Picciuto v. Lucas Cty. Bd. of Commrs.

Page 789

69 Ohio App.3d 789

591 N.E.2d 1287

PICCIUTO et al., Appellants, v. LUCAS COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS et al., Appellees. ^*

No. L-89-387.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Sixth District, Lucas County.

Decided Oct. 12, 1990.

Stuart A. Ascher, Toledo, for appellants.

James R. Jeffery, James D. Jensen and Joan C. Szuberla, Toledo, for appellees.

PER CURIAM.

This matter is before the court on appeal from the Lucas County Common Pleas Court wherein appellees, the Lucas County Board of Commissioners, were granted summary judgment against appellants, Michael A. and Diane Picciuto. Appellants have set forth the following assignments of error:

"1. The trial court erred in creating an artificial distinction between the Lucas County Board of Commissioners, Lucas County, and the child study institute or its administration and in granting defendants' motion for reconsideration thereby precluding the inclusion of additional parties.

"2. The trial court erred in dismissing plaintiffs' negligence claims.

"3. The trial court erred in dismissing plaintiffs' civil rights claims."

The facts giving rise to this appeal are as follows. In 1984, fifteen-year-old Anthony Picciuto was living with his parents and his three younger siblings in Toledo, Ohio. Anthony had a prior history of running away from home. In September 1984, Anthony's parents reported him missing. He was picked up by a Toledo police officer on September 14, 1984, at approximately 10:45 p.m. and delivered to the intake officer at the Child Study Institute ("CSI"), a county-run detention center for juveniles. Upon his admission, Anthony was taken to the third floor of CSI where he turned over his personal clothing and possessions. He was then issued CSI clothing and bed clothing.

New arrivals to CSI were required to stay on their respective floors away from the rest of the detainees for a period of twenty-four hours. This was done to prevent the spread of possible disease and to allow time for the new arrival to be examined by a doctor.

Anthony was assigned to the D section of the third floor. On September 15, 1984, dinner was brought to his room at 5:00 p.m. He then asked for and received a second helping. At 5:30 p.m., Anthony was locked in his room, pursuant to standard operating procedures, while the rest of the detainees on his floor went down to the dining room to eat dinner. Sometime between 5:30 and 5:50 p.m., Anthony committed suicide by tying his T-shirt to the wire mesh in his door and hanging himself.

On August 18, 1987, Anthony's parents, Michael A. Picciuto, individually and as administrator of the estate of Anthony Picciuto, and Diane Picciuto, filed a wrongful death action ¹ against the Lucas County Board of Commissioners, Ray Kest, James M. Holzemer, and Alfred Hawkins, individually and as Lucas County Commissioners; and Francis Szollosi, individually and as administrator of CSI. The complaint alleged that the defendants negligently, carelessly and recklessly failed to maintain adequate supervision of Anthony; that they failed to train their personnel to act in a prudent manner; that they abandoned Anthony in leaving no supervisory personnel to respond to his immediate needs; that they failed to make a careful search of Anthony, and to take from him anything which could have been used by him to injure himself, including his T-shirt, when they knew or should have known from their observations of Anthony that he was a suicide risk; and that they negligently, carelessly and recklessly failed to make cell checks of Anthony and to adequately provide for his safety. The complaint contained a demand for compensatory damages in the amount of $1,000,000, a demand in the amount of $4,000 for funeral and burial costs and a demand in the amount of $500,000 for the physical and mental pain of the decedent. The complaint also contained a claim under Section 1983, Title 42, U.S.Code, with a demand for compensatory damages in the amount of $2,000,000. Finally, the Picciutos sought $1,000,000 in punitive damages.

On October 27, 1987, appellees, James M. Holzemer and Alfred Hawkins, filed an answer to the Picciutos' complaint in which they denied that they were negligent and/or responsible for Anthony's death. Holzemer and Hawkins alleged that: (1) Anthony's death was the result of an intervening and superseding act which was unforeseeable; (2) the Picciutos' claim was barred by or subject to the limitations set forth in Ohio's sovereign immunity statute, specifically R.C. 2744.04(B); (3) the Picciutos' complaint failed to state a claim; and (4) on September 15, 1984, Paul Sullivan was the administrator of CSI.

On November 18, 1987, the Picciutos filed an amended complaint in which they added Paul Sullivan, administrator of CSI as a defendant and eliminated their request for judgments in specific monetary amounts.

On December 18, 1987, James Holzemer filed an answer to the Picciutos' amended complaint in which he denied being negligent. Alternatively, he asserted that he was protected from liability by the doctrine of qualified immunity. Holzemer also asserted that the Picciutos' complaint was barred by or subject to the limitations set forth in Ohio's sovereign immunity statute and that the Picciutos' federal claim was barred by or subject to the federal doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Also on December 18, 1987, Hawkins filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the undisputed facts showed that Hawkins was not a proper party to this suit since he did not begin serving on the board of county commissioners until 1985, which was after Anthony's death at CSI. The other appellees filed a motion for partial summary judgment arguing that the undisputed facts showed that Anthony's treatment at CSI satisfied constitutional standards. Appellees further argued that the Picciutos had an adequate remedy through their state claims.

On March 30, 1988, the court granted appellees' motion for partial summary judgment in part and denied it in part. The court found that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether Anthony was denied proper medical treatment or whether the CSI staff acted with deliberate indifference toward Anthony. The court also found that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether CSI's policy of restricting new arrivals to their respective floors for the first twenty-four hours was meant to punish or whether it violated the detainee's constitutional rights. However, on the authority of Youngberg v. Romero (1982), 457 U.S. 307, 102 S.Ct. 2452, 73 L.Ed.2d 28, and Danese v. Asman (E.D.Mich.1987), 670 F.Supp. 709, the court found that the Picciutos had raised a genuine issue of material fact regarding the physical conditions of CSI.

On January 19, 1989, Kest and Szollosi filed an answer to the Picciutos' amended complaint in which they denied they were negligent. Kest and Szollosi alleged that (1) Anthony's death was the result of an intervening and superseding act which was unforeseeable; (2) the Picciutos' claim was barred by or subject to the limitations set forth in Ohio's sovereign immunity statute; (3) the Picciutos' federal claim was barred by or subject to the federal doctrine of sovereign immunity; and (4) the defendants were protected from liability by the doctrine of qualified immunity.

On February 28, 1989, the court granted Hawkins' motion for summary judgment.

On March 3, 1989, the court, having found that defendant Paul Sullivan had not been served process, granted the Picciutos leave to file a second amended complaint for the purpose of bringing all of the proper parties before the court.

On March 7, 1989, the Picciutos filed a second amended complaint against the Lucas County Board of Commissioners; Ray Kest, individually and as a previous Lucas County Commissioner; James Holzemer, individually and as a Lucas County Commissioner; Frank Szollosi, in his administrative capacity only; Paul Sullivan, individually and as director of CSI; Larry Murphy, individually and as director of CSI; Frank Landry, individually and as business manager of CSI; Andy Devine as previous judge of the Lucas County Juvenile Court; and the Lucas County Juvenile Court in its administrative capacity.

On March 17, 1989, appellees filed a motion to strike the second amended complaint and a motion to quash service of process on the newly named defendants. Appellees also filed a motion for reconsideration of the court's March 3, 1989 order allowing service of process upon Paul Sullivan. Appellees argued that Civ.R. 21 did not permit service on a party named in a complaint or an amended complaint when the party has not been served within the applicable time limit.

In a May 23, 1989 judgment entry, the court granted appellees' motion to strike, motion to quash and appellees' motion for reconsideration. The court found that the newly named defendants, including Paul Sullivan, had not been identified within the statute of limitations period nor were they put on notice that this case should have been brought against them.

On September 19, 1989, the remaining defendants, Ray Kest, James Holzemer, and Francis Szollosi filed a renewed motion for summary judgment arguing that the undisputed facts showed that they did not owe a duty to Anthony and therefore they were not negligent. The defendants further argued that they were entitled to summary judgment on the Picciutos' constitutional law claims in light of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals' reversal of the Danese case. See Danese v. Asman (C.A.6, 1989), 875 F.2d 1239.

On November 15, 1989, the court granted appellees' motion for summary judgment. The court found that (1) the Lucas County Commissioners had a limited statutory responsibility for CSI; (2) their main responsibility was to provide funding for CSI; (3) the commissioners properly provided funding for CSI; and (4) the commissioners had no control over how the funds were spent. The court cited Sawicki v. Ottawa...