Anderson v. Village of Forest Park

606 N.E.2d 205, 238 Ill. App. 3d 83, 179 Ill. Dec. 373, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1730
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 28, 1992
Docket1-91-1884
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 606 N.E.2d 205 (Anderson v. Village of Forest Park) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Village of Forest Park, 606 N.E.2d 205, 238 Ill. App. 3d 83, 179 Ill. Dec. 373, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1730 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE CERDA

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Katherine Anderson, appeals from the dismissal of her civil rights action against defendants Village of Forest Park, village police officer Stephen Bukovack, village police officer Martin Moy, village police lieutenant Leisten, village police officer Mayman, and village paramedics Ferraro and Papelka. Plaintiff argues that: (1) the trial court erred in applying the Illinois Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (the Tort Immunity Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 85, par. 1—101 et seq.) to her causes of action; (2) the trial court erred in applying the Federal common law immunity for public officials to her causes of action; and (3) the count for intentional infliction of emotional distress stated a cause of action.

Plaintiff’s amended complaint was brought against not only the defendants listed above but against Proviso Family Services, an Illinois corporation, and Richard Arons, a social worker for Proviso.

Count I alleged the following. At about 11:35 a.m. on January 20, 1989, someone made an emergency 911 telephone call to the village police department. The caller stated that plaintiff’s aunt wanted plaintiff removed from her residence. The caller requested police assistance. At about 11:40 a.m., Moy, Leisten, Ferraro, Papelka, and Arons entered plaintiff’s bedroom and: (a) interrogated her for several hours; (b) searched through her dresser and other belongings; (c) refused to allow her to use the bathroom; (d) refused to allow her to change out of her nightgown and into street clothes; (e) refused to tell her why they were there other than to threaten that if she did not answer their questions, she would be involuntarily committed; (f) arrested her and refused to tell her why she was under arrest; and (g) bodily removed her from her bed, without provocation, need, or explanation, and dragged her in her nightgown down the steps and outside. In addition, Arons paged through plaintiff’s address book, telephoned people listed, and asked them questions about plaintiff. Plaintiff informed defendants that she suffered from multiple sclerosis. Plaintiff did not attempt to resist arrest or act violently. For the purported purpose of psychological observation, Ferraro, Papelka, and Arons transported plaintiff to the Foster G. McGaw Hospital in Maywood, Illinois. They arrived at the hospital around 2:37 p.m. In the emergency room, Ferraro, Papelka, and Arons made false statements about plaintiff to medical personnel.

As a result of the concerted excessive and unlawful search of plaintiff’s possessions, Moy, Leisten, Ferraro, Papelka, and Arons deprived plaintiff of her rights in violation of the fourth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and of the Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. §1983 (1988)).

Count II alleged that the conduct alleged in count I was excessive force, and that Moy, Leisten, Ferraro, Papelka, Proviso, and Arons deprived plaintiff of her rights in violation of the fourth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and of the Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. §1983 (1988)).

Count III alleged that the concerted action by defendants Moy, Leisten, Ferraro, Papelka, Proviso Family Services, and Arons bodily lifting plaintiff from her bed and dragging her down the staircase when she was not resisting arrest constituted assault and battery.

Count IV alleged that as a result of the village, Moy, Leisten, Ferraro, Papelka, and Arons’ taking custody of plaintiff, they owed her a duty of care. In deliberate, callous, and reckless disregard of this duty, these defendants willfully and wantonly: (a) removed plaintiff from her residence in subfreezing temperatures when they had prevented her from changing out of her nightgown and into warmer clothes and when they knew she suffered from multiple sclerosis; (b) caused plaintiff to be roughly dragged down a staircase; (c) exposed plaintiff to subfreezing temperatures for an extended period of time when they knew that she was not properly dressed for conditions and when they knew that she suffered from multiple sclerosis; (d) exposed plaintiff to numerous people, both known and unknown to her, when she was dressed only in her nightgown; and (e) otherwise breached the duty of care they owed to plaintiff. As a result, plaintiff was injured.

Count V alleged that plaintiff was discharged from the hospital and that the emergency room personnel gave her a blanket and taxicab voucher for transport back home. At about 6:30 p.m., a taxicab dispatcher called the village police department and stated that she was wearing only a nightgown and could not gain entry to her residence. As a result of the call, Bukovack removed plaintiff from her residence and transported her to a mental health center in Hines, Illinois. Personnel at the mental health center refused to accept plaintiff because Bukovack did not have the proper Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities forms. Bukovack then transported plaintiff to the village police station, where plaintiff was confined to a holding cage. Mayman obtained transfer papers from the hospital to allow the mental health center to accept plaintiff by providing false information to the hospital personnel. Ferraro and Papelka transported plaintiff to the mental health center, arriving at about 9:10 p.m., and made false statements to the personnel there regarding plaintiff. Plaintiff was discharged at about 1:25 a.m. on January 21, 1989. As a result of the unauthorized arrest and holding of plaintiff, the village, Bukovack, Mayman, Ferraro, and Papelka deprived plaintiff of her rights in violation of the fourth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and of the Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. §1983 (1988)).

Count VI alleged the following. As a result of the village, Bukovack, Mayman, Ferraro and Papelka’s taking custody of plaintiff, they owed plaintiff a duty of care. In deliberate, callous, and reckless disregard of this duty, they willfully and wantonly: (a) exposed plaintiff to subfreezing temperatures for an extended period of time when they knew that she was not properly dressed for conditions and when they knew that she suffered from multiple sclerosis; (b) wilfully and wantonly exposed plaintiff to numerous people, both known and unknown to plaintiff, when she was dressed only in her nightgown; and (c) otherwise breached the duty of care.

Count VII alleged that the village, Bukovack, Mayman, Ferraro, and Papelka held plaintiff in custody against her will and without legal basis and thereby falsely imprisoned plaintiff.

Count VIII alleged that defendants’ conduct toward plaintiff was outrageous in nature, that defendants intended to cause plaintiff to suffer emotional distress, and that plaintiff suffered severe emotional distress.

The village filed an amended motion to dismiss the complaint against it (counts IV, VI, VII, and VIII), pursuant to section 2 — 619 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 110, par. 2 — 619), in which it argued the following.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
606 N.E.2d 205, 238 Ill. App. 3d 83, 179 Ill. Dec. 373, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1730, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-village-of-forest-park-illappct-1992.