Stewart v. Robinson

115 F.Supp.2d 188

Diane STEWART, Individually and as Guardian of the person and Estate of George W. Stewart, Plaintiff, v. Dennis ROBINSON, Superintendent Carroll County House of Correction, the Carroll County Commissioners, Nathan Weeks, Frank Holt, the Conway Police Department, and John Doe Officers of the Conway Police Department, Defendants.

No. Civ. 98-620-M.

United States District Court, D. New Hampshire.

March 7, 2000.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Charles A. Meade, Meade & Loring, PC, Portsmouth, NH, Stephen J. Schulthess, Getman, Stacey, Tamposi, Schulthess & Steere, PA, Bedford, NH, for Plaintiff.

William G. Scott, Boynton Waldron Doleac Woodman Dennis Robinson & Scott, Portsmouth, NH, for Defendants Dennis Robinson, Carroll County Bd. of Comm'rs.

Donald E. Gardner, Devine Millimet & Branch PA, Manchester, NH, for Defendants Conway Police Dept., and Unnamed Officers.

ORDER

McAULIFFE, District Judge.

Diane Stewart brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking damages for alleged violations of her husband's constitutionally protected rights. She claims that as a result of defendants' deliberate indifference to her husband's serious medical (i.e., psychiatric) needs, he was "caused or allowed to attempt his suicide by hanging while he was incarcerated at the Carroll County House of Correction." Second Amended Complaint, para. 1. She also asserts several state law claims, over which she asks the court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367.

On November 17, 1999, plaintiff agreed to the dismissal of all claims against defendants Holt and Weeks. See Stipulation of Dismissal (document no. 37). The remaining defendants now move for summary judgment. Plaintiff objects, and moves to amend her complaint for a third time, to name those officers of the Conway Police Department currently identified only as the "Doe defendants."

Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate when the record reveals "no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). When ruling upon a party's motion for summary judgment, the court must "view the entire record in the light most hospitable to the party opposing summary judgment, indulging all reasonable inferences in that party's favor." Griggs-Ryan v. Smith, 904 F.2d 112, 115 (1st Cir.1990).

Background

In the Fall of 1994, George Stewart pled guilty to an indictment charging him with criminal threatening. He was sentenced to imprisonment at the New Hampshire State Prison for one to three years, suspended for one year, and probation for four years.

Approximately one year later, on October 22, 1995, Stewart assaulted his wife, the plaintiff, who filed a complaint with the Conway Police Department (the "CPD"). Based on her complaint, officers of the CPD obtained a warrant for Stewart's arrest. Later that day, a local gas station employee contacted the Conway Police, informing them that he had just spoken with Stewart, who threatened to drink a gallon of antifreeze. Shortly thereafter, CPD Officer Boothby found and arrested Stewart.

The following day, plaintiff filed a domestic violence petition against Stewart. CPD officer Kevlin served Stewart with Orders of Notice later that morning. He then escorted Stewart to the Carroll County District Court for his arraignment on simple assault charges. The court set bail at $1,500. Additionally, at the request of his probation officer, Stewart was held on a 72 hour probation violation charge. Officer Domenic Richardi, a Corporal with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, then took custody of Stewart and transported him to the Carroll County House of Corrections ("CCHC").

While plaintiff's factual allegations are sometimes confusing (even contradictory), it appears that none of the Conway police officers told Corporal Richardi of Stewart's reported threat to drink antifreeze. Consequently, it also appears that Richardi did not inform officials at CCHC that Stewart might be suicidal.¹

On October 24, 1995, Nathan Weeks, a licensed social worker and psychiatric counselor, interviewed Stewart at the CCHC and concluded he was not a suicide risk. See Interrogatory answers of Nathan Weeks (Exhibit 3 to defendants' motion for summary judgment (document no. 28) and Exhibit B to document no. 41). Three days later, Stewart was served with a mittimus, executed by the Rockingham County Superior Court, informing him that his suspended sentence of one to three years (for the earlier criminal threatening conviction) was being brought forward because of his arrest on assault charges.

That same day, at approximately 5:30 p.m., a corrections officer at CCHC informed an inmate in the cell next to Stewart's that he would be back to check on the inmates at 6:00 p.m. Thirty minutes later, Stewart asked the neighboring inmate for the time. The inmate responded that it was 6:00 p.m. (the time at which the corrections officer was expected back on his rounds). Stewart handed the other inmate a note and asked that he mail it to his wife. Stewart then attempted to hang himself by tying a sheet around his neck and affixing it to one of the supports that held the upper of two bunks in his cell. The corrections officer discovered him approximately five minutes later. Regardless of his intentions (i.e., to actually kill himself or simply to make it appear that he was suicidal), Stewart survived the incident but remains permanently injured and in a vegetative state. There is apparently little hope that Stewart will ever recover or regain consciousness. See Plaintiff's memorandum (document no. 31) at 24 (reporting that plaintiff has filed a request for approval of a "do not resuscitate" order with the Carroll County Probate Court "due to the absence of any chance for improvement in George Stewart's condition.").

The note that Stewart prepared and handed to his neighboring inmate is addressed to his wife (plaintiff) and provides, in part, as follows:

I was served with papers for my 1-3 today so you['re] not gonna get me into a mental ward, but I can with a suicide attempt. I have to go to a 72 hr. evaluation where I can bring up my past. I'm not giving up on keeping you or Jr. Please believe that I love you guys Diane and always will. But I listen to what you say and I need a certain type of help. This is the only way.... I have to take responsibility and do something for myself ... I could lose you if I don't try to get myself some help.

Exhibit C, submitted with document no. 28. Both the timing of Stewart's conduct and the content of his note suggest that his suicide attempt was intentionally staged in a misguided effort to avoid incarceration at the state prison and, instead, obtain the psychiatric counseling that both he and his wife agreed he needed. Thus it might be incorrect to conclude or assume that Stewart was actually "suicidal." Nevertheless, regardless of Stewart's intentions, it is clear that by the time he was discovered, he had sustained permanent injuries.

In her federal claims, plaintiff alleges that the CPD failed to adequately train its officers and neglected to adopt any appropriate procedures for dealing with potentially suicidal persons in their custody. She also claims that individual officers of the CPD failed to advise either Corporal Richardi (the transporting officer from the Sheriff's Department) or corrections officers at the CCHC that Stewart might pose a suicide risk. But see Second amended complaint at para. 25 (alleging that the transporting officers did advise CCHC officials that Stewart had been identified as a suicide risk).²

Plaintiff also says that Dennis Robinson, in his official capacity as Superintendent of the CCHC, failed to take appropriate steps to prevent Stewart's suicide attempt, notwithstanding his (alleged) knowledge that Stewart presented a real and credible threat of suicide. Finally, as to the Carroll County Commissioners, plaintiff alleges that they failed to provide a suitable and reasonably safe correctional facility, in which Stewart might have been more closely monitored for suicidal behavior. She also claims that the County Commissioners failed to provide adequately trained health care professionals to identify and diagnose those inmates who might be suicidal.

Discussion

Stewart was a pretrial detainee. Accordingly, the constitutional obligations owed to him by the various defendants flow from the provisions of the Fourteenth, rather than the Eighth Amendment. Nevertheless, the protections available to pretrial detainees under the Fourteenth Amendment "are at least as great as the Eighth Amendment protections available to a convicted prisoner." City of Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital, 463 U.S. 239, 244, 103 S.Ct. 2979, 77 L.Ed.2d 605 (1983) (citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979)). Thus, at a minimum, defendants had a constitutional duty not to be "deliberately indifferent" to Stewart's serious medical needs. See Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). See also Torraco v. Maloney, 923 F.2d 231, 234 (1st Cir.1991) (holding that the Constitution also protects against deliberate indifference to an inmate's serious mental health needs).

I. The "Doe Officers" of the Conway Police Department.

A. Legal Background.

Construing plaintiff's ambiguous allegations in the light most favorable to her, the court will assume that the CPD officers failed to notify corrections officers at the CCHC that Stewart posed a potential suicide risk. The legal question then becomes whether they had a constitutional duty to do so. And, if they had (and breached) such a duty, whether they are entitled to qualified immunity. Finally, if they are not entitled to qualified immunity, the court must determine whether the police officers' alleged conduct proximately caused Stewart's self-inflicted injuries.

In order to prevail on...