Lewarski v. Columbus Developmental Center

531 N.E.2d 1341, 40 Ohio App. 3d 76, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10720
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 29, 1987
Docket86AP-941
StatusPublished

This text of 531 N.E.2d 1341 (Lewarski v. Columbus Developmental Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lewarski v. Columbus Developmental Center, 531 N.E.2d 1341, 40 Ohio App. 3d 76, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10720 (Ohio Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Bowman, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims dismissing appellant’s cause of action against appellees for the reason that it is barred by R.C. 2743.16.

Appellant, Edward Lewarski, filed a complaint on March 9, 1984, in the Court of Claims against appellees, Columbus Developmental Center and Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, which are state agencies. Appellant asserted in his complaint that he had been “psychologically damaged, deprived of his freedom, and education, the right to earn a reasonable income, freedom from shame and ridicule, and has suffered and will continue to suffer severe economic damage” caused by appellees’ negligence in diagnosing appellant as feeble-minded, the wrongful incarceration of appellant, the wrongful holding out of appellant as feeble-minded, and the failure to supply appellant with a normal education, proper care, and loving and compassionate custodians. Appellant also contended in'the complaint that appellees’ actions were willful and wanton. Appellant requested $1,000,000 in damages and later amended the complaint to request damages of $10,000,000.

Appellees filed a motion to dismiss appellant’s complaint in which they contended that the statute of limitations had run, pursuant to R.C. 2743.16, which allows a plaintiff to file suit against the state for a maximum of two years after the cause of action accrues. Appellant filed a memorandum contra appellees’ motion to dismiss and appellees filed a reply memorandum. On September 18, 1984, the Court of *77 Claims denied appellees’ motion to dismiss. Appellees then filed an answer on September 28, 1984, denying appellant’s assertions of appellees’ alleged negligent, willful and wanton acts. Appellees also asserted the defense again in their answer that appellant’s action was barred by the statute of limitations.

A trial was held in the Court of Claims on July 21, 1986. Only the appellant testified; however, a videotape deposition of Dr. Michael Leach, a psychologist who had tested appellant, was played. Appellant’s court, institutional, social service, and medical records were also entered into evidence. After the hearing, on September 11,1986, the Court of Claims judge dismissed appellant’s case, finding that appellant’s cause of action accrued “substantially more than two years prior to the date of the filing of this action on March 9,1984”; therefore, the cause of action was barred by the statute of limitations provisions contained in R.C. Chapter 2743 and 2305.16. Appellant has now appealed the Court of Claims decision.

Appellant asserts the following assignments of error:

“1. The Trial Court erred in dismissing the action on the ground that the action was time-barred because the plaintiff had been legally restored to competency in accordance with the law.
“2. The Trial Comb erred in dismissing the cause of action based on the ground the cause of action accrued more than two years following the accrual of the cause of action in that the discovery rule or tolling of the statute was not applicable on the facts presented.”

Appellant was committed to the Columbus State School (now appellee, Columbus Developmental Center) on August 31, 1959, by the Cuyahoga County Probate Court when appellant’s mother filed an affidavit in that court stating that appellant was “feeble-minded.” Appellant was born on June 13, 1951, with deformities which included a nose deviated to the right, upper and lower lip attached to the jawbones by a thin web, a cleft lower jaw, fingers on both hands webbed, congenital deformity of the right eye, and a missing tear duct. The record shows that appellant’s parents were unable to cope with appellant’s problems, and that therefore, appellant was placed in a foster home from birth. In August 1959, the group home where appellant, then age eight, had been living was closed and the Cuyahoga County Division of Child Welfare discussed with appellant’s mother the commitment of appellant to the Columbus State School, since there were no interested foster parents.

Because of his congenital malformations, the record indicates that appellant did not speak until he was five. He received intelligence quotient (“I.Q.”) and psychological testing several times beginning in 1957. Jn 1957, testing indicated that his I.Q. was approximately forty-nine and in 1958, testing indicated his I.Q. was sixty-three. In 1959, after being committed to the Columbus State School, testing of appellant indicated an I.Q. of seventy-one. The 1959 psychological summary for appellant stated that “[although there are no indications in the present tests of the presence of a better than borderline potential, if he should maintain his present rate of mental growth, then he will eventually function within the normal range.” Nevertheless, appellant was not tested again for nine years until 1968 when, at the age of seventeen, he tested as average intelligence with a full scale I.Q. of ninety-one. The psychologist examining him suggested vocational and adult education classes for appellant. *78 In 1969, the social service records show that social workers urged appellant to enroll in vocational training, but that appellant refused to attend these programs. In 1970, testing indicated that appellant’s full scale I.Q. was ninety-five.

Appellant had continually lived in foster homes after being committed to the Columbus State School and had periodically been enrolled in special education classes in regular schools. The record shows that appellant became interested in his past in his teenage years after overhearing a telephone conversation between one of his foster mothers and his natural mother. His then foster mother allowed appellant to travel by bus to Cleveland to review the probate files regarding his commitment.

Appellant also began to show his independence by working and delivering papers for the Columbus Dispatch in 1970. In June 1971, he obtained social security disability benefits. After getting a driver’s license, he went to work for a local radio and television station in 1981 as a mail deliverer and driver.

From 1968 to 1970, the social service reports indicate that appellant showed increasing animosity toward appellees and social workers assigned to him. However, in 1970, appellant began to have a good working relationship with social worker Kathie Culbertson. The social service reports show that appellant worked with her to try to secure his discharge from appellee, now the Columbus Developmental Center, and to obtain a court adjudication of his competency. She also encouraged appellant to obtain his high school equivalency, which he did eventually obtain in 1984.

Culbertson’s social service reports for 1970 to 1971 and appellant’s testimony show that appellant was working with a Cleveland legal aid attorney during this time to achieve a discharge from appellee Columbus Developmental Center and a court adjudication of his competency. On September 13, 1971, appellee did discharge appellant. On September 22, 1971, the Cuyahoga County Probate Court, having received a copy of appellant’s discharge, filed an “Order of Discharge and Restoration of Competency” regarding appellant “in accordance with Section 5122.36 of the Revised General Code.”

In 1973, appellant had American Civil Liberties Union attorneys file a motion to expunge the Cuyahoga County probate records of appellant’s incompetency.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
531 N.E.2d 1341, 40 Ohio App. 3d 76, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10720, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewarski-v-columbus-developmental-center-ohioctapp-1987.