Coen v. Oakland County

400 N.W.2d 614, 155 Mich. App. 662
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 11, 1986
DocketDocket 85050
StatusPublished

This text of 400 N.W.2d 614 (Coen v. Oakland County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coen v. Oakland County, 400 N.W.2d 614, 155 Mich. App. 662 (Mich. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Plaintiff, Catherine Coen, filed a medical malpractice action against defendants, Oakland County, South Oakland Community Mental Health Clinic, a Division of Oakland County Community Mental Health Services, Patricia Hop-son, M.D., Sinai Hospital of Detroit, Comprehensive Psychiatric Services, P.C., Sandra Silver, as personal representative of the estate of Richard Kalman, D.O., deceased, and William M. Leuchter, M.D. Defendants-appellees, Oakland County, South Oakland Community Mental Health Clinic (clinic), which is owned and operated by Oakland County, and Patricia Hopson, M.D., who is employed by Oakland County at the clinic, brought a motion for summary judgment under GCR 1963, 117.2(1), now MCR 2.116(C) (7), claiming that they were entitled to governmental immunity in this matter pursuant to MCL 691.1407; MSA 3.996(107) and the common law. The trial judge granted defendantsappellees’ motion for summary judgment and dismissed plaintiff’s claims against defendants-appellees. Plaintiff appeals as of right.

The facts which gave rise to plaintiff’s claim are not in serious dispute. Plaintiff is a young female who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. From January, 1982, until December, 1982, she was treated by a private physician, defendant Richard Kalman, D.O. Dr. Kalman administered antipsychotic drugs to plaintiff. The antipsychotic drugs (Haldol and Mellaril) that were administered to plaintiff sometimes produce a side effect known as tardive dyskinesia. Tardive dyskinesia is a muscle disorder which causes uncontrollable muscle spasms, jerking and other disabling side effects.

*665 Plaintiff alleges that she began suffering symptoms of tardive dyskinesia in November, 1982. She goes on to allege that when symptoms of tardive dyskinesia appear, drug therapy should be discontinued. Despite the appearance of these symptoms, defendant Dr. Kalman allegedly continued administering antipsychotic drugs to plaintiff. We note that plaintiff’s claims of medical malpractice against her private physician, defendant Kalman, are still pending and were not affected by the trial judge’s grant of summary judgment to defendantsappellees.

In January, 1983, plaintiff began treating with defendant Dr. Hopson at defendant clinic. At this time, plaintiff allegedly continued to exhibit symptoms of tardive dyskinesia. Despite these symptoms, defendant Hopson allegedly continued treating plaintiff with the antipsychotic drugs through March, 1983. In March, 1983, plaintiff was admitted to Harper Grace Hospital where it was determined that she had developed a permanent condition of tardive dyskinesia.

On appeal, plaintiff first argues that the trial judge erred in granting summary judgment to defendant Oakland County and defendant clinic based on the governmental immunity statute. 1 In making this argument, plaintiff asserts that defendant Oakland County was not discharging a governmental function in operating the defendant clinic and, thus, neither defendant Oakland County nor defendant clinic were entitled to governmental immunity under the statute. We disagree.

In Ross v Consumers Power Co (On Rehearing) 2 the Michigan Supreme Court set out a broad test *666 for determining whether an activity involves a governmental function. The Ross Court concluded that a governmental function, for purposes of the governmental immunity statute, is an activity which is expressly or impliedly mandated or authorized by constitution, statute or other law. 3 Applying the Ross test to this situation, we conclude that the provision of mental health services by defendant Oakland County through defendant clinic involves an activity impliedly mandated by the state constitution. Specifically, Const 1963, art 4, § 51 and art 8, § 8 impliedly mandate defendant Oakland County to provide institutions, programs and services to its inhabitants suffering from mental handicaps.

In reaching our conclusion, we note that in Canon v Bernstein 4 this Court recently applied the Ross governmental function test and held that the provision of counseling and treatment to an outpatient by the Livingston County Community Mental Health Services facility was a governmental function and, thus, immune from tort liability under the statute. The Canon decision is directly analogous to the situation presented in the within case, and we agree with the conclusion reached in that case. Therefore, we conclude that the trial judge did not err in finding that defendant Oakland County and defendant clinic were engaged in a governmental function for purposes of the governmental immunity statute.

Plaintiff goes on to assert that the governmental activities of defendant clinic, which allegedly charged plaintiff a fee for its services, are proprietary in nature and, thus, the clinic is not entitled to governmental immunity pursuant to MCL *667 691.1413; MSA 3.996(113). We disagree. The statute defines proprietary function as any activity conducted primarily for pecuniary profit. The Ross Court held that the fact that a fee is charged for a particular portion of service, or that an incidental profit may be derived from such fees, does not transform an obvious governmental function into a proprietary one. 5

In Faigenbaum v Oakland Medical Center 6 the Court found that in this age of governmental subsidies for health care it cannot be seriously maintained that the operation of a governmental care facility is a "proprietary function.” We agree with the conclusion reached by the Faigenbaum Court in the area of health care service provided by governmental units and, thus, find that defendant clinic in this case was not engaged in a proprietary function for purposes of the governmental immunity statute. The fact that defendant clinic competes to some extent with health care services provided in the private sector does not render the clinic’s functions as "proprietary” for purposes of the statute. 7

Therefore, we conclude that the trial judge did not err in finding that defendant Oakland County and defendant clinic were engaged in a governmental function and were entitled to governmental immunity in this matter. The trial judge properly granted summary judgment to these defendants.

Plaintiff also argues on appeal that the trial judge erred in granting summary judgment to defendant Hopson based on the common-law doc *668 trine of qualified tort immunity applicable to officers, employees and agents of a governmental agency. The Supreme Court in Ross set forth the tests which are applicable in determining whether an individual is immune from tort liability:

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Related

Davis v. Lhim
382 N.W.2d 195 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1985)
Tobias v. Phelps
375 N.W.2d 365 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1985)
Canon v. Bernstein
375 N.W.2d 773 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1985)
Faigenbaum v. Oakland Medical Center
373 N.W.2d 161 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1985)
Ross v. Consumers Power Co.
363 N.W.2d 641 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
400 N.W.2d 614, 155 Mich. App. 662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coen-v-oakland-county-michctapp-1986.