Skakel v. Benedict, (AC 19160)

• Decision Date: 05 August 1999
• Docket Number: (AC 19160)
• Citation: 54 Conn. App. 663,738 A.2d 170
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: MICHAEL SKAKEL v. JONATHAN BENEDICT

54 Conn. App. 663

738 A.2d 170

MICHAEL SKAKEL v. JONATHAN BENEDICT

(AC 19160)

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued May 27, 1999.

Officially released August 5, 1999¹

O'Connell, C. J., and Lavery and Hennessy, JS. David T. Grudberg, with whom were Michael Sherman and, on the brief, William F. Dow III, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Susann E. Gill, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Jonathan Benedict, state's attorney, Domenick J. Galluzzo, executive assistant state's attorney, and Bruce Lockwood, deputy assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (defendant).

Opinion

LAVERY, J.

The plaintiff, Michael Skakel, appeals from the trial court's denial of his application for injunctive relief. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly (1) concluded that the information sought by the defendant, Jonathan Benedict,² was not protected by our statutory psychiatrist-patient privilege, (2) failed to apply the federal administrative regulations that were in effect at the time he received treatment for alcohol abuse and (3) determined that the state's delay in asserting its alleged right to information concerning his treatment for alcohol abuse did not violate his right to due process under the federal constitution. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case to that court for further proceedings consistent with this decision. The record discloses the following facts and procedural history. Sometime prior to March, 1978, the plaintiff was charged with driving while intoxicated in New York. To resolve that pending criminal charge, he was required to complete an alcohol treatment program at Elan, a treatment facility located in Poland Spring, Maine. The plaintiff was a resident at Elan from March 10, 1978, until February 18, 1980. At the time the plaintiff was admitted to Elan, it was licensed by the state of Maine, Bureau of Rehabilitation, Office of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, as a residential treatment facility. On August 1, 1979, the Maine department of mental health and corrections issued Elan a conditional license as a mental health facility, which remained effective through February 28, 1980. During the period in question, Elan received federal funding for its therapeutic program.

Elan was founded in 1970 by Gerald E. Davidson, a licensed psychiatrist, and Joseph Ricci. Davidson is now deceased. After Ricci had completed an addiction treatment program at Daytop, a treatment facility located in New Haven, he worked at Daytop and later joined Davidson in founding Elan. Davidson was the medical director at Elan and Ricci was the executive director and therapeutic director. The trial court found that during the period in question, except for Davidson, none of the staff members at Elan had any formal training, degrees or licenses in psychiatry, psychology or social work. Moreover, the trial court found that, aside from Davidson, few, if any, of the staff members were college graduates.

Davidson spent approximately one hour with each new student³ upon admission and would meet with each student and the student's parents approximately six to nine months later. The scope of diagnosis or treatment at these meetings is unknown. Davidson visited Elan's campus for relatively limited periods since he maintained a practice and resided in Boston, Massachusetts. The trial court found that Davidson visited Elan "at most two or three times a week, sometimes less, and not usually any more ... [and that] he was very rarely an active participant in the therapeutic program." The staff, under the guidance of Ricci, handled the day-today operations at Elan.

The trial court found that "Elan and Daytop are known as therapeutic communities based on behavior modification by self-help with other residents by methods a full-time residential setting." In describing the therapeutic program at Elan, the trial court stated that a new student began by performing menial housekeeping duties under the supervision of a more senior student and staff member. Each weekday, approximately eight to ten students of varying degrees of seniority, with staff supervision, participated in group discussions. "The object of these meetings [was] to share problems and answers to problems based on the experiences of the participants. The shared experiences were to be treated as confidential between the participants." Davidson rarely participated and Ricci occasionally took part in these sessions. On some occasions, students and staff members participated in disciplinary rather than therapeutic sessions called "general meetings" or "haircuts." There was no indication that the plaintiff's therapeutic treatment differed from that of the other students at Elan.

The state has appointed a grand jury to investigate the 1975 death of Martha Moxley, which occurred in Greenwich. In connection with this proceeding, the state subpoenaed Ricci and Peter McCann, a staff member at Elan, to testify before the grand jury. On or about October 16, 1998, the plaintiff filed an application for injunctive relief seeking permanently to enjoin the state from compelling Ricci and McCann to testify or produce any records relating to his treatment at Elan. The plaintiff claimed that all of the foregoing information was privileged and that it could not be disclosed absent his consent. He also petitioned the trial court to order that all communications, both written and oral, between him and anyone else at Elan should not be disclosed to the grand jury.

Ricci refused to testify before the grand jury, claiming that the information requested by the state was privileged. Thereafter, pursuant to General Statutes § 54-47a, the state filed a motion to compel Ricci to testify. The trial court consolidated the plaintiffs application for injunctive relief and the state's motion to compel. By an oral memorandum of decision, dated December 10, 1998, the trial court denied the plaintiffs application for injunctive relief, but granted the state's motion to compel. The trial court ordered Ricci to testify before the grand jury concerning any statements made by the plaintiff in his presence or that were reported to him, excluding any statements the plaintiff made to Davidson, that related to the plaintiffs knowledge, if any, concerning the circumstances surrounding the death of Moxley. On December 29, 1998, the plaintiff timely filed this appeal. Additional facts will be set forth where necessary to a resolution of the issues on appeal.

I

The plaintiff first claims that the trial court improperly concluded that his communications at Elan, both written and oral, could be disclosed to the grand jury because this information was not protected by our statutory psychiatrist-patient privilege. See General Statutes §§ 52-146d through 52-146j.⁴ In his application for injunctive relief, filed pursuant to § 52-146j, the plaintiff claimed that the information sought by the state was privileged under our psychiatrist-patient privilege. In determining whether the law of this state or the state of Maine governed the plaintiffs claim of privilege, the trial court concluded, and neither party disputes, that the law of this state controls. Accordingly, we will assume without deciding that Connecticut law governs this issue.

The trial court denied the plaintiffs application for injunctive relief, in part, because the information sought by the state was not protected by the psychiatrist-patient privilege. The trial court stated that in order for the plaintiff to invoke the protections afforded by General Statutes § 52-146e, he must satisfy two conditions. First, he must establish that Elan was a "mental health facility" within the meaning of § 52-146d (5). Second, he must demonstrate that the communications and records related to the diagnosis or treatment of a "mental condition" within the meaning of § 52-146d (2). The trial court concluded that the plaintiff satisfied neither of these statutory prerequisites to the invocation of the privilege.⁵

A

The plaintiff first claims that the trial court improperly concluded that Elan was not a mental health facility within the meaning of § 52-146d (5). We need not reach this issue because we conclude that the trial court's decision was improperly predicated on the conclusion that, as a condition precedent to the invocation of the psychiatrist-patient privilege, §§ 52-146d and 52-146e required the plaintiff to establish that Elan was a mental health facility within the meaning of § 52-146d (5).

In its memorandum of decision, the trial court stated: "What occurred here, in the court's opinion, was residential treatment in a therapeutic community for substance abuse; and ... I find that [the plaintiff has] not sustained [his] burden of proving that Elan—as I have found the facts: that [the] staff being all laypersons except for Dr. Davidson—was a mental hospital or, I am sorry, a mental health facility." The trial court denied the plaintiffs application for injunctive relief, in part, because the plaintiff "failed to satisfy the court that the organization of Elan at the time was to the degree of meeting, shall we say, a threshold of being a mental health facility."

In reaching this conclusion, the trial court decided that, as a condition precedent to the invocation of the psychiatrist-patient privilege, §§ 52-146d and 52-146e required the plaintiff to establish that Elan was a mental health facility within the meaning of § 52-146d (5). "Statutory construction is a question of law and therefore our review is plenary." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Butler v. Hartford Technical Institute, Inc., 243 Conn. 454, 458, 704 A.2d 222 (1997); Davis v. Norwich, 232 Conn. 311, 317, 654 A.2d 1221 (1995). When interpreting a statute, we are guided by well established tenets of statutory construction. "Our fundamental objective when construing a statute is to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent...