JJ.

MACY, Chief Justice.

Appellant, individually, as personal representative for the decedent's estate, and as next friend and legal guardian of the minor child, appeals from the district court's order dismissing his amended complaint.

We reverse and remand.

Appellant presents the following issues for our resolution:

I. Whether an actor, whose action creates a condition of insanity in the mind of another, may be held liable for the death of that other person when the death itself is caused by suicide.

II. Whether the district court erred in dismissing the plaintiff's claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress and for negligent infliction of emotional distress.

After the decedent committed suicide, Appellant filed a complaint against Appellee and a physician. Appellee moved under W.R.C.P. 12(b)(6) to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Appellant amended his complaint, and the parties stipulated that the motion to dismiss would apply to the amended complaint.

When reviewing a W.R.C.P. 12(b)(6) dismissal, this Court accepts all facts stated in the complaint as being true and views them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. We will sustain a W.R.C.P. 12(b)(6) dismissal only when it is certain from the face of the complaint that the plaintiff cannot assert any facts which would entitle him to relief.

Herrig v. Herrig, 844 P.2d 487, 490 (Wyo.1992) (citation omitted). See also Veile v. Board of County Commissioners of Washakie County, 860 P.2d 1174, 1177 (Wyo.1993).

The facts stated in the amended complaint are as follows: The decedent was Appellant's wife and the mother of the minor child. Appellee was the decedent's stepfather. Appellant alleged that Appellee sexually abused the decedent throughout her childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood and that, as a result of this abuse, the decedent developed psychiatric difficulties and attempted to commit suicide on numerous occasions.

The decedent visited her mother and Appellee on September 20, 1990. During that visit, the decedent asked Appellee to provide her with a firearm for "protection." Appellee complied, and the decedent attempted to commit suicide with the gun he provided. She did not succeed because the gun jammed. Just five days later, on September 25, 1990, the decedent again visited her mother and Appellee. She asked Appellee to help her obtain a prescription for Elavil (amitriptyline hydrochloride). The decedent claimed that she had left her medication behind at her home. Although he was aware, or should have been aware, that the decedent had previously attempted to commit suicide by taking an overdose of amitriptyline hydrochloride, Appellee contacted a physician and asked him to write a prescription for the decedent. The physician wrote the prescription without meeting with or speaking to the decedent and without contacting her treating physicians. On September 27, 1990, the decedent ingested an overdose of the prescription drug. She died a few days later.

Appellant presented several claims for relief in his amended complaint against Appellee. These claims included: (1) wrongful death on the basis of Appellee's negligent actions; (2) wrongful death on the basis of Appellee's intentional acts; (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (4) negligent infliction of emotional distress. The district court dismissed Appellant's amended complaint against Appellee for failure under W.R.C.P. 12(b)(6) to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Appellant appeals from that dismissal.

Wrongful Death

In his amended complaint, Appellant alleged that Appellee committed various wrongful actions toward the decedent and that such actions proximately caused the decedent's death by suicide. Appellee asserts that Appellant did not state a legal cause of action because the decedent's suicide was an intervening cause which did not come within and complete the line of causation from the negligent acts to the death. Appellant contends that his amended complaint did state a claim because he alleged that

"the decedent's suicide arose from the delirium or insanity created in her by [Appellee] and was either an act demonstrating the decedent's inability to realize the nature of her act and certainty or risk of harm involved, or was an act of irresistible impulse caused by her insanity which deprived her of the capacity to govern her conduct in accordance with reason."

The general rule with regard to liability for negligent actions which lead to suicide is: The decedent's intentional and voluntary act in taking his own life is an intervening cause which breaks the chain of causation and precludes a finding of liability against the tortfeasor. 22A AM.JUR.2D Death § 52 (1988); Eidson v. Reproductive Health Services, 863 S.W.2d 621, 626-27 (Mo.Ct.App.1993); Gilmore v. Shell Oil Company, 613 So.2d 1272, 1276-78 (Ala.1993); Krieg v. Massey, 239 Mont. 469, 781 P.2d 277, 279 (1989); Watters v. TSR, Inc., 904 F.2d 378, 383 (6th Cir.1990) (affirming 715 F.Supp. 819 (W.D.Ky.1989)). However, it has long been recognized that, when the tort-feasor's wrongful act causes the decedent to become insane and the decedent's insanity prevents him from realizing the nature of his act or from controlling his conduct, the suicide will not be considered as being an intervening cause and that the tort-feasor may be held liable for the suicide. See, e.g., Riesbeck Drug Co. v. Wray, 111 Ind.App. 467, 39 N.E.2d 776, 780 (1942); and Daniels v. New York, N.H. & H.R. Co., 183 Mass. 393, 67 N.E. 424, 426 (1903). See also W. PAGE KEETON ET AL., PROSSER AND KEETON ON THE LAW OF TORTS § 44, at 310-11 (5th ed. 1984).

RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 455 (1965) is the codification of this special causation rule. District of Columbia v. Peters, 527 A.2d 1269, 1275-76 (D.C.Ct.App.1987); Watters, 904 F.2d at 384; Stafford v. Neurological Medicine, Inc., 811 F.2d 470, 473 (8th Cir.1987); Eidson, 863 S.W.2d at 626-27.

Section 455 provides:

If the actor's negligent conduct so brings about the delirium or insanity of another as to make the actor liable for it, the actor is also liable for harm done by the other to himself while delirious or insane, if his delirium or insanity

(a) prevents him from realizing the nature of his act and the certainty or risk of harm involved therein, or

(b) makes it impossible for him to resist an impulse caused by his insanity which deprives him of his capacity to govern his conduct in accordance with reason.

We adopt the language of § 455 of the RESTATEMENT, supra, as being an exception to the general rule that suicide is an intervening cause. ¹ In order for the suicide to be an intervening cause, it must have been committed voluntarily. When the decedent acts under the conditions expounded in § 455, he is not acting with volition, and his suicide, therefore, does not breach the chain of causation. Runyon v. Reid, 510 P.2d 943, 949 (Okl.1973); Eidson, 863 S.W.2d at 627.

Appellee argues that Appellant's amended complaint was deficient because the facts did not show that the decedent was acting under a sudden impulse when she killed herself. Appellee contends that the decedent's other suicide attempts and the lapse of time between obtaining the drug and committing the suicide negate a finding of sudden impulse. Whether the decedent was acting under an irresistible or uncontrollable impulse, ² as defined by § 455 of the RESTATEMENT, supra, is generally a question of fact and should not be decided in the context of determining whether the complaint should be dismissed under W.R.C.P. 12(b)(6). See generally Fuller v. Preis, 35 N.Y.2d 425, 363 N.Y.S.2d 568, 322 N.E.2d 263, 269 (1974) (reversing 75 Misc.2d 1067, 349 N.Y.S.2d 470 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1972).

We hold, however, that the impulse does not need to be sudden in order to be characterized as being an irresistible or uncontrollable impulse. 322 N.E.2d at 268. See also James A. Howell, Comment, Civil Liability for Suicide: An Analysis of the Causation Issue, 1978 ARIZ.ST.L.J. 573, 587 (1978). "In tort law, there is a recognition that one may retain the power to intend and yet be subject to an irresistible impulse." Peters, 527 A.2d at 1276. See also Exxon Corporation v. Brecheen, 526 S.W.2d 519, 524 (Tex.1975) (reversing 519 S.W.2d 170). Even "long lapses in time between commission of a wrong and a suicide by the victim do not necessarily break the causal chain." Jamison v. Storer Broadcasting Company, 511 F.Supp. 1286, 1292 (E.D.Mich.1981). A person may be found to have acted under an irresistible impulse even though evidence exists which indicates that he previously attempted to commit suicide or that he planned his suicide. Fuller, 322 N.E.2d at 268-69; Orcutt v. Spokane County, 58 Wash.2d 846, 364 P.2d 1102 (1961) (en banc) (holding that a jury question existed as to whether the decedent was acting under an irresistible impulse even though evidence existed of prior suicide attempts).

Appellant alleged that Appellee acted negligently toward the decedent and that Appellee's actions resulted in

the creation of a delirium or insanity in the decedent. The decedent's death occurred while delirious or insane and that delirium or insanity, created by [Appellee], prevented the decedent from realizing the nature of her actions and the certainty or risk of harm involved therein, or, made it impossible for her to resist an impulse caused by her insanity which deprived her...