Ridlen v. Four County Counseling Center

Decision Date24 November 1992
Docket NumberNo. S92-352S.,S92-352S.
Citation809 F. Supp. 1343
PartiesJulian RIDLEN, Executor of the Estate of Robert Shay, deceased, et al., Plaintiffs, v. FOUR COUNTY COUNSELING CENTER, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

Robert L. Justice, Logansport, IN, for plaintiffs.

Michael L. Carter, David J. Mallon, James V. Donadio, Richard A. Smikle, Steven J. Cohen, Indianapolis, IN, Edward N. Kalamaros, South Bend, IN, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This case was filed by able and experienced counsel on June 10, 1992, purporting to assert claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and inferentially to invoke this court's jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343(a)(3) and (4). The defendants, also appearing by able and experienced counsel, have either filed motions to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Fed.R.Civ.P.), or motions for summary judgment under Rule 56, Fed.R.Civ.P. By order entered on October 9, 1992, the pending motions to dismiss were converted to motions for summary judgment under Rule 56, Fed.R.Civ.P. This court conducted an extensive hearing, dialogue and oral argument in Lafayette, Indiana on October 19, 1992. It was agreed that the issues were fully discussed there and fully briefed. The court granted the plaintiffs until October 30, 1992, to file any supplemental materials.

II. BACKGROUND

In their Complaint, the plaintiffs allege two causes of action. In Count I, the plaintiffs allege a civil rights violation pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and predicated on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In Count II, the plaintiffs allege a pendant claim based on supplemental jurisdiction for medical negligence based on the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act. Jurisdiction over the state claim is based on the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990, codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1367. This statute permits jurisdiction over purely state law claims which "are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution." 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a).

This court surmises that a brief listing of the parties involved is in order. Robert Shay is deceased — he took his own life on July 2, 1990. The plaintiffs are Julian Ridlen, Executor of the estate of Robert Shay, and Robert Shay's sons and heirs Matthew Shay, Roger Shay and Andrew Shay. Four County Counseling Center ("Four County") is a community mental health center and private psychiatric hospital incorporated under the laws of the State of Indiana as a not-for-profit corporation with its principal place of business in Logansport, Cass County, Indiana. Dr. Umamaheswara Kalapatapu ("Dr. Kalapatapu") is and was at all relevant times a physician practicing psychiatry and licensed to practice under the laws of the State of Indiana, and residing in and maintaining a practice in Logansport, Indiana.

On Wednesday, June 6, 1990, Roger Shay signed an application seeking to involuntarily commit his father, Robert Shay, to Four County. The application was accompanied by a physician's emergency statement signed by a member of the Four County staff attesting that Robert Shay may be mentally ill and dangerous. After the application and physician's emergency statement were presented to the Cass County Superior Court; an order was issued authorizing the immediate detention, examination and treatment of Robert Shay. On the evening of June 6, 1990, Robert Shay was admitted involuntarily to Four County. See Indiana Code § 16-14-9.1-7.

On June 11, 1990, the permitted seventy-two hour (excluding Saturdays and Sundays) statutory period for the involuntary commitment of mentally ill and dangerous persons expired. On that date, Robert Shay decided to remain at Four County as a voluntary patient. Accordingly, during the statutory committal period, the staff of Four County, in compliance with Indiana Code § 16-14-9.1-7, filed a report with the Cass County Superior Court indicating that Robert Shay had elected to continue treatment on a voluntary basis.

Robert Shay voluntarily continued his treatment at Four County from June 11, 1990 until June 13, 1990. On June 13, 1990, Robert Shay requested his release and agreed to outpatient treatment. On July 2, 1990, Robert Shay took his own life.

III. SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Summary judgment is proper if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with any affidavits, show that there exists no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56; accord Juarez v. Ameritech Mobile Communications, 957 F.2d 317, 320 (7th Cir.1992). A material question of fact is a question which will be outcome determinative of an issue in that case. Wainwright Bank v. Railroadmens Federal Sav., 806 F.2d 146 (7th Cir.1986). While generally, "Summary Judgment is only appropriate when the record reveals that no reasonable jury could find for the nonmoving party, ... this general standard is applied with added rigor in employment discrimination cases, where intent is inevitably the central issue." McCoy v. WGN Continental Broadcasting Co., 957 F.2d 368, 370-371 (7th Cir.1992) (citations omitted). Still, "summary judgment will not be defeated simply because issues of motive or intent are involved, and is proper when the plaintiff fails to indicate any motive or intent to support plaintiff's position." Rush v. McDonald's Corp., 966 F.2d 1104, 1109 (7th Cir.1992) (quoting Morgan v. Harris Trust & Savings Bank, 867 F.2d 1023, 1026 (7th Cir.1989)). The most recent, thorough discussions of Rule 56 by the Supreme Court of the United States can be found in a trilogy of cases decided in 1986. See Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986);1 and Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Celotex addressed the initial burdens of the parties under Rule 56, and Anderson addressed the standards under which the record is to be analyzed within the structure of Rule 56.

After Celotex, it is clear that a non-moving party may not rest on its pleadings to avoid summary judgment. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 325-26, 106 S.Ct. at 2554. See also, Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U.S. 871, 110 S.Ct. 3177, 111 L.Ed.2d 695 (7th Cir.1990); and Zayre Corp. v. S.M. & R. Co., 882 F.2d 1145 (7th Cir.1989). "The days are gone, if they ever existed, when the nonmoving party could sit back and simply poke holes in the moving party's summary judgment motion." Fitzpatrick v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 916 F.2d 1254, 1256 (7th Cir.1990). The initial burden is on the moving party to demonstrate "with or without supporting affidavits" the absence of a genuine issue of material fact and that judgment, as a matter of law, should be granted in the moving party's favor. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553 (quoting Rule 56). Once the moving party has met the initial burden, the opposing party must "go beyond the pleadings" and "designate `specific facts showing that there is a genuine material issue for trial.'" Id. Furthermore, in Anderson, the Court held that what facts are material in a specific case shall be determined by the substantive law controlling that case or issue. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. at 2510. In addition, the Court went on to interpret Rule 56 as requiring that courts analyze summary judgment motions utilizing the standard of proof relevant to the specific case or issue. Id. at 252-55, 106 S.Ct. at 2512-13.

For academic insight into Celotex and Anderson, see Childress, A New Era for Summary Judgments: Recent Shifts at the Supreme Court, 116 F.R.D. 183, 194 (1987), where the author states:

The recent Supreme Court cases likely require that summary judgment be more readily granted.... This emerging trend signals a new era for summary judgment, one in which the old presumptions are giving way to a policy of balancing and efficiency, and the mechanism is more appropriate to double as a sufficiency motion — allowing some sort of trial itself on the paper record.

More recently Childress has written that Celotex and Anderson clarify that Rule 56 motions

should not be hesitantly granted when appropriate.... Any litigant dealing with summary judgment must be aware of this new trend, the Court's cases, their application in each circuit, and the direction they portend. Pretrial practice is a new ballgame.

Childress, A Standards of Review Primer: Federal Civil Appeals, 125 F.R.D. 319, 343 (1989).

Recent object lessons applying these ideas are found in Kizer v. Children's Learning Ctr., 962 F.2d 608 (7th Cir.1992); Karazanos v. Navistar Intern. Transp. Corp., 948 F.2d 332, 335 (7th Cir.1991); Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Federal Crop Ins. Corp., 947 F.2d 269, 273-274 (7th Cir.1991); and Un. Ass'n of Black Landscapers v. City of Milwaukee, 916 F.2d 1261, 1265 (7th Cir.1990).

IV. 42 U.S.C. § 1983
A. State Action

Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides that:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of an State ... subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws shall be liable to the party injured ...

Id. In order to assert a valid § 1983 action, two allegations are required. Initially, the plaintiff must allege the deprivation of a federal right attributable to a certain person or entity. Next, the plaintiff must allege that the person who has deprived him of that right acted under color of state law. Specifically, § 1983 provides a cause of action only...

To continue reading

Request your trial
13 cases
  • Thomas v. Walton, Civil No. 02-969-GPM.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 7th Circuit. Southern District of Illinois
    • September 19, 2006
    ...Indiana, 999 F.2d 1125, 1128-29 (7th Cir.1993); Garrett v. Illinois, 612 F.2d 1038, 1040 (7th Cir.1980); Ridlen v. Four County Counseling Ctr., 809 F.Supp. 1343, 1358 (N.D.Ind.1992). Illinois has not waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity, see Harris v. Sheahan, No. 98 C 1271, 2000 WL 51800......
  • Roberts v. Samardvich, 3:93cv0760 AS.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 7th Circuit. United States District Court of Northern District of Indiana
    • November 21, 1995
    ...Indiana, 999 F.2d 1125, 1128-29 (7th Cir.1993); Meadows v. Indiana, 854 F.2d 1068, 1069 (7th Cir.1988); Ridlen v. Four County Counseling Center, 809 F.Supp. 1343, 1358 (N.D.Ind.1992). Indiana has not waived its immunity, Meadows, 854 F.2d at 1069, and Congress has not abrogated the states' ......
  • WILSON BY WILSON v. Formigoni
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 7th Circuit. United States District Court (Northern District of Illinois)
    • August 9, 1993
    ...of voluntarily committed patient's parents when patient was killed by negligence of facility staff); Ridlen v. Four County Counseling Ctr., 809 F.Supp. 1343, 1355-57 (N.D.Ind.1992) (voluntarily committed patient cannot state a claim under due process); Jordan v. Tennessee, 738 F.Supp. 258, ......
  • Estate of Rice v. Correctional Medical Services
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 7th Circuit. United States District Court of Northern District of Indiana
    • January 26, 2009
    ...under color of state law when committing mentally disturbed person pursuant to emergency court order); Ridlen v. Four County Counseling Center, 809 F.Supp. 1343, 1355 (N.D.Ind.1992) (finding that the commitment of a person to a private hospital under the directive of a court order doesn't e......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT