Rodgers v. Horsley
| Citation | 39 F.3d 308 |
| Decision Date | 05 December 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-6541,93-6541 |
| Parties | Mona E. RODGERS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J. Michael HORSLEY, Commissioner of State Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; James F. Reddoch, Jr., Deputy Commissioner of State Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; Emmett Poundstone, III, Associate Commissioner for Mental Retardation State Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; James E. Folsom, Governor, State of Alabama; Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, a corporation, Defendants, John T. Bartlett, in his individual capacity; Phillip Boyd, an individual, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
Page 308
v.
J. Michael HORSLEY, Commissioner of State Department of
Mental Health and Mental Retardation; James F. Reddoch,
Jr., Deputy Commissioner of State Department of Mental
Health and Mental Retardation; Emmett Poundstone, III,
Associate Commissioner for Mental Retardation State
Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; James
E. Folsom, Governor, State of Alabama; Alabama Department
of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, a corporation, Defendants,
John T. Bartlett, in his individual capacity; Phillip Boyd,
an individual, Defendants-Appellants.
Eleventh Circuit.
Page 309
G.R. "Rick" Trawick, Dept. of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Montgomery, AL, for appellants.
(Charles) Warren Rowe, Rowe & Rowe, Edward S. Brown, Enterprise, AL, for appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
Before HATCHETT and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges, and SMITH *, Senior Circuit Judge.
PER CURIAM:
Defendants, John T. Bartlett and Phil Boyd, appeal the district court's order denying motions for summary judgment based upon the doctrine of qualified immunity in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. We reverse.
In considering the denial of a defendant's summary judgment motion, we are required to view the facts, which are drawn from the pleadings, affidavits, and depositions, in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. E.g., Hardin v. Hayes, 957 F.2d 845, 848 (11th Cir.1982). As a result, the "facts" for purposes of reviewing rulings on summary judgment motions may not, in reality, be the facts. But they are the "facts" for present purposes and are set out below.
In 1991, plaintiff Mona Rodgers 1 was involuntarily civilly committed to the custody of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Retardation ("DMH"). She was placed in the Admissions Unit at Searcy Hospital, a Mobile, Alabama psychiatric facility operated by DMH. When admitted, Plaintiff was approximately twenty-nine weeks pregnant.
On Monday, May 20, 1991, at fifteen minutes past midnight (12:15 a.m.), Rodgers entered the Unit's smoking room, located ten feet from the nurses station. Before entering the smoking room, she stopped, spoke to the nurses at the nurses station, and obtained a light for her cigarette. While she was in the smoking room, according to Rodgers, a black male entered the room and raped her. Rodgers left the smoking room fifteen minutes later, speaking to the nurses on her way out; but she did not report the rape until 2:10 p.m. on May 22.
At the time of the incident, Rodgers was on "medical observation" status because she was spotting, that is, bleeding a bit, in her vaginal region. Rodgers says that this status required a staff member to accompany her at all times ("one to one") except when she was in a secluded area of the hospital. To support this characterization of "medical observation" status, Rodgers relies exclusively on her affidavit testimony that "it had
Page 310
been told to me that that's the way the situation would be." 2Rodgers filed suit asserting various theories, including the violation of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 for failure to provide her with adequate security, against the DMH and numerous individuals associated with the DMH in various capacities. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of all defendants except defendants John T. Bartlett and Phil Boyd. Rogers v. State of Ala. Dep't. of Mental Health & Mental Retardation, 825 F.Supp. 986 (M.D.Ala.1993). For the remaining defendants, Rodgers claims that her rape was caused by their failure to train and supervise subordinates adequately in violation of her "substantive due process" rights. Bartlett is the Director of Searcy Hospital and Boyd serves as Director and Chief Administrative Officer of the Admissions Unit. These defendants were responsible for hiring, training, and supervising the individuals charged with monitoring patients.
With their motions for summary judgment, defendants submitted the affidavit of defendant John Bartlett, which says that there had never been an incident of rape or an allegation of rape in the twelve years he has served as Director of Searcy Hospital. In response, Rodgers submitted the affidavit of Dr. Ronald Bloodworth, the psychiatrist in charge of treating Plaintiff during her confinement at Searcy. He testified that he was aware of several instances of "sexual contact" between patients, but that such instances were uncommon. He also testified that a former patient of his had disappeared in February 1991 and was discovered two days later, dead, "on a ledge." Rodgers claims that this dead patient was also on one-to-one observation status.
The district court, relying on Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307, 313-16, 102 S.Ct. 2452, 2457-58, 73 L.Ed.2d 28 (1982), concluded that the law was clearly established that involuntarily committed patients had a constitutional right to reasonably safe conditions of confinement. Rogers, 825 F.Supp. at 990. Finding enough evidence to go to the jury, the district court denied the defendants' motions for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. Id. at 992. Defendants appeal.
Once the qualified immunity defense is raised, the plaintiff bears the burden of showing that...
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