Scott v. Plante

• Decision Date: 09 March 1981
• Docket Number: Nos. 80-1314,80-1315 and 80-1596,s. 80-1314
• Citation: 641 F.2d 117
• Parties: Allen Bodine SCOTT, by and through his Guardian, Michael J. Weintraub. v. Dr. Ingre Rudolph PLANTE; Commissioner of Institutions and Agencies, Ann Klein; Medical Director of New Jersey State Hospital, New Jersey Mental Health Commissioner, Dr. Martin Weinberg; State of New Jersey, Brendan T. Byrne, Governor; Supreme Court of New Jersey, Richard J. Hughes, Chief Justice. Appeal of Allen B. SCOTT, Appeal of Dr. Ingre Rudolph PLANTE et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 117

641 F.2d 117

Allen Bodine SCOTT, by and through his Guardian, Michael J. Weintraub. v. Dr. Ingre Rudolph PLANTE; Commissioner of Institutions and Agencies, Ann Klein; Medical Director of New Jersey State

Hospital, New Jersey Mental Health Commissioner, Dr. Martin

Weinberg; State of New Jersey, Brendan T. Byrne, Governor;

Supreme Court of New Jersey, Richard J. Hughes, Chief Justice.

Appeal of Allen B. SCOTT,

Appeal of Dr. Ingre Rudolph PLANTE et al.

Nos. 80-1314, 80-1315 and 80-1596.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued Sept. 18, 1980.

Decided Feb. 5, 1981.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied March 6, 1981.

As Amended March 9, 1981.

Michael J. Weintraub (argued), Steven L. Friedman, Weintraub & Gelade, Trenton, N. J., for Allen Bodine Scott.

John J. Degnan, Atty. Gen. of N. J., Stephen Skillman, Asst. Atty. Gen., Steve Wallach, Deputy Atty. Gen. (argued), Trenton, N. J., for Dr. Ingre Rudolph Plante, Ann Klein and Dr. Martin Weinberg.

Before GIBBONS, WEIS and SLOVITER, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

GIBBONS, Circuit Judge.

Allen Bodine Scott appeals, and certain defendants cross-appeal, from a final judgment which disposed of all Scott's claims after trial of his numerous complaints charging violations of his civil rights. Several of those claims were submitted to a jury, which returned a verdict in his favor on two of them and in favor of the defendants on one. On a post-trial motion the district court granted partial relief from the verdicts in Scott's favor. Those claims that were not submitted to the jury were tried to the court, which denied all requests for injunctive, declaratory and habeas corpus relief. What remains is a judgment on the jury verdict of one dollar nominal damages for violation of Scott's constitutional rights. We vacate and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

Scott has been involuntarily confined to the Vroom Building, a maximum security section of the Trenton State Psychiatric Hospital, for approximately 25 years. In 1954 he was indicted by a grand jury in Burlington County, New Jersey, for the murder of his grandmother. In February 1955 a hearing was held in Burlington County in which a jury determined that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial, and an order was entered that he be removed from the County Jail and confined to Trenton State Hospital "until such time as he may be restored to reason, but not to be released from such confinement except on the order of this court." ¹ Scott was placed in the Vroom Building, where he has remained continuously, except for brief periods when he was returned to Burlington County to stand trial on the indictment. No trial ever took place. On October 7, 1968 the indictment was dismissed on the ground that Scott was insane when the offense was committed. Upon the dismissal of the indictment he was returned to Trenton State Hospital "until the further order of (the Burlington County) Court." ²

In July of 1973 Scott filed in the District Court the first of a series of pro se complaints addressed to the fact and conditions of his confinement in the Vroom Building. By December 30, 1974 five such complaints had been filed. Scott repeatedly requested appointment of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d), but all such requests were denied. Early in 1975 all his complaints were summarily dismissed, and Scott appealed. We granted a motion for a certificate of probable cause, 28 U.S.C. § 2253, and appointed counsel. In Scott v. Plante, 532 F.2d 939 (3d Cir. 1976), we reversed. Reviewing his complaints and the pleadings and affidavits on file, we discerned five separate claims:

1. That he had been subjected to the involuntary administration of psychotherapeutic substances, 532 F.2d at 945;

2. that he was being confined to the Vroom Building without treatment, 532 F.2d at 947;

3. that the physical conditions at the Vroom Building subjected him to violations of federally protected rights, 532 F.2d at 947;

4. that his confinement in the Vroom Building after the dismissal of the indictment was unconstitutional, 532 F.2d at 948; and

5. that the procedures by which New Jersey determined from time to time that his confinement must continue did not meet minimum federal due process requirements. 532 F.2d at 949.

We held that the district court erred in granting summary judgment on Scott's involuntary medication claims, and in granting a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal on each of the remaining claims. In remanding for further proceedings we suggested that his request for the appointment of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) be given serious consideration. 532 F.2d at 950.

II.

This court's judgment reversing dismissal of Scott's complaints was received by the District Court on April 21, 1976. On August 17, 1976 the court appointed Michael J. Weintraub, Esq. to represent him. Scott was dissatisfied with this appointment, and moved that the court dismiss Mr. Weintraub, and appoint instead David Ferleger, Esq. of the Mental Patient Civil Liberties Project in Philadelphia. On September 2, 1976 that motion was denied. No progress was made in disposing of the case for a considerable period. Meanwhile Scott filed pro se applications for interim relief in the form of the appointment of a manager to run Trenton State Hospital and stop the abuses of which he complained, and for a change of venue. On November 21, 1977 an order was entered:

1. Michael J. Weintraub, Esq., of 227 East Hanover St., Trenton, N.J. 08608 is appointed as guardian ad litem for the plaintiff, Allen Bodine Scott, for these consolidated actions, and is to serve in that capacity as well as his attorney.

2. The stay of these consolidated proceedings pending appointment of a guardian ad litem is vacated.

3. The requirement that a single amended complaint be prepared and filed is vacated, but without precluding the taking of that step at or before entry of pretrial order.

4. The consolidated cases will be reinstated to the active civil calendar.

The order is unusual in several respects. First, there is nothing of record disclosing by what procedure or on what authority the court acted in appointing a guardian ad litem. ³ Second, there is no record of any order staying the proceedings pending such an appointment. Third, there is no record of an order requiring the filing of a single amended complaint. However, the absence of significant docket entries between September 2, 1976 and November 21, 1977 suggests that some action was taken by the court to stay the cases for reasons unknown.

On January 25, 1978 Michael J. Weintraub filed an amended complaint, bearing the docket numbers of the five consolidated cases which were before us on Scott's prior appeal. The prayers for relief of the amended complaint are quoted in the margin. ⁴ The factual allegations, while more concisely and artfully set out, preserve all the claims which we previously considered. The prayers for relief included virtually all modes of relief which it is within the power of the court to grant to the plaintiff. An answer was filed on behalf of all defendants on February 23, 1978. Thereafter on March 13, 1978 the court filed a memorandum and order granting leave to file an amended complaint. The memorandum and order refer to a prior order directing that an amended complaint be filed, and to an order vacating the order, neither of which appear of record. The memorandum also refers to another Scott complaint, No. 78-2367, in which he seeks habeas corpus relief, and directs that it be consolidated with the five cases we had previously consolidated. An order to that effect was entered on October 3, 1978, and the defendants' answer to the complaint in No. 78-2367 was filed seven days later. On October 18, 1978, thirty months after our mandate was received by the district court, a status conference was held. There is no record of what transpired at this conference. Nothing more transpired about scheduling the cases for trial until February 15, 1979, when the district judge to whom it was assigned sent a memorandum to Mr. Weintraub, and to the District Court clerk, but not to the Attorney General who was representing the defendants, asking to be advised "as to necessary time for final trial preparation so date can be set." Meanwhile Scott sent to this court and to other places a number of letters asking for disposition of his case. Finally, on April 23, 1979 an order was entered by the Chief Judge of the District Court reassigning the case to himself and reallocating the place of trial from Newark to Trenton. Chief Judge Fisher promptly scheduled a trial date and issued a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum for Scott's appearance. The trial commenced on May 31, 1979, 37 months after the date our mandate reached the district court, and 58 months after Scott first sought relief in the district court.

III.

At the trial Scott testified and also presented the testimony of Dr. Robert Sadoff, a psychiatrist, and 58 exhibits. The exhibits were for the most part excerpts from the records about his condition and treatment maintained by Trenton Psychiatric Hospital during the course of his stay. Others dealt with the physical condition of the Vroom Building. Still others were written complaints by Scott and by his mother to various state officials, including defendants, respecting his treatment and the conditions he was being subjected to.

At the end of the plaintiff's case the court, on motion by the Attorney General, dismissed the State of New Jersey as a defendant, ruling that it was not a "person" subject to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The court also dismissed as defendants Governor Brendan T. Byrne, on the grounds that there was no evidence he either participated in or knew of and allowed continuance of any wrong to Scott, and the Chief Justice and members of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, because "I can't tell the Supreme Court to enforce their...