Seide v. Prevost

Citation536 F. Supp. 1121
Decision Date19 March 1982
Docket NumberNo. 81 Civ. 6205 (RWS).,81 Civ. 6205 (RWS).
PartiesMarilyn SEIDE, Ellen Dines, Carol P. Horn, William Hetzer, Charles H. King, Judith Lang and Carol O'Neill, as members of the Board of Visitors of Manhattan Children's Psychiatric Center, individually and on behalf of all patients at Manhattan Children's Psychiatric Center, Barbara J. Robinson, on behalf of her daughter, Barbara E. Robinson, individually and on behalf of all patients at Manhattan Children's Psychiatric Center, and Rose Lange, on behalf of her son, John Lange, individually and on behalf of all patients at Manhattan Psychiatric Center, Plaintiffs, v. James A. PREVOST, as Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health, Barbara Blum, as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services, James A. Krauskopf, as Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration, Robert Trobe, as Deputy Administrator of the New York City Human Resources Administration Office of Adult and Family Services, and Volunteers of America, Inc., Defendants, and Gilbert Watkins, on his own behalf and on behalf of all persons similarly situated, Intervenor-Defendant.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. Southern District of New York

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Mortimer Todel, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen., New York City, for state defendants; Howard L. Zwickel, Stephen M. Jacoby, Asst. Attys. Gen., New York City, of counsel.

Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr., Corp. Counsel of City of New York, New York City, for city defendants; George Gutwirth, Corp. Counsel, New York City, of counsel.

Robert M. Hayes, Coalition for the Homeless, New York City, for intervenor defendant.

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

This is a class action for injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging deprivation of rights guaranteed by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and by the New York Constitution, Article XVII, §§ 1, 3, 4, 6, New York Mental Hygiene Law §§ 7.07 and 33.03, and 14 N.Y.C.R.R. § 27.4(b).1 Jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1651.

The Parties

Marilyn Seide and six other named plaintiffs (referred to collectively hereafter as "Seide") initiated this action as members of the Board of Visitors of the Manhattan Children's Psychiatric Center ("MCPC"), a State facility on Ward's Island, and on behalf of the children who are patients at MCPC. The Board is a body created by State law, New York Mental Hygiene Law, § 7.33, whose members are appointed by the Governor to advise the director of a State mental care facility concerning conditions, plans, programs and activities, and to make recommendations to the Governor, the Commissioner of the Office of Mental Health ("OMH"), and the Chair of the State Commission on the Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled. Seide was joined by Barbara T. Robinson, the mother of a patient at MCPC and Rose Lange, the mother of a patient at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center ("MPC"), which is also on Ward's Island. Each parent sues on behalf of the patients at the respective facilities in which their children are being treated.

The State defendants are James A. Prevost, the Commissioner of OMH, and Barbara Blum, the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services ("DSS"). The City defendants are James A. Krauskopf, the Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration ("HRA") and Robert Trobe, the Deputy Administration of HRA with responsibility for the Office of Adult and Family Services. The Volunteers of America, Inc. ("VOA") is a non-profit organization, which operates the Keener Building, a shelter for homeless men on Ward's Island, under contract with the City. Gilbert A. Watkins ("Watkins") intervened on behalf of himself and a class of homeless men who have or are receiving shelter at Keener.

The Issues Presented

The proceedings in this action, shortly to be described, have presented in the form of constitutional litigation a series of profoundly disturbing issues facing our society:

What is the extent of the responsibility of our State for mentally disturbed adolescents and adults, both committed and uncommitted?
What is the extent of the City's responsibility for homeless men and does the discharge of this responsibility respect those treated by the State as mentally disturbed?
Does the failure of the community to accept these groups in their midst create an issue which is appropriate for resolution in the federal court?

The posing of these questions in lay terms etches the fundamentally political nature of this controversy, which has in addition its sociological, economic and ethnic aspects. The Supreme Court raised a similar question in O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563, 575, 95 S.Ct. 2486, 2494, 45 L.Ed.2d 396 (1975).

May the State fence in the harmless mentally ill solely to save its citizens from exposure to those whose ways are different? One might as well ask if the State, to avoid public unease, could incarcerate all who are physically unattractive or socially eccentric. Mere public intolerance or animosity cannot constitutionally justify deprivation of a person's physical liberty.

The mentally disturbed and the homeless, although not incarcerated, have been rejected by the community of the City and are now pitted against one another in a contest for the isolated turf of Ward's Island. The State and City have supported the position of the homeless men under the compulsion of a consent agreement after a preliminary injunction was entered by the Supreme Court of the State Court of New York, County of New York, by the Honorable Richard Wallach. Callahan v. Carey, No. 42582/79 (Sup.Ct.N.Y.Co., Aug. 26, 1981) (the Callahan action).

In this court, the plaintiffs seek a declaration of constitutional rights, which would include an injunction to terminate the existing and proposed use of the Keener Building as a shelter for homeless men, as well as the construction contracts let by the City with the required Board of Estimate approval to expand that facility. Of course, the issues thus presented must be dealt with in the traditional terms of standing, abstention, the definition of constitutional rights, expressed in findings of fact and conclusions of law. Before doing so, however, I am compelled to note the poignancy of the position of these populations, each to a very large extent the product of the swift, conflicting currents of our society, each without a political constituency to which they can refer their suffering, each driven to resort to the courts for enforcement of constitutional and state rights to achieve humane treatment at the hands of the society. While the impropriety of judges determining social policy is frequently sounded by those with loud trumpets, nonetheless, in the context of the needs of the homeless and the mentally disturbed, it is the court that must decide the issues brought before it and seek to achieve a just result and do so promptly. Despite the intricacy of the social issues involved, I conclude that here as in other areas, it is better to have a court resolution than none at all. To proceed with the necessary legal analysis without a recognition of social and political issues involved would be to ignore the obvious. What follows then is a description of the proceedings previous to this judgment, the findings of fact and the conclusions of law, which taken together, require that judgment be entered dismissing the complaint and denying the plaintiffs the relief which they have sought.

PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

Although not a part of these proceedings, consideration must be given to the Callahan action referred to above, a class action brought on behalf of homeless men seeking to achieve shelter for them. Skilled counsel for Watkins also represents the class plaintiffs in Callahan. Although invited, the plaintiffs declined to intervene in Callahan. On August 26, 1981, after preliminary proceedings and the active participation of the court and a number of high ranking State and City officials, a consent judgment was entered, requiring the City, among other things, to shelter all the homeless men seeking shelter. The Keener Building was one of the subjects of the consent judgment, but its capacity remained in dispute. A seven day mini-trial was held in which the capacity of Keener was determined and thereafter the capacity of 419 under normal usage and 450 under emergency conditions was inserted in the consent judgment.

On October 7, 1981, the plaintiffs initiated this action and by order to show cause sought a temporary restraining order against the City and State defendants and VOA to enjoin the continued operation of the construction of an addition to the building, to require them to enclose the Keener Building with an opaque barrier, to provide a separate access roadway to the Keener Building, to provide separate private transportation to and from the Keener Building, and to enjoin defendants from providing the men with tokens for use on public buses. In addition, the plaintiffs sought to enjoin the State defendants from issuing any license to the City defendants and VOA to operate the Keener Building, and additionally, to require all defendants to station security officers at the MCPC and at the Keener Building.

This court, having been assured that the parties would agree to interim measures to promote the physical security of the MCPC, denied the temporary restraining order, granted plaintiffs leave to renew if conditions warranted, and scheduled a hearing on November 2, 1981 to consider the application for a preliminary injunction, having ordered discovery on an expedited basis. On October 26 and 27, 1981, City and State defendants filed motions to dismiss the complaint. On November 2, 1981, VOA filed a motion for an order pursuant to Rule 21, Fed.R.Civ.P. to sever the claims against VOA. Additionally, on November 3, 1981, Watkins filed a motion to intervene on his own...

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